John Senden knows how big these next three days are, not just for Maridoe Golf Club but for the entire sport.

The Maridoe Samaritan Fund Invitational, a 54-hole fundraising tournament featuring several touring professionals and top amateurs, is set to begin Tuesday at the Dallas-area club, which is hoping to send a message that golf tournaments can be played safely during the coronavirus pandemic.

“The spotlight is going to be on us to see if we can get it right,” Senden told GolfChannel.com after Monday’s practice round. “I think that we’re playing a very unique sport where I think it’s the only sport that can be played under social-distancing rules. If we get this right, it could be the platform for other events coming up.

"I’m sure there will be plenty of eyes on us.”

With the PGA Tour currently slated to restart on June 11 at what will be a fan-less Colonial Country Club, less than an hour away at Maridoe, tournament organizers have rolled out a laundry list of protocols and precautions in an effort to keep their competitors, staff and members safe.

In a mandatory player meeting via Zoom on Monday night, officials planned to review social-distancing rules with the 72 players in the field. Each competitor will be required to carry their own bag and arrive no earlier than 30 minutes before their tee times. They will each be allowed one guest, and facilities such as the clubhouse, locker room and range will be closed. Players will be asked to keep at least 6 feet of distance between the other two members of their threesome, and each group will have one walking scorer who will also be responsible for raking bunkers.

The event will also be closed to all public and media.

“Hopefully the authorities, such as the federal government or the governor of Texas, can see that we can produce our sport and be safe and healthy doing it,” added Senden, about an hour before Texas Governor Greg Abbott announced that the state’s stay-at-home order would expire Thursday as Texas begins the process of reopening its state.

As more states follow suit in the coming weeks and months, it’s likely more tournaments will look to follow a model similar to Maridoe's. Korn Ferry Tour player Kevin Dougherty is crossing his fingers that also means his tour, which is supposed to resume in mid-June, as well, at a new event held at TPC Sawgrass’ Dye’s Valley Course.

“I hope that a spark turns into a huge fire, to be honest with you,” Dougherty said. “I hope that we start playing June 11. Is that going to happen? I’m not sure. That depends on a lot of things. … But I definitely think this is going to bring a good amount of awareness, as well as helping us stay sharp and get a little bit of competitive juices going.”

With PGA Tour leading rookies Viktor Hovland and Scottie Scheffler headlining the field alongside former Dallas Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo, Dougherty and his fellow competitors – many of whom have been playing money games at Maridoe for the past couple of months – will have quite the challenge awaiting them.

Senden has been a member at Maridoe for four years, practically since the club’s inception, so he knows how brutally tough the 7,900-yard, par-72 layout can play.

“You put it up against the courses we play on the PGA Tour and it’s inside the top 10 in terms of difficulty,” Senden said. “It’s a bit like a major-championship test.”

With 25 mph winds expected for Tuesday’s opening round, scoring conditions will be even tougher.

Said Dougherty, a member for more than two years: “Everyone’s going to get the whole Maridoe experience.”

The U.K. government's cabinet minister responsible for sport said he has been in talks with the Premier League with the aim of getting football back on the field as quickly as possible.

Speaking at a parliamentary questions session, Oliver Dowden, Culture, Media and Sport Secretary, said: "I personally have been in talks with the Premier League with a view to getting football up and running as soon as possible in order to support the whole football community.

"But of course, any such moves would have to be consistent with public health guidance."

The Premier League, which has been on hold since March 13, remains suspended until at least April 30 while lockdown measures are in place in the United Kingdom until May 7, when the government is set to review the current restrictions in place.

But three London clubs, Arsenal, West Ham and Tottenham Hotspur, along with Brighton, have already re-opened their training grounds, allowing limited return for players while observing social distancing protocols.

Those clubs say that players will only be using outdoor field facilities for individual work and will not take part in team activities.

Premier League clubs will hold their latest conference call on Friday as they continue to evaluate various options for finishing the season, but a re-start of matches is not expected until June at the earliest.

Last week the league said it was "working through complex planning scenarios" and there are a number of practical hurdles that they face.

With the ban on mass public gatherings likely to be one of the last restrictions to be removed, rescheduled games could be held behind closed doors, possibly at neutral venues.

English cricket's governing body, the ECB, has been given the leading role for all sport in the country, including football, in examining how to create "bio-secure" venues, with the focus on stadiums with hotel facilities connected or nearby -- to limit the need for extensive travel.

The referee for the final of the 1990 World Cup has slammed Argentina legend Diego Maradona's regular attacks on him over the past 30 years and labeled him a "despicable" person.

West Germany defeated Argentina 1-0 in Rome in an ill-tempered game in which the South American side ended with only nine players, with the Europeans scoring a late penalty to lift the World Cup.

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Uruguay-born referee Edgardo Codesal, who has been based in Mexico for over 40 years, has regularly been the focus of verbal attacks by Maradona for his handling of the match.

Codesal spoke out about the final in recent days, explaining in an interview on the Tirando Paredes show that he could've sent Maradona off even before kick-off for insulting the crowd, who booed the Argentine national anthem.

The former referee stated that he could've shown Maradona another red following the sending off of Pedro Monzon in the 65th minute, to which the Argentina star claimed the referee had been sent by FIFA to rob them, according to Codesal.

"I could've sent him off there as well," Codesal said. "I had to think about it because of the player he was ... But as a person? He's one of the worst people I have known in my life."

Codesal wrote on Twitter that following the interview he had received negative messages, but didn't back down from his classification of Maradona.

"Following the wave of comments, insults [going back 30 years] and yearnings that my children and my grandchildren die of COVID[-19] to see me suffer because I said Maradona is despicable, see the definition: not worthy of appreciation and esteem," wrote Codesal. "For me he is not [worthy of appreciation]. I said he was a brilliant player, but as a person he's despicable."

Codesal's handling of the final has long been the subject of debate in Argentina.

Monzon was the first player to be sent off in a World Cup final when he dove in on Jurgen Klinsmann, while West Germany was also awarded a penalty for Roberto Sensini's tackle on Rudi Voller. Andreas Brehme stepped up to score the winner in the 85th minute.

Gustavo Dezotti was then sent off two minutes later for a challenge on Jurgen Kohler.

Maradona has never forgotten the match, regularly mentioning Codesal, including in 2018 in Queretaro as manager of Mexican side Dorados de Sinaloa. When he was told that the former referee lives in Queretaro, the Argentine replied: "This is the land of thieves?"

The Chicago Blackhawks released president and CEO John McDonough, the team announced on Monday.

McDonough was hired Blackhawks in 2007 and was seen as a major architect of the Blackhawks Stanley Cups in 2010, 2013 and 2015. Before that, the team hadn't won a Cup since 1961.

McDonough came to the Blackhawks after spending 24 years with the Chicago Cubs, including as the team president.

"Thirteen years ago, I recruited John to the Blackhawks because of his leadership, direction and vision," Blackhawks owner Rocky Wirtz said in a statement. "John brought all of that to the table and more. His contributions went well beyond leading the team to three Stanley Cup Championships. He rebuilt the front office and helped guide the organization toward a winning vision. As difficult as this is, we believe it was the right decision for the future of the organization and its fans."

Rocky Wirtz's son Daniel, who currently serves as VP of the Blackhawks, will be the interim president. In a statement, the Blackhawks said that ownership is "committed to ensuring strong executive leadership" and will immediately begin a search for a new president.

The Blackhawks missed the playoffs in each of the past two seasons and have not made it past the first round since they won the Cup in 2015. The team fired Joel Quenneville, the coach of all three Cup wins, in 2018, and there has been speculation that general manager Stan Bowman could also be on the hot seat. Last month, Rocky Wirtz told the Athletic that he anticipated that coach Jeremy Colliton, Bowman and McDonough would all return for the 2020-21 season.

McDonough oversaw a lot of the business operations, including partnerships, marketing and the fan experience. McDonough was instrumental in getting all 82 of the team's schedule on television -- something that did not exist in the previous regime -- and also created the popular Blackhawks Convention, which happens every summer. Within two years of McDonough's hiring, the Blackhawks jumped from 118th to 21st in ESPN The Magazine's Ultimate Standings.

Since McDonough's arrival, the Blackhawks routinely rank first in NHL attendance. At the time of the NHL's coronavirus pause, Chicago was on a record 531 home game sell-out run.

Under McDonough's leadership the team also brought back Hall of Famers Tony Esposito, Bobby Hull and Stan Mikita as team ambassadors.

In a statement, Rocky Wirtz said he used the NHL's pause as "an opportunity to reassess the team's future and to set a renewed positive direction for the organization."

"While we can reassure our fans there will be hockey again, no one knows what that will look like," Wirtz said. "What we do know is that it will take a new mindset to successfully transition the organization to win both on and off the ice."

In an appearance on the ESPN on Ice podcast in October 2018, Rocky Wirtz complimented McDonough's leadership, despite the team missing the playoffs for the first time in a decade.

"Many times, the public doesn't know what is going on," Wirtz said in 2018. "Probably what you read or hear, it's probably about 10 percent of what's going on. I have great faith in the organization. [Team president] John McDonough is a terrific executive in both hockey and the business side. The good thing is, they're working together. That's the big thing. There's not a 'we' and 'they' kind of approach. You win together and you lose together. But when you win together, it's a lot more fun. I think they're going to continue to reinvent themselves. This is not the worst thing that happens. I think it's good because you take a step back and realize how long that summer is, and nobody wants to do that."

How we can approach a ‘new normal’ in squash: with masks and gloves compulsory to start with
By RICHARD MILLMAN – Squash Mad Correspondent

While we are hunkered down, staying home to allow our amazing front line workers in the hospitals, ambulances, police, armed forces etc to do their brave and essential work in combatting this terrible virus, we cannot but cast our worried minds toward the survival of our beloved game.

We don’t yet know if we will have vaccines, anti-body testing, plasma donations or indeed whether or not we will be able to become reinfected having once had the Covid-19 virus.

We do know that unless we meticulously take steps to protect our fellows and ourselves, whatever activities we engage in outside our own homes could, potentially, lead to spread of the disease and a spike in infections and – horrifically – deaths.

But. We must prepare our sport for the day that we can begin to approach the ‘new normal’ in the history of squash.

I have been talking with multiple NGB’s about how we can make a limited return to the game as safely as possible.

Towards this end we have adapted the iMask face shield to create a full-length version that can be used to provide a barrier to infection both from the user to the outside world and the outside world to the user.

We are hoping to help out-of-work coaches earn some revenue by giving them commission on sales to their networks of club members, players, students and friends. Announcements will be made shortly.

Discussions about precisely how to return to squash are in very early stages. But here are some initial thoughts:

1. Players will not be able to tarry in and around courts and clubs. We will have to turn up at an appointed time, play and leave.

2. Players will need to wear a full face shield, a quality cycling or running anti-pollution mask (designed for athletic breathing) and likely lightweight waterproof gloves (to prevent spread via sweat on the ball or on walls and doors).

3. We will have to play a version of the game that is called ‘Sides’ or the ‘Crosscourt Game’. The rules are very simple. You must play all your shots across the court to your opponent’s side of the court. To win a point, your ball must bounce twice in your opponent’s half. If your second bounce lands in your own half, the ball is out. This is a tremendously fast and athletic version of the game because, while the court is half as big, the game is twice as fast as a consequence.

4. Once we can begin the ‘new normal’ and we have at least some play, our out of work coaches can begin to do some socially distanced coaching (boast drive, drop drive, drop lob, short games, crosscourt deep game, boast crosscourt games, diagonal games, volley games etc) and in doing so, revitalize participation with their energy and enthusiasm.

5. We must be careful of air conditioning systems. We may have to suffer in the hot weather rather than recirculate the virus. Be prepared to sweat.

6. We will have to clean and ‘bomb’ courts before and after every game with disinfecting mist. 

7. We can begin self-scheduling tournaments of the ‘Sides’ games. I would recommend first club championships, with winners going on to city or district or area championships. Players should send videos of the matches to the organisers and organisers should ask all members of the club or association to vote on the best rally. Since no one will be there to watch, we can achieve community with video.

This is by no means an exhaustive list. Just some of the things we have come up with so far.

My friend Rob Eberhard in Canada is developing some really innovative software to help people return to club life and interact. Look out for that – he is really on the ball.

I believe the next World Squash Day will perhaps be the most important World Squash Day of our existence.

We must proceed extremely carefully and safely.

But we must proceed. Or squash will not survive.

Stay well, my friends, and stay safe.

But prepare.

Because whenever World Squash Day comes and we begin the ‘new normal’ we must be ready.

Richard Millman
 

England's Ellis Genge says it is time to "shake up the rugby scene" after confirming plans to set up a new union, designed to provide elite players with improved commercial and legal advice.

He feels players were "poorly advised" over measures taken by clubs as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.

The Leicester prop, 25, says the new organisation would be independently funded to avoid conflicts of interest.

"We wouldn't have to answer to a governing body," he said.

Genge outlined his vision on the latest episode of the Rugby Union Weekly podcast, but said he is not trying to replace the Rugby Players' Association (RPA), which was set up in 1998 and has represented England’s top-flight players since then.

However, Genge feels the RPA is compromised because of the funding it receives from the Rugby Football Union (RFU) and Premiership Rugby (PRL), and as a result it "can't bite the hand that feeds".

He added: "We are not making a new RPA. I think they do really good stuff with welfare in rugby and they look after people really well.

"But I do feel that people were poorly advised [over the pay cuts]. People were advised from the off to sign the contracts without reading them, almost.

"Commercially, I didn’t think everyone was being represented very well.

"So I am trying to put together a players’ union. It is not to replace the RPA or to combat the RFU. Honestly, it is nothing of the sort.

"It is just so people can get really good advice from trusted professionals in those specific fields: [for example] around commercial and legal [issues]."

RPA liaison officer Christian Day told the Rugby Union Weekly earlier this month that the varying approaches of the Premiership clubs around the pay cuts had led to an "absolute mess" of a situation, and called for "more dialogue" from the start.

Meanwhile, RPA chief executive Damian Hopley told the Daily Telegraph that the union has given "as much advice, information and direction to the players as possible" during the process, but said all parties would admit it could have been handled differently.

'Players tell me they have been stitched up'

Genge, along with Tigers team-mate Greg Bateman, sought legal help after being asked to take a 25% pay cut by the Leicester hierarchy, before being placed on furlough.

While their actions initially led to a stand-off with those at the top of the club, Genge says the issue is now resolved but adds that seeking external advice was the right decision given the legal complexities of the furlough situation.

"No-one wants to hear you're having a 25% pay cut, but there are bigger powers at play in the world," he explained.

"I just feel the way we went about it gave me and a few other people the idea of making it a regular thing.

"If people need advice on severance packages or any contract advice - and obviously the agents do that - but it's always good to have more support.

"I’ve had a lot of friends in rugby come to me and say: 'I’ve been stitched up with this, or I’ve been shafted with this, or I don’t know how to approach this.'

"I've thought to myself, why don't we have another union the boys can independently contact?"

'Time to shake up the scene'

Genge has started negotiations with a host of interested parties over private funding, while he also hopes a number of players will be prepared to put money into the venture, with the prospect of a return on their investment.

"The boys would have to understand it is going to be independently run, and for that you would need a decent kitty," he said.

"But we are getting good help from a lot of good people. This is for everyone, as a whole, to be represented much better commercially.

"The RPA do a lot of those negotiations, and it is always going to lean in favour to the RFU or PRL, and I totally understand those situations. There is no malice behind that but it is fundamentally how it works at the moment.

"I am not trying to go against owners of clubs, or the RFU or the RPA, I think we can all work in tandem.

"But I do think it is time to shake up the rugby scene, and look after players - commercially, and in every aspect - a lot better."

TOLEDO, Ohio – Ron Drager, the owner and promoter of Flat Rock (Mich.) Speedway and Toledo (Ohio) Speedway, has announced the cancelation and postponements of several events at both tracks.

The cancelations and postponements are due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

At Toledo Speedway, the May 16 ARCA Menards Series East event has been postponed. That event will be rescheduled at a later date. In addition, the School Bus Figure 8 race on May 29 and the Great Inflatable Race run on June 6 have both been postponed and dates are being considered for potential rescheduling of both events.

At Flat Rock Speedway, all race events through May 30 have been canceled. In addition, Flat Rock Historical Society Flea Market on May 3, the Automotive Drifting event on May 10 and all TKC Go-Kart Club events have also been canceled.

“We will monitor and comply with the guidances of Federal, State and local government and healthcare authorities,” said Drager. “As timelines become better defined and approved activities designated, we will announce schedule updates. We stand aligned together with healthcare workers, first responders and public health officials as we continue to work through these difficult times, especially in our area. We encourage everyone to keep informed of developments through official CDC and WHO updates and to use recommended best practice precautions such as social distancing, frequent hand washing, use of hand sanitizer and covering coughs and sneezes appropriately.

“While it is our intention to return to racing when it is approved, safe and viable for us as a business, it is clear that in both Michigan and Ohio this will be a progressive process and that sporting events with attendance by the general public will be among the last activities to resume. Due to the uncertainty of specific dates for future racing events, the advance sale of tickets for all events has been suspended until further notice.”

BALLSTON SPA, N.Y. — Regular readers will recall that we’ve been looking at the past in a manner borrowed from comedian Jeff Foxworthy, whose routines always began, “You might be a redneck if…”

In that vein, we have a few more observations that may trigger memories for many “old timers” and offer historical insight to others.

You might be an old timer if you remember when speedways held heavily promoted powder puff races a couple of times a year, with wives and girlfriends of drivers or crew members taking the wheel for a 10-lap race.  At a time when women were not even allowed in the pit area, the events drew a lot of interest and some ladies proved to be surprisingly fast.

I can recall my mother taking a stab at it in my father’s flathead powered coupe while leaving me in charge of my sister and two brothers in the ancient grandstand at the old Brookfield Fairgrounds.  She found she didn’t enjoy the experience and quickly retired from racing.

That made us all happy, as one lady had driven off turn one on the long straightaway half-mile and nailed a big maple tree, destroying her mount and inflicting serious injuries on herself.

A less serious but similar incident came at the quarter-mile Utica-Rome oval, when a lady gassed it a bit too quick out of turn four, got sideways and, still hard on the gas, shot across the infield and T-boned the pace car. By then, the race cars were much safer and she was OK, though the same couldn’t be said for the pace car.

Another sign you might be an old timer is if you remember when modifieds had fold down windshields that could be tipped back, wiped and then pushed back in place.  This was before tearoffs were invented and if your bubble shield or goggles got covered with mud or oil, you were in trouble, as wiping them just smeared the mess.

We found a trove of old side window glass from a defunct Chevy dealership stashed in the other end of the building that housed our race car shop and, after brazing up a frame that came apart at the top, cut rectangles of the safety glass to fit in the frame. That went into two brackets welded to the front roll cage bar and tightened enough so that it could be tipped to be wiped with a rag stored under the seat cushion but would otherwise stay in place.

The number of pieces of glass needed in a season was in direct proportion to the number of rocks in the racing surface.

You are for sure an old timer if you remember when NASCAR modifieds ran Hilborn fuel injection on Chevy big blocks and burned alcohol – lots of it.

We got ours through superstar driver Lou Lazzaro, who had numerous barrels delivered each week to his north Utica gas station. When setting out for a four race week, we’d have the car full, a full 55 gallon drum strapped to the tire rack on the ramp truck and a couple of jerry cans full for transferring the fuel to the car. Today, the state police might take a dim view of that but in the 60’s, nobody said anything.

Speaking of alcohol, you’re certainly an old timer if you remember when North Carolina’s Perk Brown wheeled William Mason’s No. 45 coupe at all the Martinsville races and on a few forays into Yankeeland. Brown won a lot of races while Mason made a great many friends with the cherries in moonshine he provided visitors from the north unused to such delicacies.

One person we know who enjoyed the shine said it was great going in but hurt when it came back out and took the black right out of the asphalt where he spewed on the highway.  He may have been exaggerating a little but not much.

Another sign of being an old timer came when an observer commented on how teams were constantly checking and changing shocks and some had their digital scales out to check wheel weights.

Old timers will recall that generally shocks were shocks, with most teams forsaking OEM Ford lever arm shocks for 50/50 Monroes, then a mix of 50/50’s and other ratios. Scaling a car, first with old grain scales and then digital units, was unheard of.

Once the desired number of springs leaves was settled on – more or less for dirt or asphalt – then the car was placed on a level surface, a jack with a three-quarter or larger deep socket on it placed under the quick change and the car jacked up.  How far the right rear came off the ground before the left rear was your wedge and was adjusted by cranking the right front wedge bolt up or down a turn or two.

A common measure was the toe of a boot inserted in the space. After that, small wedge bolt adjustments were made following hot laps and heat races. For the feature, you were stuck with whatever you decided, though longtime star Pete Corey was found to have a porta-power hidden in his car that let him jack weight in or out during a race.

Nobody noticed the trick for quite a while, as Corey had lost part of a leg in a racing incident and since he had a prosthetic, most assumed he had some sort of hand control in the car because of his leg.

Racers, as the saying goes, are great at making lemonade when life hands you lemons.

The Calgary Flames and forward Mathias Emilio Pettersen have agreed to a three-year, entry-level contract, the team announced Monday.

Pettersen, 20, a Norway native, was a sixth-round pick of the Flames in 2018.

He spent the last two seasons at the University of Denver, and had a team-high 35 points (13 goals, 22 assists) for the Pioneers in 2019-20.

The 5-foot-10, 175-pound left-handed center leaves Denver with 19 goals and 65 points in 76 games on his resume. In his tenure, the Pioneers finished 21-9-6 this season before the NCAA tournament was canceled, and last season Denver advanced to the Frozen Four, before falling to UMass, 4-3, in overtime in the national semifinal.

The NBA has pushed back its original plan to allow players to reenter team facilities for voluntary workouts by a week until May 8.

The league had been planning to reopen facilities beginning on Friday, including the Atlanta Hawks' facility in Georgia, which was among the first states to loosen stay-at-home orders amid the coronavirus pandemic.

Before the NBA's announcement on Monday, the Hawks had decided to wait until they had a better sense of how the loosening of the stay-at-open measures was impacting the region.

"We are going to wait and see what happens in the state over the couple weeks," Hawks president of basketball operations and general manager Travis Schlenk told ESPN. "If there's a positive response, we'll slowly open up. If it's a negative response, we'll make sure our staff and players remain healthy."

ESPN obtained a 16-page league memo on Monday that detailed to teams the requirements of reopening facilities, including allowing only four players in a facility at one time, and having only one staff member supervising. No coaches are to be allowed in the workouts with players, the memo said. A distance of 12 feet must be kept among individuals on the court.

The NBA also told teams that there would be a process put in place to help teams in closed states find options to get back on the floor on this limited basis, the memo said.

The NBA shared the broad strokes of a May 1 opening in a memo distributed to a limited group of owners on a league subcommittee on Saturday, although most front-office executives were unaware of the league's plan until an ESPN report later that afternoon. Across Saturday night and Sunday, general managers made calls to the league office and front-office peers to try to get a fuller understanding of the league's plans.

Among a dozen GMs reached by ESPN, most had apprehensions about bringing back players into facilities in regions where politics seemed to be driving the reopening of businesses --- not science and medical expertise.

"There has been a concern that players could start flocking to states that are reopening," one team president told ESPN on Sunday.

With nearly a third of the league's teams across several states possibly poised to reopen based upon the loosening of governmental stay-at-home regulations in coming weeks, a significant number of top team executives are privately expressing concerns about the idea. Still, there were several organizations that believed the timing was appropriate to allow players back into a controlled environment under team supervision, where local governments allowed the facilities to open.

Some executives believe that players would inevitably start to move toward unsanctioned use of public gymnasiums, and that could create a greater health concern for players.

As players started to call teams on Saturday and Sunday searching for direction on when and where they could possibly return to individual workouts, organizations in restrictive stay-at-home markets remain unsure how to proceed.

Some owners were told on Saturday that the NBA would work with those teams -- including in places like Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco and Detroit -- to find alternatives for training should their players want to do so, which turned out to be the case in Monday's memo.

Some teams did worry about the competitive advantage of players getting a significant jump on training in the event of the season's resumption; others worry about the wisdom and safety of essentially encouraging players to travel out-of-market to find gymnasiums or team facilities that can accommodate them.

Georgia has been the first to open up public gymnasiums -- such as 24-Hour Fitness and Equinox clubs -- and some team executives on a GM conference call with the league office Thursday shared that they had players asking if they should consider flying to Georgia, sources said. A couple of executives suggested that players had wondered whether they should find a way to get into a gym to play basketball again, including if there was a way to access the Hawks' team facility itself, sources said.

Players have been prohibited by the NBA from using public gymnasiums or training facilities during the league's shutdown.

Many players have left the markets where their teams play during the shutdown, and it's expected that organizations with open facilities could be asked to let opposing players living locally use their gyms on a limited basis.

The NBA's decision to reopen facilities based on the loosening of local governmental policies isn't considered reflective of a new timetable for a resumption of play this season, sources said. Commissioner Adam Silver and owners still believe they need more time to gain a clearer picture on whether, when or how they could possibly resume the season, sources said.