We’re in the middle of a nightmare that feels like it’s just beginning. But fear not, because here comes the return of sports to the rescue.
The reality of the COVID-19 pandemic is we’re not close to the home stretch. It’s time for all of us, including the sports world, to take another moment of pause.
Numbers are spiking at frightening paces. This weekend alone, 44,782 new cases were reported in the United States on Saturday.
The surge of infections happening in several states is at such a level of concern, Dr. Anthony Fauci said it complicates locating the source of an outbreak.
Texas Governor Greg Abbott expressed regret for allowing bars to reopen so early, saying Friday he did not realize how fast the virus would spread.
Medical experts are struggling to keep their heads above water. Corporate stakeholders are exhausting all options for keeping their businesses afloat. Politicians, who strenuously campaigned for the nation to reopen, have recently been humbled.
What all of us are realizing during these thought-provoking times is there’s no light at the end of this tunnel, not yet anyway.
What there is, however, is a new normal. And while we’re all continuing to adjust, the recent spike in new cases indicates it’s time to slow down, not ramp up, efforts to reopen.
Professional and college sports teams in North America are pushing hard on optimism for a resumption or start to their respective seasons.
The NBA recently finalized a plan for restarting their 2019-20 season. Major League Baseball shelved their internal issues long enough to implement a plan to start their season. College football and the NFL are both moving forward with plans to play this fall. The NHL is talking playoff hockey, although they’re still unsure as for when and where that’ll happen.
Optimism is great, sports has been missed — but let’s not pretend that’s the only reason these leagues are pushing so hard to get going.
Businesses are struggling to navigate respectively through their respective fiscal year. There’s only so much optimism a Zoom conference call can mask before it becomes painfully obvious. As far as team owners are concerned, getting back to sports is a must for their bottom line.
We’re talking television revenue and sponsor commitments. There’s billions of dollars clouding the judgement of the league’s decision makers and stakeholders.
We’re talking this all coming down to billions of dollars offsetting the warnings of medical experts and concern from various athletes for how safe it is to return to playing games.
It’s why the NBA is on a fast break to Florida so they can resume their season in a Disney World bubble. The same state which reported 9,585 new cases of COVID-19 Saturday.
Florida, the same state which reported nearly 40,000 new infections in just over a week, according to the Miami Herald.
The same state that, on Friday, issued an immediate shutdown of alcohol consumption in bars. Miami closed their beaches and parks, all right before the Fourth of July weekend.
Florida – where their Governor, despite the alarming data, continues to resist making face masks a statewide mandate.
And here comes the NBA, on a fast break to Orlando to see if they can crown a champion.
The closer we get to sports returning the more warning signs continue to pop up.
In recent weeks, there have been numerous reports of professional and collegiate athletes testing positive for COVID-19.
Yes, Clemson has a hell of a football team. But I’m having difficulty getting excited to see what star quarterback Trevor Lawrence will do this season. Perhaps it’s the reports of 14 Clemson football players testing positive for coronavirus over the past week, bringing their number of cases to 37.
So, excuse me if I don’t run to my laptop and get started on a season preview for college football.
The Yankees will open the MLB season against the defending World Series champs, the Washington Nationals. That means a potential matchup between two of the top pitchers in the game, Max Scherzer and Gerrit Cole. But it’s not enough to distract me from reports of all Major League Baseball training camps having to temporarily close recently after multiple teams reported positive coronavirus tests.
In a few weeks, the four major sports will return. There’s no way around the thought of the risks being taken by the athletes and support staff. You’re simply not human if you can sit in front of a television for three hours and not have that cross your mind at least once.
Because nothing about the return of sports in this current climate feels essential. It does, however, feel much like watching those handful of states reopen too soon.
It feels as if we’re forcing this. It feels as if the only part about any of this that’s essential to these leagues is making sure they’ll come out of this with a payday.
“Flattening the curve” was a challenge we all met head-on.
Now, with the possibility of a second wave coming this fall, we’re faced with having to go another round in order to flatten it again.
It will take patience, planning, and knowing when to ramp up efforts to reopen the nation and when to slow it down. This includes the world of sports; the warning signs are clearer than they’ve ever been.
Two things are clear with all of this.
We’re all in this together. From here in New York City down to the Carolinas and to Florida. From Texas, through Nevada, all the way out to California and beyond.
And the other is that while sports provides a distraction from what’s going on in the world – this, however, is different.
