The Head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Dr. Anthony Fauci says the NBA's strategy of resuming play will be "quite successful." Fauci spoke about the league's plan in an interview with The Stadium.

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“I actually have looked at that plan and it is really quite creative,” Fauci said. “What they are really trying to do, and I think they might very well be quite successful with it, is to create a situation where it is as safe as it possibly could be for the players by creating this bubble — essentially testing everybody, make sure that you start with a baseline of everybody being negative and trying to make sure there is no influx into that cohort of individuals and do a tournament-type play.”

“They really wanted to make sure that the safety of the players, and the people associated with the players, was paramount,” Fauci said.

The NBA is planning to return on July 30, with 22 teams competing in Orlando Florida. Games will take place entirely in the Wide World of Sports Complex.

“For the people who are thirsting for basketball, who love basketball, the way I do, it’s something that I think is a sound plan,” Fauci said.

Sports fans have been in a perpetual state of agony over the past few months due to the global pandemic that effectively shut down every single league in the world. Sports are slowly but surely coming back and the NBA has been hard at work to try and find a solution for a return to play. This past week was a huge step forward for American sports as the NBA approved a plan that will include 22 teams heading to Orlando for eight regular-season games and fully-fledged postseason.

Of course, fans won't be allowed to watch the games in Orlando and the NBA is looking at ways to incorporate some kind of crowd noise to make it look better for the television audience. According to Shams Charania of The Athletic, the NBA is even considering teaming up with NBA 2K and using the crowd noise from the video game.

The wait is officially over. Basketball is back.

As a direct result of the coronavirus pandemic, the National Basketball Association halted all operations, stopping the season in its tracks. We were nearing the playoffs and it was a real shame that some of the league's best teams, like the Milwaukee Bucks, Los Angeles Lakers, and more, would not be able to fight it out to see which team would win the NBA Championship. Well, after months of discussions, it looks like basketball is coming back soon.

According to the all-knowing Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN, the NBA is inviting a total of 22 teams to Orlando to finish out the season. 13 teams from the Western Conference and 9 teams from the Eastern Conference will resume with each squad playing a minimum of 8 regular-season games. A play-in will determine the eighth seed in the playoffs.

Universal Orlando Resort will reopen to the public on June 5, the park announced this week.

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Parkgoers will be required to wear face masks and have their temperature check at the entrance. Guests with a temperature of 100.4 degrees or higher will not be able to enter.

“This carefully managed reopening comes with stringent new health, safety and hygiene procedures in place. So, as we enjoy our parks together again, everyone will need to follow CDC guidelines and the recommendations of health officials, and Universal Orlando’s policies. Note that any public location where people are present provides an inherent risk of exposure to COVID-19 and we cannot guarantee that you will not be exposed during your visit,” the company says on their website.

Other measures to ensure the safety of guests include:

– Limiting capacity and following social distancing guidelines throughout all attractions, restaurants and shops throughout the destination
– Increasing cleaning and disinfection procedures, and frequently cleaning all high-touch surfaces
– All team members will participate in extensive training on our new procedures

Universal Studios Florida and Universal’s Islands of Adventure will be open from 9:00 AM-6:00 PM daily. Universal’s Volcano Bay will be open from 10:00 AM-5:00 PM daily and Universal City Walk Orlando will be open from 8:00 AM– 10:00 PM daily.

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Universal Orlando is officially opening a Nintendo-based park scheduled for 2023, according to USA Today.

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The Super Nintendo World theme park is set to debut elsewhere in the world, this summer. Osaka, Japan will be seeing Super Nintendo World first.

The park includes rides, shops, Nintendo characters, interactive games and more. “Power up bands” will be available for purchase that allow visitors to engage with an interactive app supplementing their park-going experience. They will be able to collect coins around the premises, similar to Nintendo video games.

“You’re not just playing the game; you’re living the game, you’re living the adventure,” Thierry Coup, the senior vice president and chief creative officer at Universal Creative, said in a statement. “Nintendo’s most iconic locations and experiences will be brought to life, including Mushroom Kingdom, Peach’s Castle, an incredible Mario Kart ride, Bowser’s Castle – and more.”

“Nintendo, based on our research, is the biggest potential driver in attendance you can have in terms of intellectual properties,” said Comcast executives during a call with Forbes. “It’s up there with Harry Potter, and in some of our parks, HP drives incremental attendance of 2 million people.”

The Orlando Business Journal reports that Universal is expected to open Super Nintendo World parks in California and Singapore as well.