Dems, GOP say bring sports back
Bianchi: Leagues need to form plan to lead us out of the pandemic.
OK, NBA, the ball is literally and figuratively in your court now.
The same goes for you, MLS.
And you, too, Major League Baseball. Let’s get this figured out and come up with a plan — a real plan — on resuming professional basketball, baseball, soccer, hockey, etc. and restarting the pandemicravaged sports economy.
It doesn’t matter which side of the aisle you’re on, whether you’re a red state or a blue state, this is something politicians everywhere are starting to agree upon.
Said President Trump a few days ago: “We want to get sports back, we miss sports. We need sports in terms of the psyche of our country.”
Said Democratic New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo: “Hockey, basketball, baseball, football — whoever can reopen — we’re a ready, willing and able partner. … I think this is in the best interest of all the
people and the best interest of the state of New York.”
Republican Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said professional sports without fans could begin playing in his state at the end of May.
Democratic California Gov. Gavin Newsom said sports could resume without fans in his state as soon as the “first week or so of June.”
And, of course, Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis was the first to welcome sports back when he declared WWE was an “essential business” a few weeks ago in Orlando and then opened the door for UFC to hold events in Jacksonville. Leave it to Florida Man to crank up the sports economy with two of our favorite activities — ‘rasslin and cage-fightin’!!! Yee-haw!!!
“All professional sports are welcome here for practicing and for playing,” DeSantis said last week. “There’s been reports that Major League Soccer may want to have their season in Orlando. Do it. We want to have you here. … All these professional sports are welcome in Florida. And so what I would tell commissioners of leagues is, ‘If you have a team in an area where they just won’t let them operate, we’ll find a place for you here in the state of Florida because we think it’s important and we know that it can be done safely.“
Are you listening, NBA commissioner Adam Silver?
How about you Major League Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred?
And you and you, MLS Commissioner Don Garber and NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman?
Politicians across the country have given all of you the green light to go back to work, and, so, let’s figure out a way to make it happen. Just like restaurants, dentist offices and barber shops have.
As Gov. Cuomo stated, “I think this is in the best interest of all the people.”
In other words, sports leagues are supposed to be leading the way out of the pandemic just as they led the way into it. When the NBA shut down its league on March 11, it was a flashing red signal to the entire nation that the coronavirus was not a hoax and was something to be taken seriously. Likewise, when the NBA or MLB start playing again — even without fans — it will symbolize a return to at least a semblance of normalcy.
It’s obvious that selfdistancing Americans sitting at home every night are craving live sports right now. We certainly saw it with NASCAR’s return on Sunday, when the Real Heroes 400 drew a 3.7 rating and 6.23 million viewers. It was the most watched NASCAR Cup Series race (other than the marquee Daytona 500) in more than three years and was 38% better than Fox’s last NASCAR race on March 8.
Of course, team sports leagues like the NBA will need to return as safely as possible with comprehensive testing for COVID-19, contact tracing, quarantine and isolation protocols, etc. Nobody wants these leagues to restart without the proper safety protocols in place.
But what American sports fans will consider absolutely intolerable is if sports leagues don’t resume because of labor strife. We have already seen baseball players publicly bickering about management asking them to take additional pay cuts because of the pandemic-curtailed season.
Memo to millionaire athletes and billionaire franchise owners: We don’t care about your collective bargaining agreements and your salary cap formulas and your revenue splits.
You guys need to figure all that out and figure it out quickly. If you want to avert incurring the wrath of economically devastated Americans and avoid contributing to the destruction of your sport, you will NOT shut down your season due to a labor dispute.
As Americans, we have done our part. We have made immense economic sacrifices, we have stayed home and practiced socialdistancing and we have flattened the curve.
Now it’s time for sports leagues to do their part.
It’s time for them get back to work.
These days, it’s the one thing both Democrats and Republicans can agree upon.