The Sports Impact of COVID-19

[Pauly]

With about 5 states declaring a medical state of emergency due to Covid-19 and the MLB and March Madness ncaa tournament coming soon I'd like to hear posters thoughts on the possibility on cancelling/suspending, or playing in front of no fans the above 2 sporting events coming soon. Also add the XFL to that group as teams in Seattle and LA are affected by this situation. Again,just your honest opinion on this.Say it was April 7th instead of March 7th. Do you think the public health depts of San Francisco or Seattle would want 35,000 people in close proximity at baseball games?

[GDAWG]

2 minutes ago, Pauly said:

With about 5 states declaring a medical state of emergency due to Covid-19 and the MLB and March Madness ncaa tournament coming soon I'd like to hear posters thoughts on the possibility on cancelling/suspending, or playing in front of no fans the above 2 sporting events coming soon. Also add the XFL to that group as teams in Seattle and LA are affected by this situation. Again,just your honest opinion on this.Say it was April 7th instead of March 7th. Do you think the public health depts of San Francisco or Seattle would want 35,000 people in close proximity at baseball games?

 

There are a few more weeks left in Spring Training, so I don't think MLB has decided whether to postpone games in San Francisco, Oakland, LA and Seattle yet.  

[Pauly]

Agreed,but if the NBA is thinking about playing games in front of empty seats they have to be talking about it. Regarding March Madness. If they would play in front of no fans if I'm a lawyer I'm drooling at the opportunity of suing the ncaa on behalf of my clients who would have to report to work under potential hazardous conditions. Just an opinion.

[GDAWG]

3 minutes ago, Pauly said:

Agreed,but if the NBA is thinking about playing games in front of empty seats they have to be talking about it. Regarding March Madness. If they would play in front of no fans if I'm a lawyer I'm drooling at the opportunity of suing the ncaa on behalf of my clients who would have to report to work under potential hazardous conditions. Just an opinion.

 

if MLB teams have to play in empty stadiums for a while, it may be good news for the Houston Astros since there will be nobody there to boo them.  

[Pauly]

Good point. But.......If I'm an MLB owner if I don't play the games I don't have to pay my players.Correct? And I'm sure somewhere there is an "Exigent/Adverse circumstance clause that could be applied. I'm not trying to incite a riot.But with Apple telling their employees to work from home think about the economic implications of those employees not going out to lunch in that immediate area. That's gotta be a 80% drop in sales for that restaurant.   

[JackieMoon]

Can we have this crap banned from the forums just like politics. Please moderators!

[DG_YouKnowWhatThatMeans]

Just now, sohiosportsfreak said:

Can we have this crap banned from the forums just like politics. Please moderators!

 

You think hundreds of people are faking being infected in the United States? And you think businesses are sending their employees home for fun? And that events in Seattle expected to host 100,000 were postponed because they're not as smart as you? Really?

[TrueYankee26]

Italy postponed a lot of games already and have banned fans from sporting events for the next month at least.

 

SXSW in Austin is canceled this year

[JackieMoon]

I don't think anyone is faking anything. I come on these boards to talk about sports and enjoy concepts and try to be happy from a work week of grind and seriousness. 

 

Yes, I know people are dying from this :censored: and it sucks. I pray nobody has to go through any of it, and I hope it's under control ASAP. 

But damn, let's cheer up. What's the point of being depressed about it. You're letting the news and media get to you.

[Digby]

23 minutes ago, sohiosportsfreak said:

I don't think anyone is faking anything. I come on these boards to talk about sports and enjoy concepts and try to be happy from a work week of grind and seriousness. 

 

Yes, I know people are dying from this and it sucks. I pray nobody has to go through any of it, and I hope it's under control ASAP. 

But damn, let's cheer up. What's the point of being depressed about it. You're letting the news and media get to you.

don’t click on the topic then? Not very difficult.

[JackieMoon]

Amen, I'll take that advice. Thanks

[infrared41]

42 minutes ago, sohiosportsfreak said:

I don't think anyone is faking anything. I come on these boards to talk about sports and enjoy concepts and try to be happy from a work week of grind and seriousness. 

 

Yes, I know people are dying from this and it sucks. I pray nobody has to go through any of it, and I hope it's under control ASAP. 

But damn, let's cheer up. What's the point of being depressed about it. You're letting the news and media get to you.

 

Two things. 1.) Canceling and/or not allowing fans to attend major sporting events is newsworthy and sports related. 2.) It's easy to avoid topics that might add to your "week of grind and seriousness." If you need help with learning how to not click on a link, I'll be glad to help. 

[Seadragon76]

There's an example of not having fans in the stands now in the States as the Division III Men's tournament regional in Baltimore is held with no fans. If I remember correctly, there was at least one person at Johns Hopkins with the virus and also one or two people at one of the other schools in the sectional in Yeshiva.

 

This should be used as an example of how it could work down the road if the outbreak continues to worsen.

[The Six]

So glad the sports loophole saved this topic.  

 

Having no fans in the arena could make for an interesting aesthetic on TV, but for NBA I don't know if we'd really get to enjoy it. There's too much cursing on the court that wouldn't get drowned out by crowd noise anymore, so they may not even mic the courts. Or maybe they'd keep playing the "make some noise" stuff they usually play to simulate the environment. 

[DEAD!]

I am sure the owners can buy 20000 robots to simulate fans at games.

[pmoehrin]

What a lot of people don't understand about this virus is that it has a incubation period of up to two weeks.

 

Any response is going to be based on the number of cases that existed 10-15 days ago. The Seattle area doesn't have 100+ cases. It HAD 100+ cases that you're just now finding out about. The true number of cases has to be well over 1,000 in just that region alone. The lack of testing is the number one issue with figuring how widespread this virus is.

 

People need to understand this is not going to be something that's going to blow over in a week or two. This is going to get much worse before it gets better.

 

If you're under the age of 40, I don't think there's a lot to be worried about health-wise, but its a near death sentence for the elderly. IMO anyone over the of 55 should be avoiding going outside as much as possible right now.

[GDAWG]

6 minutes ago, The Six said:

So glad the sports loophole saved this topic.  

 

Having no fans in the arena could make for an interesting aesthetic on TV, but for NBA I don't know if we'd really get to enjoy it. There's too much cursing on the court that wouldn't get drowned out by crowd noise anymore, so they may not even mic the courts. Or maybe they'd keep playing the "make some noise" stuff they usually play to simulate the environment. 

 

Would NBA teams move home games to their practice courts if they have to play in front of nobody?

[Pauly]

11 minutes ago, pmoehrin said:

What a lot of people don't understand about this virus is that it has a incubation period of up to two weeks.

 

Any response is going to be based on the number of cases that existed 10-15 days ago. The Seattle area doesn't have 100+ cases. It HAD 100+ cases that you're just now finding out about. The true number of cases has to be well over 1,000 in just that region alone. The lack of testing is the number one issue with figuring how widespread this virus is.

 

 

If you're under the age of 40, I don't think there's a lot to be worried about health-wise, but its a near death sentence for the elderly. IMO anyone over the of 55 should be avoiding going outside as much as possible right now.

Very good points. If you do not have any pre-existing conditions and are in good shape you should be good. Might be nice to see NBA teams playing in the practice gym but that would depend on the contract they would have w the arena. 

[GDAWG]

It has started to make an impact on pro sports:

 

https://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2020/03/07/nhl-will-close-dressing-rooms-to-media-on-recommendation-of-the-cdc/

 

Quote

Coronavirus is beginning to impact the major American sports, in one very specific way.

The NHL will be closing dressing rooms to reporters. The move comes at the recommendation of the Centers for Disease Control.

Major League Baseball, the NBA, and Major League Soccer are expected to follow suit.

Interviews will instead be conducted in formal press conference areas.

The move comes as COVID-19 spreads throughout much of the United States. The NBA has told teams to prepare to play in arenas without fans.

The NFL has said only that it is closely monitoring the situation, with the next league event coming later this month in Florida, when owners and other personnel gather for the annual league meetings. The draft is due to happen in Las Vegas, starting in 47 days.

 

[infrared41]

4 hours ago, pmoehrin said:

IMO anyone over the of 55 should be avoiding going outside as much as possible right now.

 

I'll keep that in mind, Doctor.