Where Do We Go From Here?

The COVID-19 pandemic has taken a stronghold over our collective lives. Due to its tenure and overall impact, we have all been forced into confinement, and have somewhat been stripped of our sense of freedom. While it is justified and beneficial for us to stay in our homes as a measure to ensure our safety from contracting the coronavirus, this reality we now find ourselves living in the midst of has left (I assume) most, if not all of us in a bit of a bind. This is to be expected when activities once considered common and essential to us have been sacked and plundered to constrictive state. Schools, workplaces, labor facilities, churches and establishments all alike have been indefinitely shut down. Strolling through your neighborhood must now be done with great caution, visiting a friend’s house can put you at risk, shopping at the supermarket, grocery store, or mall is done under heavy surveillance, borders between countries, provinces/states, and even cities have been closed off, and outdoor activity has been halted for an extended period of time. Even in entertainment, the pandemic has brought about significant change: popular television series’ have stopped production midseason, movies once set to release around this time have had their release dates pushed back and delayed, and sports leagues have been forced into discontinuation for the time being all around the world.

Focusing on the United States, they have the largest count of confirmed cases of COVID-19 worldwide. They are also home to some of the biggest and most popular sports leagues across the planet like the NBA (National Basketball Association), NFL (National Football League), NHL (National Hockey League), and MLB (Major League Baseball). Because of the pandemic at hand, these corporations have either had to suspend their day to day operations (NBA, NHL, MLB), or shift the manner in which they usually conduct their business (NFL) for just over two months now. Regardless, there has remained a constant, back and forth, ever-inclusive conversation between everyone to whom it may concern (league commissioners, team owners, athletes, analysts, fans, etc.) about if, when, and how these leagues should come back from their leave.

Now the answers to these questions seem simple to me. Should these leagues come back? In my opinion, not any time soon. As of today, there isn’t really a way to treat the coronavirus that is known to guarantee recovery. You couple that with the fact that there isn’t going to be a vaccine for the virus until at least next year (according to reports), and in the end it just seems like too much to chance, even with the precautions of playing games in isolated areas void of fans in attendance. This would mean the NBA, NHL, and MLB cancelling the remainder of their respective seasons that would be in progress right now if not for the virus, with the NFL on standby. The only thing getting in the way of this being the ultimate decision already is our unwillingness to concede despite it being the safest option. Everyone has their selfish motives for wanting to keep the idea of bringing the seasons at hand back alive, especially in the NHL and NBA, whose suspensions came about right before each league’s postseason could begin. As a fan, you follow the stories all around each league for months, only for the pandemic-caused suspension to leave you without any resolution to them. As an athlete or performer, especially those that were on playoff teams, you want to vie for a championship, but the suspension keeps that from happening. And as a part of management and/or ownership group, the less games are played, the less money is being made. In the end, it is again just too much to risk at this time.

When should these leagues’ come back? Off the top of my head, only once each employee on every team in each league gets to be tested and then cleared should each league resume play, but until the virus is deemed obsolete, games ought to be played without fans in attendance. In a perfect world, we would be able to just jump right back to the way things were before the outbreak, but just to reduce the chances of a setback, it would be best to slowly build up back to the reality we once knew.

This brings me to the final question: how should they go about coming back? Tentatively. As previously stated, make sure that everyone across your respective league is cleared and proceed without fans at the start, and for just one season, spread out the schedule and reduce the number of games. You do that to give each team more leeway to monitor their employees and maintain vigilance. For instance, in the NBA and NHL, start the season in early December, run a 60 game, 24 week based regular season, and start the postseason per usual timing in early to mid April 2021. In the NFL, postpone the season a month and start the season in October. Run the schedule accordingly to the delay, but just for this one season, nix Thursday Night Football for the same purpose. For the MLB I have no clue what to do there. Honestly, I’d probably just try for next March and cancel the 2020 season entirely, but ultimately, for all of them it really depends on how far COVID-19 forces this nation-wide hiatus to last.

My whole thought process here is that as much as I want this pandemic to be over, to feel free to go about myself as I did before this virus ever became a thing to us as soon as humanly possible, it feels like we as a whole are letting what we want drive us in how we discuss the situation rather than accepting the reality of what we’re dealing with. While it is possible that the idea of the coronavirus is scarier than actually contracting it for a majority of us, the uncertainties that continue to surround the illness and the threat that it has brought to us already ought to have us tread lightly and very carefully as we go about revamping our lives, which includes but is not limited to having to go a little longer than hoped without our beloved sports.