Coronavirus (Sports-Related and General)

andyb 2020-03-25 18:02:28 UTC #382

They should just take the half season, squeeze in a week or two of extra games, and be happy. Everyone takes a 40% revenue cut for the year (clubs and players). Baseball in November might get killed by football and other sports anyway.

More interesting to me might be NBA and NHL in July and August. No Olympics does mean there is a window there for them. Not sure the country will be ready by then, but in that case the baseball season is done anyway.

zambonir 2020-03-25 18:08:05 UTC #383

I figure the NHL is done, though they hockey does lend itself to a tournament. What they should really do is bring back the World Cup of Hockey. Or maybe the actual World Championships will become a big deal, if they can be played late summer. That might also open the door to the Olympics re-considering hockey as a summer game (counterintuitive, but would solve the NHL players issue).

schillingfan 2020-03-25 18:13:05 UTC #384

My major concern for sports is that it’s clear large crowds and events are Petrie dishes for the virus. The other concern is any large gathering like festivals or meetings. It seems logical that the huge increase in Louisiana was due to Madrid Gras. Conventions are another way to spread. I’m beginning to think the Democratic Convention should be done electronically. Once we begin coming back, we need to focus on small businesses where customers can keep a distance while shopping or eating and avoid businesses and churches and sadly, here in. NEPA church bazaars this summer. Large public events are deadly. Take out spaghetti dinners and pierogi sales make more sense.

zambonir 2020-03-25 18:15:25 UTC #385

Sports with no fans is certainly an option. In theory you could even have socially distanced baseball games (I doubt attendance will be strong.)

andyb 2020-03-25 18:19:10 UTC #386

Maybe baseball would just play at Spring Training sites then. I know lower TV revenue teams would lose money without a gate. So hold them at rotating Spring sites where costs and travel are lower (yes AZ and FL would need to go back and forth). This would also lessen travel if they are playing every day. The lower revenue teams would have far lower costs in putting on the games this way (and analytics geeks would be really confused about park effects).

zambonir 2020-03-25 18:26:39 UTC #387

I don't think you can do July/August baseball in Florida and Arizona. And a big part of trying to save the baseball season is to get your employees back to work. If the Phillies are in Clearwater they probably don't bring more than a few people (and you can't ask them all to leave their families and homes either). You're probably laying off almost as many folks as if the season is cancelled.

I feel like the biggest issue right now is there's just not going to be enough lead time to plan anything. Portland just had a July 3 music festival cancelled. August is still in play (for a lot of tours as well). But we really have to get to May 1 before anyone can seriously consider options.

andyb 2020-03-25 18:34:41 UTC #388

If we had games without fans, I am not sure how many of the team employees would actually get back to work. There is just no good solution here.

LoneStarPhan 2020-03-25 18:59:44 UTC #389

Games without fans mean no parking revenues, no concessions, no gift shop on-site game day sales, etc. In short, a huge revenue loss each game and of course, no employees working in those areas as well as in security and crowd control/ushering. It just doesn't seem to make sense to me. I do see a need for and agree with not rushing back to crowed venues until we are sure this virus is under control. I doubt that will be the case in the next three or four months.

allentown 2020-03-25 19:25:26 UTC #390

It's a salvage as much as you can situation for owners and players and TV/streamers to negotiate. If the season is extended, games could be played in FSL, and Arizona league as well as domed and southern stadia, although a lot of rainouts to be expected in FL stadia.

BostonRoss 2020-03-25 23:25:37 UTC #391

That’s what they do every year in Tampa Bay and Miami.

Lawman 2020-03-26 01:33:19 UTC #392

Nice.

zambonir 2020-03-26 04:10:34 UTC #393

It will be interesting. I suppose it's basically up to Disney in the end. Seems to me if this drags on long enough it might be possible that a majority of MLB owners will prefer to cancel the season - a no-fans or spring training venue part-season might be a money loser for most clubs. If you don't play at all, you have a much better shot at adjusting what you have to pay the players and employees. All indication is there's no insurance for anyone, but I bet the TV contracts have protection for them not paying for things they don't actually get to air.

zambonir 2020-03-26 04:49:59 UTC #394

Stark lays a lot of this out if you subscribe to Athletic. He even mentions possibility that big TV-money teams might have to revenue-share this season to get the teams that would be operating at a loss on board. He also says they wouldn't change the schedule. Tweak, yes, but mostly play it as planned upon restart. Too many variables (including travel, and potential conflicts with other events in cities) to do otherwise.

What a crazy CBA it will be now huh?

Philsmania 2020-03-26 15:59:30 UTC #395

Stark spends an entire article basically saying "we don't know anything at this point". The part I disagree with him on is simply picking up the schedule where it left off when play resumes. That us insane. Have the computer make a new schedule that puts the Brewers on the road when the DNC comes to town.

bkox 2020-03-26 16:54:29 UTC #396

Sources: MLB & the MLB Players Association have the framework of an agreement that could be finalized as soon as today. Discussed terms on the draft:

- A draft sometime in July
- Likely 10 rounds, possibly 5
- Bonus deferment: 10% upfront, 45% in July '21, 45% in July '22
— Kiley McDaniel ( @kileymcd ) March 26, 2020

zambonir 2020-03-26 17:39:10 UTC #397

But that's not Stark's opinion. He says it is "baseball's tentative plan." The DNC was merely one example. They don't want all 30 teams to have to re-do all their travel and ticket sales.

There will surely have to be tweaks, and if they can't even play 81 games, or there aren't going to be fans, or if teams don't want to travel longer distances to begin with, maybe they tear the whole thing up. He and Rosenthal published a whole separate article with some of those more unusual scenarios.

bkox 2020-03-27 03:37:36 UTC #398

schillingfan 2020-03-27 19:39:16 UTC #399

Moore of Pennsylvania placed in “stay at home” status today, including Lucerne and Lackawanna Cunties. We’re growing not as exponentially as Philly and suburbs. But not too much differences as most everywhere to go is shut down anyway. My daughter had to go th Zcourt three days this week, but very strong social distancing there. Other than this, just weekly shopping trips.

phillychuck 2020-03-28 12:50:25 UTC #400

An interesting convalescent plasma treatment being tried for COVID-19:

tom81 2020-03-28 15:48:31 UTC #401

The NYT has a county database of Coronavirus cases.

github.com

nytimes/covid-19-data/blob/master/us-counties.csv

date,county,state,fips,cases,deaths
2020-01-21,Snohomish,Washington,53061,1,0
2020-01-22,Snohomish,Washington,53061,1,0
2020-01-23,Snohomish,Washington,53061,1,0
2020-01-24,Cook,Illinois,17031,1,0
2020-01-24,Snohomish,Washington,53061,1,0
2020-01-25,Orange,California,06059,1,0
2020-01-25,Cook,Illinois,17031,1,0
2020-01-25,Snohomish,Washington,53061,1,0
2020-01-26,Maricopa,Arizona,04013,1,0
2020-01-26,Los Angeles,California,06037,1,0
2020-01-26,Orange,California,06059,1,0
2020-01-26,Cook,Illinois,17031,1,0
2020-01-26,Snohomish,Washington,53061,1,0
2020-01-27,Maricopa,Arizona,04013,1,0
2020-01-27,Los Angeles,California,06037,1,0
2020-01-27,Orange,California,06059,1,0
2020-01-27,Cook,Illinois,17031,1,0
2020-01-27,Snohomish,Washington,53061,1,0
2020-01-28,Maricopa,Arizona,04013,1,0

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