You are a fan of baseball and you have been following the virus events...
I ask you now...
With all the info out there, when would you open up both major and minor league baseball?
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Although it would hurt the owners in the short term, I would rush to open up empty stadiums to get people to follow the game again and reinforce their feelings for baseball. Yes, you'll miss the gate receipts and purchases of souvenirs, parking or refreshments, but the advertising revenue will return in a big way.
ReplyDeleteAgree with Reese......but I would include regular testing for the players and support personnel, so you could nip any issues
ReplyDeletein the bud.
Hard to see things returning to normal (i.e. fans in the stands) until they have a handle on effective treatment drugs and/or a vaccine. But, baseball of any kind would be a big moral boost along the lines of the 9/11 era.
I think the fans are a no-no for this year.
ReplyDeleteI would go along with the empty stadium thing only if there were strict travel restrictions on the players and until one player tested positive.
Then I would shut it down until next season.
Oh... one more thing. Reese is right about the advertising revenue. Why not make arrangements with an additional sports cable channel to play 4 games a day?
Disagree entirely. In my mind, there is no safe way to start baseball anytime soon. Maybe 2021? From what I read today, maybe 2022.
ReplyDeleteToo many people want to draw parallels to 9/11. This is the exact opposite of 9/11. Following that event, the advice was to go out to restaurants, movies, ballgames, etc. This is 180 degrees opposite.
Ballparks after 9/11 Could put in strict security and create a cocoon of safety so that people could go and forget about the outside world for three hours. No such protection could be offered against a virus.
To me, I would hate to see ballplayers die or be permanently debilitated just for my entertainment purposes.
Bob W.
Bob W.
ReplyDeleteGood points.
Your comment brought me back to reality.
I agree with you... no baseball in 2020
Play in Taiwan, where there is almost no COVID due to ongoing stringent controls. An 8 AM game would come on at around 8 PM here. An 11 AM game on at 11 PM. No fans, do it in a minimalist way.
ReplyDeleteTrump wants games restarted, so do owners...so I would not be surprised to see baseball in 2020. How to keep players from getting sick is above my pay grade.
I have zero idea if NY can even have baseball in 2021, much less in 2020. The "leaders" in NY fiddled while the embers of COVID were burning. How do you get from these huge levels of NYC Metro COVID to safe to play? What would prevent new waves of outbreaks here?
Disagree with you an unanimous. Dr Fauci even today said that sports, baseball, with restrictions can start this summer. If we go with the philosophy of unanimous the whole world would isolate and the human race would collapse. We have doctors, nurses, grocery workers, restaurant workers, farmers, gun manufacturers all going to work.
ReplyDeleteWhat about our youth in this country? Can we send our children out to go play ball with their friends or are we going to be afraid to do this and will not allow this to occur until all of the country gets a vaccine which is probably two years away.
I am not talking about organized ball just kids going out to play ball with neighbors.
I don't think there's any chance of baseball being played in NY in 2020 either with or without public attendance.
ReplyDeleteI'm not opposed to the Citrus/Cactus League season though as a TV event. Limited attendance by September? Probably not, unless there was some instantaneous test via Spock's tri-corder at the gate.
Minor Leagues? Maybe a version of my DH scheme, where the AAA teams meet in the "other" ST facility from the MLB contest. (Also televised back to home town or streamed.
Really the only way to start up sports, and many normal functions of society, is to get a massive increase in surveillance capabilities. These include tests, antibody tests, and serious contract tracing capabilities.
ReplyDeleteSo long as these items become more readily available, and baseball is not consuming them at the expense of higher priorities like healthcare, first responders, supermarkets, food manufacturing...then sure. Baseball is unique in that it has minimal...most of the players are socially distanced in the game.
The ability to do this for TV would be a big boost to the country if it minimized the risk to all the folks it takes to make it happen.
We also have to start making stuff in this country. You can't be dependent on other countries for critical supplies when needed.
ReplyDelete