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Tim BontempsESPN
The NBA has shared with its players a security plan to help enforce the health and safety protocols it announced last week and secure its campus at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex for the resumption of the 2019-20 season, league sources told ESPN.
The league will use local, state and federal law enforcement agencies, as well as experienced venue and contracted security professionals and team security staffs.
A source familiar with the league’s plans said there will be no law enforcement within the campus. Law enforcement will only be used outside of it to keep the campus secure.
NBA locations in Orlando, Florida, also will have secured perimeters, technological security deployments and a “fusion center” approach to threat intelligence. In addition, league security will ensure all venues and team hotel campuses are closed to non-credentialed individuals. There will be secure checkpoints, credential control and roving security inside and outside the perimeter of every location in use.
Any off-campus movement would be limited to either a preapproved emergency or a planned movement supported by NBA security. For any off-campus events that are organized for leisure purposes, league security will be supplemented by former special-operations forces personnel in order to “provide a scalable safety bubble.” On-campus activities will be handled by individual team security.
A combination of the Department of Homeland Security, Walt Disney World Security and the NBA’s Global Security Operations Center will monitor networks for social media threats, and share intelligence directed toward the event. According to the DHS website, a fusion center “is a collaborative effort of two or more agencies that provide resources, expertise and information to the center with the goal of maximizing their ability to detect, prevent, investigate, and respond to criminal and terrorist activity.”
In addition, Orange and Osceola County sheriff’s offices will have a presence at team hotels and at the three arenas being used at Disney’s Wide World of Sports Complex. The Florida Highway Patrol will escort team buses to and from games.
Teams began individual workouts in their home markets Tuesday, when they were required to begin testing players every other day. Tuesday also marked two weeks before teams are scheduled to begin arriving in Orlando on July 7.
Games for the 22 teams who will resume play will begin on July 30, with the first round of playoffs set to start in late August. The NBA Finals are scheduled to conclude no later than Oct. 13.