Yi Jianlian (L) of the Guangdong Southern Tigers and Zhou Qi (R) of the Xinjiang Flying Tigers tussles with each other at the Hongshan Arena in Urumqi, the capital city of northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, January 21, 2020. /VCG
The CBA, China's top basketball league, seems to have moved one step closer to reopening. According to multiple sources, including Tencent Sports and Sina Sports, the league is preparing to hold the rest of the season's games in two cities in southern and northern China.
The rest of the CBA regular season was supposed to begin on February 1 but the outbreak and spread of COVID-19 around China led to a postponement. As the situation has gradually come under control in the country, the CBA is set to restart. The latest news is as follows:
The regular season will restart in early April and no games will be cancelled.
All remaining games will take place behind closed doors and be streamed online.
Two cities, one in northern and the other in southern China, will be selected as the location for all the games. The 20 teams will be divided into two groups to play in the two cities.
Jeremy Lin #7 of the Beijing Ducks tries to break through the defense of Sun Yue of the Beijing Royal Fighters in the game at the National Indoor Stadium in Beijing, January 21, 2020. /VCG
If things go as planned, the regular season will end in five weeks. The playoff schedule has not been confirmed yet. The league hopes that the CBA Finals can be over before early June so the Chinese national team will have enough time to prepare for the Olympic qualifiers.
There are multiple cities applying to be the host cities including Qingdao, Chengdu and Dongguan.
The plan has already been submitted to the General Administration of Sport in China for approval. As for which two cities will host the games, it will be decided by a series of factors like the number of local arenas, epidemic developments and coordination between different government institutions.
The CBA once cut down the season schedule for the sake of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing but never held the games in a limited number of cities. If the plan is approved, it's not only challenge to Yao Ming and the CBA itself, but also a rare opportunity for them to learn how to deal with emergency situations.