The American public is getting stir crazy staying at home and working from home during the Coronavirus shutdown. They could use some sports – live sports, that is – to occupy their time. The NBA and NHL are unlikely to complete their current seasons, which were abruptly cut short last month. MLB cans still have some sort of a season, but not until they figure out the logistics. The NFL is still on schedule, they say. they will conduct their annual draft next week in a virtual setting.
President Donald J. Trump agrees. Sports have to resume soon, he says. When that can happen and how it will happen is still an amorphous thing at the moment. He has a suggestion.
“Many of them are going to be starting without the fans,†President Trump said, “so it’ll be made for television. The good old days, made for television. And it’ll go that way and then fans will start coming in, maybe they’ll be separated by two seats. And then ultimately, we want to have packed arenas. When the virus is gone, we’re going to have packed arenas, and we’re going to be back to enjoying sports the way they’re supposed to be.â€
A dangerous suggestion, especially here in the New York/New Jersey metro area where the virus is running rampant.
Many of the states in the Northeast have extended the PAUSE thirty more days until May 15. That is when the governors will revisit opening their states back up. If the virus hasn’t subsided to the degree where medical expects conclude that it is safe to return to some semblance of normalcy, they will extend the deadline further.
“When will it be over?” New York governor Andrew Cuomo asked in his daily press conference on Thursday. “When we have a vaccine.”
Thats’ not going to come for sometime although there have been some encouraging breakthroughs. Trump is not thinking Northeast at the moment. He’s thinking states in the South and Midwest where the virus has taken less of toll. They will likely reopen sooner than New York in the “checkerboard” plan.
When the games do return with fans and social distancing rules still apply, what does a Mets ticket holder such as myself do, who owns four consecutive seats? How do we spread out? Do only two of us go? And do I get a refund for the other two seats? Not the most pressing issue, I know, but considering I spent ten thousand dollars on tickets, can I at least get some guidance?
There’s really no sensible plan for any of this. Playing the games without fans might work but that will still entail some type of group gathering for the teams and their employees. The only true answer it to ride the virus out, return to normal when the spread has subsided and then act responsibly.