What the Miami Heat and the entire NBA can learn from the UFC & WWE

A general view of American Airlines Arena after the game between the Miami Heat and the Charlotte Hornets (Photo by Michael Reaves/Getty Images)
A general view of American Airlines Arena after the game between the Miami Heat and the Charlotte Hornets (Photo by Michael Reaves/Getty Images)

With Miami Heat players potentially nearing a return to facilities, gears are turning. Here’s something the NBA can learn from the UFC & WWE if they return.

The Miami Heat haven’t played a game since March 11, 2020. Although the reasoning for such is extremely viable and although we wouldn’t have it any other way in order to ensure the safety of the masses, when you think about how longs it’s actually been since they last played a game, it really captures the most authentic depth and perspective of that fact.

That is a long time for anything to be halted, taken a break from, or suspended in this case, nevertheless an extremely rigorous professional sports season, that in order to finish requires at least three more months of rigorous play. Needless to say, it’ll be a tough ask whenever things start to ramp back up and that’s if at all again this season.

Perhaps those chances are looking better than they have since the suspension was put into place though, as we are starting to hear more and more chatter about a potential Miami Heat return to facilities. We have also heard quite a bit much more than that.

When thinking about getting back to actual basketball games, there have also been a couple of actual plans floated out there. With the need for crowd control and simultaneous sequestering of players to keep potential sickness away from the players in the chance of resumption, places like Las Vegas and Orlando have come up.

While actually having a place to facilitate the housing of the players and the playing of the games is one thing, playing the games will be a totally different thing. Everything should go as planned as far as the actual gameplay, as playing basketball is just like riding a bike in that you never forget it even though you may have to shake off the rust.

The issue lies in the things that surround the gameplay. While there are a ton of other things that will and need to be accounted for, here is something that the Miami Heat and the NBA can learn from the WWE and the UFC.

With the two aforementioned entities putting on events already at this point during the coronavirus pandemic, we’ve all had the chance to see and experience a live sporting event without a live audience. In case you hadn’t though, it has not been impressive.

The main thing that the NBA can take from them, and although simple-sounding in nature, is the fact that they will need to manufacture an environment of some sort. Whether that be via pumping in artificial crowd noise, blasting music, or something else, they must find a way to keep it from being a quiet gym with random chatter, shoe squeaks, and ball bounces.

While the league certainly has more kinks to work out than that if they look to return soon, this is one cue that they can take from two companies that have already put it on the line. We sure hope they figure it all out, because Miami Heat basketball withdrawal is nothing to laugh at.