Bubbles And Empty Seats: Pro Sports Forge Ahead With Comebacks Despite The Pandemic
The Great Sports Freeze of 2020, due to the coronavirus outbreak, appears to be thawing. Despite increases of COVID-19 cases in nearly half of the country, sports and leagues are marching ahead with plans to reopen.
This week, men's professional golf returns, without spectators, with a tournament at Colonial Country Club in Fort Worth, Texas. It's the first PGA Tour event since mid-March. Major League Soccer has announced its plan for a return early next month. The NBA is full steam ahead for a July 31 restart.
Oh. And then there's baseball.
Here's an update on restart plans for major sports in this country.
Major League Baseball (MLB)
Unclear. And let's bring in another sport to illustrate MLB's current situation. Think of fans at a tennis match. As they watch a rally, their heads swivel as they follow the ball from one side of the net to the other. That's what it feels like to be a baseball fan right now — watching MLB and its players as they try to agree on an economic plan for restarting. The key ingredients seem to be the number of games players will play, and how much they'll get paid to play those games. It's understood by all they won't get their full salaries because there certainly won't be a traditional 162-game regular season. But while the, starting July 10th, and players would get full prorated salaries. This followed an owner proposal of 76 regular season games and players getting 75% of their prorated salaries.
