In France, no basketball before fall
By Guillaume Mahot
While the NBA attempted to fix up a possible return of competition around June with a lot of uncertainty, in a country that is hit more than any other one in the struggle against the coronavirus disease. France, like the United States, tried to find a credible solution for its national league of basketball. The French were less optimistic than Uncle Sam.
According to French President Emmanuel Macron who held a speech on TV last Monday to draw an assessment of the current situation, in France and worldwide, regarding the evolution of the pandemic that has been compelling half of the world to stay at home so far, public gathering will not be possible in France until July (and depending on the last evolutions, which means that it can be postponed again if figures are not that rejoicing). To put it in a nutshell, it means that events like festivals, concerts, sport games and so on will be forbidden until July. If French football (L1, L2) is considering playing before that date, but behind closed doors, it is not the case of French basketball, which has not the same revenues as football and needs packed infrastructures to go on.
As a consequence, the Basketball National League (LNB) chose to freeze the championship until September. No game will take place before the month of September for the first division (Jeep Elite) but also the second one (Pro B).
Two possibilities are then being studied, since the season 2019/2020 is not over yet. Officials are thinking of definitely stopping the current season, which would lead to more headaches to designate the champion, but also the teams that will fall in inferior division. The other alternative would be to continue the interrupted season in September, with another difficulty: when would the season 2020/2021 start? Headaches everywhere.
Africa Global News Publication
