All-Star Weekend is a major event among celebrities, NBA players and the sport. The league showcases its best players and gets a lot of business done with sponsors — not to mention all those juicy trade rumors with the trade deadline typically less than a week away.
Wouldn’t it be great if that lasted a little longer?
You might get your wish for that.
The next big event on the NBA calendar is the release of the league schedule. That is expected to come down in August at some point, likely before the World Cup. The league’s broadcast partners are still figuring out which games they want to feature and when.
Ira Winderman of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel reports the league is building its schedule with the idea of taking a week off in February to celebrate the league’s All-Star festivities in New York City.
“That’s the model they’re using right now while they’re filling in the schedule,” an NBA source familiar with the process told the Sun Sentinel Friday. “Could they go back and use some of those dates if needed? That’s possible. But the week off looks like what’s going to happen.”
And this is not just a one-off thing because the All-Star Game happens to be in New York. The league is considering starting the 2015-16 season a week earlier to accommodate the new All Star format.
That would be nice for the players to get that week off too. And it would be a week to put a lot of events and publicity in for the NBA. If it is done right of course.
Kudos to Adam Silver for continuing to think outside the box to expand the NBA brand.
