At the beginning of next week, the basketball players should be informed whether they can continue their season as planned. For an old acquaintance in German basketball, a positive decision would have a signal effect.
Munich (dpa) - At the beginning of next week, the basketball players should know whether they can end their season as planned or whether they have to break off their season like the leagues in handball, ice hockey or volleyball.
On Tuesday, the cabinet of the Bavarian state government should advise on the hygiene and safety concept of the league. If the politicians give their okay, the BBL wants to determine its master in a ten-tournament in the Munich Audi Dome over a period of three weeks. The league plans to start the tournament on the first weekend in June and end on June 28th. The "Rheinische Post" had previously reported on the date of the cabinet meeting.
In order to give the clubs around three weeks of preparation time before the tournament, the league had previously given May 18 as the last possible date for political approval. Approval by the cabinet in Munich on May 19, however, will not jeopardize these plans, according to dpa information. Especially since the health authorities at the locations of the ten participating clubs are responsible for allowing the clubs to return to team training.
The "communicated timeframe for decision-making" had "no impact on the tournament preparations and no impact on the willingness of the ten clubs to participate or their organizational and sporting plans," said the league on Thursday. The BBL is still "confident that it will receive the necessary permits from politicians and the authorities for the tournament and the upstream team training."
If the basketball players were able to carry out their ambitious project as planned, this would send out a signal to former national coach Svetislav Pesic. "We all know that the corona virus is a very dangerous thing, but life has to go on," said the 70-year-old FC Barcelona coach to the Munich evening newspaper. "Here in Spain a decision about the sport has to be made by May 31. If it is decided in Germany beforehand that the BBL can continue to play, that would be a message for our basketball league as well. Many say:" If the Bundesliga can play , then why shouldn't we also play? ""
The BBL has presented politicians and the authorities with a roughly 50-page hygiene and security concept that is currently being examined. Pesic wishes the league a positive decision. "Sport is important for society. But there is no question: the most important thing is health. That will remain the dilemma at least until the end of the year," said Pesic, who previously looked after Bayern.
Information about the tournament on the BBL homepage