Pa. sports teams now under Gov. Wolf’s yellow flag
Bowing to the pressure created by neighboring states New York and New Jersey, Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf joined them Wednesday by giving professional sports teams the green light to practice and play games.
Locally, the Flyers and Sixers, who train in New Jersey, Phillies, Eagles and Union can theoretically get back into game action or training after June 5, when Philadelphia County moves into the yellow phase of its program to battle the spread of the coronavirus.
It’s the same situation for Pittsburgh’s Steelers and Pirates, although that area is slated to go to the green phase on June 5.
Don’t expect action right away, however. Under Wolf’s order, the professional sports teams must have a COVID-19 safety plan in place, or one from their corresponding league, and it must be approved by the Pa. Department of Health.
That means extensive and expensive COVID-19 testing, probably a form of quarantining to hedge against the spread of the coronavirus and a ton of safety precautions, including screening and monitoring of all onvenue players and personnel.
The NHL Tuesday unveiled a comprehensive plan for a 24-team playoff tournament that includes testing twice a week for players. The league intends to play games in specific host cities, with the playoffs to begin in late July or early August in front of no fans.
The Pennsylvania order also restricts spectators. Teams cannot practice or play games in front of fans and crowds.
Though there is speculation that NFL teams like the Eagles could hold minicamps by the end of June, every state with a team needs to give approval to make that happen, unless the league allows teams to move their minicamps to states that have the goahead.
Among other states that could be obstacles is California, where Gov. Gavin Newsom vowed to ban pro sports until a vaccine for COVID-19 is available. Several teams would be impacted. Newsom later backed off the rant, conceding he would be amenable to allowing pro sports to return under strict guidelines including no spectators. That said, it’s much more likely the Eagles would get together for the first time since their playoff loss to the Seattle Seahawks during training camp, which typically begins in late July. Almost lost in the optimism – at least for professional sports teams – is that the reopen plan could change in an instant if COVID-19 cases rise again. That according to the standards Wolf has applied, and which in some cases are being hotly debated and contested by Pennsylvania taxpayers. Pennsylvania defines professional sports as “any sporting event at which the participants are paid by a league or team, or at which individuals or teams receive prizes or purse.”