Wishful Thinking- When Are the Major Sports Returning?

SportsBozos and fans have been wondering when our American major sports are returning to the arenas, ballparks and stadiums for months now. While COVID-19 has thrust society and sports into uncharted territory, the virus has put sports in its proper perspective. Yes, sports are exciting and wonderful to participate in and to watch on TV, and they provide us with the necessary distraction from society’s issues, but compared to protecting ourselves against this deadly virus, which we are learning about every day, we have to ask ourselves, if, when and how we re-open sports, and what kinds of risks are we willing to take?

The Commissioners, owners and players are trying to balance the economic loss of television and concession revenue with the safety of players and coaches. Should we play the game just on TV or also in front of fans? If so, at full, half or some other percentage of capacity? Can they figure out how to space the fans in an arena responsibly to maintain social distancing? Politicians and scientists are weighing in but still no one knows for sure what makes the most sense.
So far, it seems, every time a plan to re-open is announced, a wrench is thrown into the works. Are the economic benefits of re-opening superseding public health concerns? Without knowing how long COVID-19 will last and if there will be another wave later in 2020, how accurately can a sports commissioner weigh potential risks of public spreading of the disease? There is still no reasonable way to schedule the time of re-opening and the manner it will take.

Unfortunately, the people who are trying to decide how and when to re-open are engaging in wishful thinking. In these contact sports, it is by definition virtually impossible to practice the social distancing necessary to prevent the virus from spreading.

NBA 2019-2020 season

Commissioner Adam Silver and the NBA Board has decided to have 22 likely playoff teams return play July 31 at the Disney Resort in Orlando, Florida. The 16 top teams and 6 with a chance will play 8 games each to decide the seeding for their playoffs. Three courts will be used with at least 4 hours between games and no fans will attend. Training will begin in Orlando July 9 where all the players will reside in the local Disney hotels. The season will end Oct 12, about three weeks before the 2020-2021 season would traditionally start.

With the added Black Lives Matter situation, many star players have expressed that they might not play so as not to divert attention away from the cause at hand. I believe that when a player or more from a team or two becomes infected with COVID-19 and will be required to quarantine, then the whole plan will collapse. Most players want to play and the league is suffering huge TV revenue losses but the NBA, although with rational intent, will ultimately fail in its version of resurrecting their season.

NHL
Like the NBA, the NHL season usually ends in June and after missing 4 months, the League (Commissioner Gary Bettman) and the Players Association have agreed upon a 24-team tournament to crown the 2019-2020 Stanley Cup Champion. Beginning at the end of July, there will be four best of five rounds played in two “hub” cities to be determined, with Las Vegas probably being one.
Again, as with the NBA, this attempt to revive a lost season and recoup some TV revenue will fail when players, fearful of their family members catching the virus, decline to play after a few of them test positive. Again, nice try, but unrealistic.

MLB

Baseball has proved to be the biggest disaster in all of this. The Pandemic has magnified the differences between the Players and the owners and exposed the ineffectiveness of MLB the Commissioner, Rob Manfred and the greediness of the already overpaid players. Forty games, sixty games, 114 games, they cannot get close to being on the same page. Full salary, prorated salary, percentage of the TV revenue, Players Union President Tony Clark has been trying to hold the owners up for ransom by not taking into consideration of the absence of the gate. Both sides are motivated by money and not for the good of the game or the fans and they will deservedly wind up with NO baseball.

A 50 game season in Baseball (less than 1/3 of the games) is a waste and no amount of asterisks could save baseball in 2020. Baseball is a game for fans to see in person and without fans; it is simply forced and pathetic. Korean baseball has humorously resorted to putting stuffed animals in the vacant seats. Apart from the playoffs and World Series, baseball already is a mundane event and is a dreadful experience to try to make it through a 3 ½ hour bore fest. Even if these selfish combatants are able to decide on a plan, I don’t see a game being played this summer. Already over 40 players have tested positive and more are sure to follow. I think we will survive without the Astros this year! – No batter, no batter!

These three sports, stifled by uncertainty and attempting to negotiate the dangers of a deadly virus vs. money in the pockets of billionaires and millionaires are going to have to come to the stark realization that the sacrifice of human life so we can watch the Cubs, the Tigers and the Predators on TV is absurd. Certainly the regular fan will be inconvenienced and suffer but we live in extraordinary times. At some point next year, we’ll be able to put this mess in the rearview mirror and try to adjust to a new normal, but until then, let’s play it safe- Safe at Home.

HB