If you’ve been paying attention to the news lately, whether you’re a hardcore sports betting enthusiast or whether you just casually wager now and then, you know that all of the major sports leagues in North America are weighing options about how to reopen play. The NBA is considering options that would allow teams to play in the various arenas in Las Vegas, although the considerable amount of physical contact and time spent in close quarters on the floor makes this a health risk, particularly since you can test positive for the coronavirus and not show any obvious symptoms. Major League Baseball is considering a plan to start play in May or June, with all the teams gathered in Greater Phoenix. President Trump has said that the NFL will start its regular season on time (but he also said that the economy should reopen by Easter — April 12 — and it doesn’t look like that’s happening. So what’s each league’s plan right now? Join us as we take a closer look.
Which Sport Will Be the First to Play its Regular Season?
NBA
According to commissioner Adam Silver, the league will not make any sort of decision before May 1, and the decision may not come even then. When the league shut down on March 12, the initial pause was supposed to last 30 days, but it will be at least half a month longer than that. In an interview with ESPN.com, Silver said, “The fact is now, sitting here today, I know less than I did then, and I think in some ways, just as I listen to the public health experts and the people advising us, the virus is potentially moving faster than maybe we thought at that point, so maybe it will peak earlier.” Given the uncertainty in his answer, it’s hard to say what will happen. The Las Vegas plan seems to be off the table, at least for now.
NHL
The NHL went on hold at the same time as the NBA, back in mid-March. Right now, the league and the NHLPA are talking about how to get back onto the ice. According to a report from Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman, the league may head to North Dakota to finish the regular season and the playoffs. The league would need several rinks, but Ralph Engelstad Arena, in Grand Forks, has hosted the 2005 World Junior Championships and the 2016 World Under-18 Championships and is the home rink for the University of North Dakota. There are only 207 confirmed coronavirus cases in North Dakota at this writing, with just three fatalities. However, things are just in the pre-planning stages.
MLB
One difference between baseball and the other major sports is that there is no physical contact between players except in the case of accidental collisions. For most of the game, players are at least six feet apart from one another, so this league has the best chance of playing under the guidelines of social distancing. The league is considering sending all 30 teams to Arizona to play games at Chase Field, home of the Arizona Diamondbacks, as well as college stadiums for Arizona State and the spring training facilities in the area. Questions still remain as far as logistics with respect to housing all of the players in the area.
NFL
Right now, the NFL is planning to start the 2020 regular season on time. Their draft is set for April 23-25 but will take place remotely, and commissioner Roger Goodell is so firmly set not just on the season taking place but on his league not taking any bad press that he threatened league employees with fines if they expressed opinions that suggested the draft should be pushed back. We are still awaiting the release of the game schedule, which should come around May 9. For now, though, the NFL may be the first league to run under normal conditions.
