Warriors expect to lose to ‘tens of millions’ with no fans in attendance

When the Golden State Warriors play the Brooklyn Nets on Thursday, it will be the first time in NBA history that there will not be any fans in attendance.

The league confirmed it will follow direction from the city of San Francisco, which banned gatherings of 1,000 or more for at least the next two weeks due to concerns about the coronavirus outbreak.

Warriors President and COO Rick Welts and GM Bob Myers spoke to the media about the decision and shared what we can expect to see regarding logistics and the impact of not having fans in attendance (h/t Anthony Slater of The Athletic)

• Welts says the financial loss for the Warriors will be in the “tens of millions” of dollars.

“Our player compensation system is related to basketball related income. This will affect basketball related income,” Welts said. “Just like the other issue we have had in China over the course of the year has already affected it.”

“The answer is it will [have an impact], Myers said. “To what degree, we don’t know.”

• The games without fans will be broadcast on radio and television.
• Matt Pitman will still be performing his duties as PA announcer.
• The players were asked if they would like to have music played as normal throughout the game and said that they would.

“Consulting with the players, they kind of think it’s weird not to have at least some music during practice,” Welts said.

“We just hit them with this in real time, they may show up tomorrow at shoot around with some ideas, they might come and say, ‘hey, we thought about it and came up with x, y’ and we will try to comply as much as we can,” Myers said. “There is a seriousness to this too. We are trying to balance being civil and respectful of what is happening.”

While it will be odd to see a game without fans in attendance, the reasoning is completely understandable.

Will you still be watching or listening to the games that will be played without fans?