Philadelphia 76ers should move to Wyoming, along with rest of NBA

NBA Commissioner Adam Silver has said they should be the first pro league to re-open. Whether the pampered players and executives like it or not, he should take the Philadelphia 76ers and other NBA teams to play in Wyoming and neighboring states to achieve it.

The Wyoming 76ers?

Honestly, for the remainder of this season, it makes sense.

They will still retain the official Philadelphia name but with the COVID-19 virus continuing its insidious attack on the United States and the rest of the world, it is time for some out of the box thinking.

Like moving the entire NBA to play out the rest of the season in Wyoming and other prairie states.

Sounds crazy? How about playing in official major disaster areas — now that is the crazy.

In a conference call with all the major sports organizations on April 4 with President Donald Trump, Silver reportedly stated: Since they were the first league to close due to the virus, they want to be the first to open.

All NBA fans should be glad to hear that. The problem is, when will they get the ‘all clear’ to play, and under what format?

There have been numerous proposals on how to re-start the NBA. The simplest is to just wait out the virus and when everything is ‘back to normal’ pick up from where the NBA left off on March 11 — treat it like a really, really, REALLY long All-Star break.

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However, that creates another whole set of problems, including finding space in arenas booked for something else, and if it does not start until say, July or August, you are looking into bumping into the following season.

Plus, when would the NBA Draft and free agency be held. Many contracts end on July 1. Do those players keep going?

Most think the season will have to start without fans, and to eliminate as much travel and the possibility of exposure, the number of sites should be limited.

But where?

There has been some thought to using team practice sites. The Sixers have two full-courts in their practice facility in Camden.

Jay Williams of ESPN had the unique idea of the league playing on two cruise ships, one for each conference, and play the season out up to the finals on an on-deck court. Considering the recent record of health problems on cruise ships, players might not go for that.

Las Vegas hosting everything has been a popular suggestion or a combination of Vegas and Atlantic City.

Vegas has hosted the NBA Summer League the past few years and it has gone well. They have two big courts on the University of Nevada-Las Vegas campus and more than enough hotel space to handle all 32 teams’ players, executives and team personnel even with normal tourist business during July.

The reason to hold the games in Vegas and/or AC are obvious. When not playing there are lots of fun things to do: gamble, have a beverage at a bar, buffets, see shows, shop, some adult entertainment for players who like that stuff.

One problem; that version of those cities does not currently exist in the COVID-19 world.

Nevada and New Jersey have both recently been declared major disaster areas. All non-essential businesses have been closed and both governors have stay-at-home orders in place.

Since people have been told not to go anywhere, these two cities who count on people coming there have taken a hard hit to their economies. They could use the NBA’s business. But the reason tourists go there are not in place at the moment.

And could you imagine the blowback if a governor announced no one could leave their house in the state under penalty of fine — except NBA players can come in from all over the country. People losing their jobs might not accept this, unless you can convince them the Cleveland Cavaliers playing is obviously an essential business.

Now, by this point, a lot of NBA players and essential team staff (coaches, trainers etc.) have been tested for the virus. Heck, they seemed to have been at the front of line for tests, for whatever reason.

Those who tested positive (including three members of the 76ers) have been quarantined and should be good to go shortly, if not already cleared.

The TV networks are certainly ready to broadcast the games (so we can stop seeing Game 7 of Toronto-Sixers endlessly repeated, ugh). The NBA just needs a safe place to play.

Wyoming, as well as surrounding states North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska and Montana.

The Equality State (first state to grant women the right to vote) offers the safest environment to play as soon as possible.

(All statistics courtesy of New York Times interactive map as of April 5)

First, it is the only state to not have so far a single death from the virus.

It is not some magical oasis which the virus has missed

Its infection rate of 34.4 per 100,000 is middle of the pack. However, it has not seen its economy and lifestyle ravaged. Unlike Nevada and New Jersey, there is no stay-at-home order (although social distancing is recommended).

But these are areas with low population density and outside of the tourist spots, not a lot of outside visitors to spread the virus from hard hit states.

Remember, the No. 1 priority is having the games so there is a finish to the 2019-20 season. Playing the games and keeping safe is what is needed to pull this off.

As for facilities, since all the colleges are closed, their arenas are available. If you have ever stayed up at midnight on the East Coast to see games from that area, they have pretty nice places.

Much like UNLV, the University of South Dakota has two connected facilities, the legendary (in those parts) Dakota Dome and the $66 million Sanford Coyote Sports Center.

Or they could use the Sanford Pentagram, the home of the G-League’s Sioux Falls, South Dakota Skyforce.

The bottom line is, there are plenty of more-than-adequate places in those states to hold a fan-less NBA game.

Is there the infrastructure (h/t to Sam Coltrane for bringing this up to me) to handle NBA teams is an important question.

In this situation: Yes

You just need enough hotel rooms to house players, coaches, essential team personnel, those who put the games on TV and radio plus the press who cover this team (I am sure Keith Pompey is chomping at the bit to book a flight from Philly to Laramie, Wyoming).

And with travel virtually stopped, there will be plenty of rooms somewhat near the arenas. In 2016 the Democratic National Convention was held in Philadelphia and many delegations had to stay in New Jersey, no different from this situation.

Now would the NBA players staff enjoy being in the Venetian in Las Vegas instead of the Cowgirls Horse Hotel in Laramie? Maybe, but not a bad place, and Joel Embiid could enjoy a horse ride.

If your only exposure to this area is Little House on the Prairie reruns, you might think not but they have all the modern conveniences of any non-big city.

Now will the millionaire players and the billionaire owners have the comforts they are used to when they travel — no. Basically, they will live the life of their G-League brethren.

But the more games that they get in, the more money goes in their bank account. Time for them to Buck up.

To sum up, here the reasons that the NBA should consider moving its games to Wyoming and adjoining states.

Low death rates from virus
Sparse population, spread out cities and few outsiders makes infections harder to occur.
No stay-at-home order so do not need to try to get special government orders.
Plenty of places to play away from major populations.
Quickest area to get games going the fastest.

Now this only works is all those involved in the games have been tested and cleared, which we will assume the NBA office will make sure of.

So, for the next couple of months, the South Dakota Sixers would be in action.

If the 76ers win the title, do they have a parade down Broad Street or Sioux Falls?