Outlook remains bleak after two weeks of stoppage
Mavs owner hopes for mid-May return
LOS ANGELES: Imagine a Masters with fall foliage instead of spring flowers, an NBA Finals just weeks before the usual pre-season training camps and a neutral-site World Series in a warm vacation getaway.
Those are just some of the options being eyed by American sports event organisers planning for a return after the coronavirus pandemic eases.
Barren months are on the horizon just two weeks after the NBA launched a shutdown spree by every major US league when Utah’s Rudy Gobert tested positive for Covid-19 just before a scheduled March 11 game.
The NBA was quickly followed by Major League Baseball, Major League Soccer and the National Hockey League.
There will be no Olympic trials in athletics, swimming and gymnastics in June with the Tokyo Games delayed to 2021. The Boston Marathon has been postponed to September. So has the Kentucky Derby horse racing classic.
The Masters and PGA Championship have been indefinitely postponed and preparations have been halted for June’s US Open at Winged Foot.
Augusta National opens in October through the winter so an autumn date isn’t impossible, although it’s usually warmer and wetter than in April. Bright vivid flowers will be replaced by abundant pine needles under the course’s towering trees.
“A Masters in the fall, October time, I think it would be pretty cool,” world No.1 Rory McIlroy told PGA Tour Radio. “It would be a very different look than what you usually see at Augusta.”
MLB’s originally scheduled openers yesterday, when all 30 clubs were set to start the campaign in a rite of spring for America’s pastime, were postponed at least eight weeks.
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has recommended no mass gatherings until at least May 10 and ultimately how quickly the virus is conquered will decide when or if sport resumes in 2020.
MLB clubs and owners have privately agreed they could play regular-season games into October and stage the play-offs in November at neutral warm weather or domed venues, ESPN reported on Wednesday.
THANKSGIVING & BASEBALL?
Baseball fans might be celebrating American Thanksgiving on Nov 26 with the World Series plus the usual NFL offerings.
The NBA is expected to re-evaluate its hiatus in two weeks, with Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban hoping for a mid-May return.
“Hopefully by the middle of May, we’re starting to get back to normal and the NBA is playing games,” Cuban told Dallas television station WFAA in an interview posted on Tuesday.
“Maybe not with fans, but we’re playing it because sports plays such an important role... people want something to be excited about.
“Sports is what we need right now. I think the NBA is ready to play that role.”
If the NBA, still reeling from the shock death of retired star Kobe Bryant in a January helicopter crash, could resume by June, it could finish the season and have two months of play-offs end in August before the US television landscape is dominated by the NFL’s scheduled September return.
MLS president Don Garber says his league, shut down two weeks into the 2020 campaign, hopes to complete a full season with a final delayed to mid-December.
“Once we’re comfortable we can get the players with three to four weeks of training and we have the guidance that we can get crowds back into our stadiums, then we will then begin the relaunch of our season,” Garber said.
Most major boxing cards are off indefinitely and the next PGA Tour event still scheduled is May 21-24 at Colonial, four weeks before the US Open.
NHL POSTPONES DRAFT
The NHL announced additional postponements to its calendar on Wednesday.
The NHL draft, scheduled for June 26-27 in Montreal, will be held at a later date. The league also postponed the scouting combine, slated for June 1-6 in Buffalo, New York, and the season-ending awards ceremony, scheduled for June 18 in Las Vegas.
The location and dates of all of the events are now uncertain.
The NHL statement added, “With respect to the Bridgestone NHL Awards, the League looks forward to returning to Las Vegas in the future. Las Vegas has been the home of the Bridgestone NHL Awards since 2009.”
The NHL season was suspended on March 12, with the league stating it would consider opening a training camp in 45 days. Three weeks remained in the regular season at the point of the closure.