How does the 52-round CBA protect the health of players?

Under the intensive schedule of the CBA, BAIC lost Zeng Fanbo, who broke his feet at the beginning, in the 28th round. Photo by Beijing News reporter Wang Fei

On the evening of January 8, the BAIC men's basketball team lost 85-118 to Nanjing Tongxi at home. The second half of this season's CBA regular season has just started, and BAIC's ultra-intensive schedule of 6 games in 11 days has only finished halfway.

After the CBA regular season increased to 52 rounds for the first time, one game every other day became the norm for each team. In the home-and-away format, this kind of game intensity is very challenging, and it is even more unfriendly to a team like BAIC whose main players are older. The 52-round regular season lasted for nearly half a year and spanned three seasons, and it was difficult to avoid injuries and illnesses among players. After 27 rounds, Zhao Jiwei and other players mentioned that the fatigue caused by the tight schedule has become a major difficulty to overcome.

As soon as the CBA league announced the schedule, it received feedback that the schedule was too dense. However, due to factors such as broadcast demand, holiday arrangements, and Chinese men's basketball game tasks, the room for adjustment is very limited. Judging from the current effect, the addition of regular season rounds has not directly improved the attractiveness of the league, but has put the health of players, the league's biggest asset, at risk.

Schedule

Guangsha "boomerang" type 5 passengers, Guangdong limit transfer

In addition to the 52nd round of the CBA regular season, which is customary to start at the same time, 31 of the first 51 rounds are played in two days, so many teams play as many as 60% of the games every other day.

Xinjiang, the farthest afield, are relatively favoured, with a two-day gap between home and away conversions, including the away team against them. However, there are exceptions, and they happened to the Guangdong men's basketball team: on December 13, the Guangdong team played at home against the BAIC men's basketball team, and on December 15, there was an away game against the Xinjiang team. There is no airport in Dongguan, and the shortest flight time is more than 5 hours, whether from Guangzhou or Shenzhen. The team has to arrange a series of work such as training, preparation, and treatment after a tiring journey. In an interview on the morning of the match day, Du Feng, the head coach of the Guangdong team, couldn't help but "complain": "The intensity of this season (schedule) is too dense. ”

Guangsha embarked on a five-passenger journey from the 14th to the 18th round. After the previous round of home games, the team left for Chengdu the next day, and after finishing the match against Sichuan, they moved to Nanjing the next day, and also only had one day to go to Shenyang. Guangsha then headed south to Ningbo, this time with a two-day break, and then to the last stop, Qingdao, two days apart. Even the coach who has been in the CBA for nearly 20 years is the first time to experience such a five-game tour, and if you draw a road map, it is very similar to a boomerang.

The biggest feature of the Liaoning team's schedule is that it frequently switches between home and away: such as the 25th to 30th rounds, 37th to 39th rounds and the 6th round of make-up matches (see the figure below for details), which is basically a two-day intensity, including after playing at home on February 5, they will arrive in Nantong the next day to prepare for the make-up match with the Jiangsu men's basketball team on February 7.

From the 25th round to the 30th round, the 37th to the 39th round and the 6th round of make-up matches, the schedule of the Liaoning team switches frequently between home and away.

status quo

Injuries have increased, and only one national player has been on duty

In contrast, the BAIC men's basketball team's schedule of 6 games in 11 days includes 3 consecutive hosts, which is somewhat lucky.

In the first 28 rounds, Zhai Xiaochuan, Zhang Cairen and Tian Yuxiang were all in full attendance, and they were all minor injuries and minor illnesses. Fang Shuo played the first 27 rounds, and was absent in the 28th round due to additional suspension. As a veteran, Fang Shuo has been plagued by coughing for a long time, but he has been fighting with illness. Fever, cold and other symptoms, almost everyone in the team took their turns, and Lei Meng, Qiu Tian and foreign aid also missed the game due to injuries.

Zhai Xiaochuan (left) fought with an injury at the beginning of the season, and he, Zhang Cairen (middle) and Tian Yuxiang (right) became the pacesetters in the first 28 rounds. Photo by Beijing News reporter Wang Fei

The Liaoning team also needs the support of veterans, and in the first 27 rounds, only Li Xiaoxu and foreign aid Fogg were fully attended. From the 18th to the 23rd round, they also experienced 6 games in 11 days. In the 27th round of Liaoning against Beijing Control, Zhao Jiwei, who had gastrointestinal discomfort on the morning of the match, went into battle to help the team stop the losing streak.

Zhao Jiwei said bluntly after the game: "The journey is very taxing on the players, and the training and recovery of the whole team are not guaranteed, which is what we need to face and learn." Zhao Jiwei can no longer hold on to meet Guangsha, injury attrition has become the main reason for the recent 4 games and 3 losses of Liao Basketball, and the "overcoming difficulties" repeatedly mentioned by head coach Ugo and many players is not a lie.

The Zhejiang team, which has the youngest average age this season, has 5 full-time players including Wu Qian and Cheng Shuaipeng in the first 27 rounds, and they are all main rotation players, and 3 people such as Yu Jiahao (26 games) have missed no more than 3 games. The "leader" Xinjiang team's Abdul Salamu and Yu Dehao played the first 27 rounds, and 7 people including Telles and Jones missed no more than 3 games, basically the main force of the team. It can be seen that the overall young team with a deep squad can better withstand the dense schedule.

Of the nine national players who participated in the World Cup and Asian Games with the Chinese men's basketball team last summer, only Zhu Junlong of Guangsha did not miss the first 28 rounds, playing an average of 33.4 minutes per game. Zhou Qi and Zhao Rui's appearances are in single digits, and Wang Zhelin has also experienced many injuries. Since the end of last season, he has not been able to get enough rest, and the summer has undergone intensive training, training and high-intensity competitions, and seamlessly connected with the "devil's schedule" of the league, which is even more unfriendly to all national players.

Among the men's basketball players who participated in the two major competitions last year, only Zhu Junlong (left) of Guangsha maintained full attendance in the first 28 rounds of the CBA. Photo/Xinhua News Agency

effect

The attendance rate of many teams is not ideal, and the pressure on the operation of the venue increases

After nearly 3 years of the CBA competition system, the third phase of the regular season last season began to resume home and away, which received a warm response from fans, and the home attendance rate of each team was considerable.

However, as the season progresses, home attendance for most teams is on a downward trend. During the cold wave in Beijing in December last year, the National Stadium and Wukesong Stadium, two stadiums with a capacity of 15,000 people, had a large area of empty seats, and the players could hear the tactics shouted on the field clearly. The home stadiums of Guangdong and Liaoning, which were popular in the past, are no longer the grand occasion of the past.

A sports forum has a post discussing the decline in home popularity, and users have given statements that the team's results are not satisfactory and the ticket price is high, and some people pointed out: "There are more games, but they are not so exciting." "With the dense schedule, the players' form has increased and the excitement of the game has been reduced.

As for ticket prices, clubs and venues have difficulties. In short, the CBA regular season, which has increased to 52 rounds this season, is 168 days long, and there are more home games than the 38 and 46 rounds of previous seasons, which also means that operating costs have risen.

This year, sports events and cultural performances have fully resumed, and all venues have finally waited for a small peak in the schedule. Compared with undertaking concerts, the cost performance of the CBA home stadium is undoubtedly much lower. The venue is the most important part of each competition area, and a lot of manpower and material resources must be invested before, during and after the game. Some operators are under the supervision of local authorities, while others such as Wukesong are operated by private enterprises.

A club staff told the Beijing News that after the season became larger, the negotiation with the venue added many difficulties, "to coordinate the schedule of the venue, prepare for the variables, but also involve many aspects such as fee payment and box office sharing." A venue manager also revealed that there was a lot of pressure on the management level to take over the home task this season, and even many games were actually losing money, and if this is still the case next season, it may be re-weighed.

On January 5, in the 26th round of CBA, the Liaoning team lost to the Jilin team away, and Zhao Jiwei showed fatigue in the game. Photo/Xinhua News Agency

Probe

"Competition with business", but the team has become a victim?

This season's regular season has two windows, with round 52 divided into three phases, each of which is scheduled for each day (except for Round 52). Such a schedule is largely to meet the demand for broadcasting.

It is understood that before the men's basketball World Cup last year, the league issued at least one version of the season schedule, and it did consider that the Chinese men's basketball team may have to prepare for the Paris Olympics and other international basketball league events in 2024. On the other hand, the league should also consider the rights and interests of sponsors and partners, as well as the home schedule, travel distance, etc.

When the draft schedule was received in the off-season, the short intervals and high intensity of the games were the general feedback from the clubs, but the final version that is currently being implemented has limited adjustments compared to the previous one. Some club people said that under the current situation, it is also helpless to cooperate with the competition, after all, some clubs have to rely on league dividends to maintain.

Scheduling is indeed a huge and complex project, but playing one game every other day in a row and frequently switching between home and away games, with the current conditions and security level of CBA teams, such an arrangement can only increase the burden.

At the press conference of this season's league, Yao Ming, chairman of the Chinese Basketball Association, mentioned in his speech: "The better the development of the CBA league, the brighter the future of Chinese basketball. In order to continue to build a better CBA league, we will not stop. "It can be seen that after the end of the conference system and the full resumption of home and away games, the CBA league has invested a lot of energy in building the brand influence of the league. In the final analysis, the game is the core part of the brand, and only when the players are healthy and in good condition can they ensure the level of competition and enhance the excitement of the event, and only then can they be influential.

Beijing News reporter Liu Chen

Edited by Wang Chunqiu

Proofreading by Li Lijun