COVID-19 - Leagues Suspended

[NYCFC_Dan]

My mom ended up sewing some and has shipped them our way for us to use when we go out. This past Saturday I needed to run out real quick, so I made a makeshift one out of a bandanna and two hairties. I saw a video for how to do this on Twitter.

What's important is that we don't think just because we're wearing masks now that we're more able to go out and about. Only go out when needed and use masks/face covering as an additional layer of protection.

My friend works in the ER and he’s done a few Covid shifts as well. He talked to us a bit about the masks and said everyone should wear one. That the CDC guidelines may have changed but their reasoning really hasn’t. They’ve always been adamant that the mask will not fully protect you. Unless you have a filtered mask like a N95 worn properly. They changed their stance because they now believe it’s more effective to reduce the spread of ‘spittle’ thus reducing the particle spread on surfaces. If you’re sick or asymptomatic and coughing or sneeze and you have a mask on that will reduce the amount of the virus that escapes out on surfaces or stays in the air. If you’re wearing a bandana or a normal cloth mask and someone sneezed or coughs you have the same chance of getting it as the next person. The virus will pass through the material. Our work is going to be handing out filtered masks to every employee this week. They’re not n95’s but they have a removable filter and the entire mask is washable. Initially I didn’t want to wear one but after speaking with him I feel that I should in order to protect others.

 

[SoupInNYC]

My friend works in the ER and he’s done a few Covid shifts as well. He talked to us a bit about the masks and said everyone should wear one. That the CDC guidelines may have changed but their reasoning really hasn’t. They’ve always been adamant that the mask will not fully protect you. Unless you have a filtered mask like a N95 worn properly. They changed their stance because they now believe it’s more effective to reduce the spread of ‘spittle’ thus reducing the particle spread on surfaces. If you’re sick or asymptomatic and coughing or sneeze and you have a mask on that will reduce the amount of the virus that escapes out on surfaces or stays in the air. If you’re wearing a bandana or a normal cloth mask and someone sneezed or coughs you have the same chance of getting it as the next person. The virus will pass through the material. Our work is going to be handing out filtered masks to every employee this week. They’re not n95’s but they have a removable filter and the entire mask is washable. Initially I didn’t want to wear one but after speaking with him I feel that I should in order to protect others.

On the last part though, I thought the thinking was if you're wearing a bandanna or something else (also realize that an actual mask would be best), it was more about containing a cough or sneeze from yourself. So moreso protecting others from you, rather than protecting you from others.

But also again, don't let wearing a mask or some kind of face covering give you a false sense of security and still try to limit going out as much as possible.

 

[NYCFC_Dan]

On the last part though, I thought the thinking was if you're wearing a bandanna or something else (also realize that an actual mask would be best), it was more about containing a cough or sneeze from yourself. So moreso protecting others from you, rather than protecting you from others.

But also again, don't let wearing a mask or some kind of face covering give you a false sense of security and still try to limit going out as much as possible.

Exactly. I believe i touched on that above. The cloth mask do help in containing the spit particles when you cough or sneeze. Not completely but it helps limit the spread. That’s why CDC changed their stance. Also that’s why I said I’ll be wearing one in order to protect others
I’m perfectly healthy but in case I am asymptomatic I’ll do my part and wear it.

 

[SoupInNYC]

Exactly. I believe i touched on that above. The cloth mask do help in containing the spit particles when you cough or sneeze. Not completely but it helps limit the spread. That’s why CDC changed their stance. Also that’s why I said I’ll be wearing one in order to protect others
I’m perfectly healthy but in case I am asymptomatic I’ll do my part and wear it.

Ahhh, I think I misinterpreted what you were saying then. We are on the same page.

 

[DeGrozz]

Today my 5 year old asked "Alexa, when is New York City going to start playing again?"

Apparently he's the only person in the world not embarrassed to be going to games and having to sit next to Uncle The Toe .

We've also watch NYCFC beat DC United 6-2 on aggregate like 4 times now. I'm forever an optimist though -- I'm confident COVID-19 is the death of televised e-sports.

 

[FootyLovin]

Despite Trump’s Optimism, Lack of Sports Could Extend Into the Fall (Published 2020)

Public officials and sports leaders, worried events could wipe out gains made in the pandemic, are examining shortened seasons or not having them at all.

www.nytimes.com

Generally paints a pretty bleak picture for return. A couple notables:

The N.F.L.’s chief medical officer, Dr. Allen Sills, was more definitive. “As long as we’re still in a place where when a single individual tests positive for the virus that you have to quarantine every single person who was in contact with them in any shape, form or fashion, then I don’t think you can begin to think about reopening a team sport,” Sills told NFL.com last week. “Because we’re going to have positive cases for a very long time.”​

​

Major League Soccer, which had started its regular season, and Major League Baseball, which had its spring training interrupted, are looking at truncated schedules. Both leagues have also contemplated playing games in empty stadiums, though it is unclear how risky that might be to players and to employees who produce the games. Officials in both leagues said they prefer to play with fans in the seats.​

​

Either way, sports leagues and tournaments say they will let the advice of medical experts, not the president, guide their decisions on when to resume play.​

 

[mgarbowski]

My feeling is that if “fans in the seats” is the threshold, there is no way they can responsibly play a season of any duration. They need to give the ample time needed to see where we are in this war before deciding to promote gatherings in the thousands. I don’t care how many months, years or cancelled seasons that takes.

Even without fans, staging games would require an extraordinary level of quarantining for everyone involved. Let's say you test every player and filter out anyone infected. Do they then all live together on a fully regulated compound? What about their families? Do you make sure nobody ever goes anywhere and comes in contact with anyone else? Are all games held in one city, or do they travel, and if so, how? Travel will become possible, but still adds complications,and charters solve some problems but not all. If in a single city, how many games can you realistically play each day? The NBA can play on high school gyms, many of which have regulation or near regulation courts that might require minimal modifications, so a single city could probably handle it. But baseball, football and soccer need big playing areas. A junior baseball diamond with 275 foot fences won't work for MLB and I doubt there any cities that have more than 2 full size baseball fields suitable for MLB.

 

[SoupInNYC]

Even without fans, staging games would require an extraordinary level of quarantining for everyone involved. Let's say you test every player and filter out anyone infected. Do they then all live together on a fully regulated compound? What about their families? Do you make sure nobody ever goes anywhere and comes in contact with anyone else? Are all games held in one city, or do they travel, and if so, how? Travel will become possible, but still adds complications,and charters solve some problems but not all. If in a single city, how many games can you realistically play each day? The NBA can play on high school gyms, many of which have regulation or near regulation courts that might require minimal modifications, so a single city could probably handle it. But baseball, football and soccer need big playing areas. A junior baseball diamond with 275 foot fences won't work for MLB and I doubt there any cities that have more than 2 full size baseball fields suitable for MLB.

I direct you back to my ridiculous Randall's Island proposal.

Here is my ridiculous proposal.

Quarantine all players, coaches, officials, and media until its clear that all are in the clear.

Empty out Randall's Island and close off the pedestrian bridge and only keep the auto access open for emergency vehicles.

Play out the MLS season (at whatever length) and playoffs at Icahn Stadium. The only "fans" in attendance for matches are players/coaches from the teams not playing. Live shots to "fan" player/coaches reactions throughout the match.

And with it being a closed off island to only MLS players, coaches, and staff, can also throw in other ridiculous reality TV type stuff including cooking competitions and the like.

 

[Gotham Gator]

On the last part though, I thought the thinking was if you're wearing a bandanna or something else (also realize that an actual mask would be best), it was more about containing a cough or sneeze from yourself. So moreso protecting others from you, rather than protecting you from others.

But also again, don't let wearing a mask or some kind of face covering give you a false sense of security and still try to limit going out as much as possible.

This is entirely correct (and so is what Dan was saying).

The good Dr. G has noted that some people have been wearing painters masks, which have a valve that lets the air out while limiting what comes in. These are close to useless, since they don’t filter anything a person sends out to the world, and the benefit of masks in this crisis is to do just that.

Also, she had a patient that came in with a mask and spent the entire time fiddling with it and moving it around to make it comfortable. So, the mask made her touch her face several times more often than she would have otherwise.

 

[joe]

I direct you back to my ridiculous Randall's Island proposal.

And with it being a closed off island to only MLS players, coaches, and staff, can also throw in other ridiculous reality TV type stuff including cooking competitions and the like.

That's basically what Dana White claims to be doing.

 

[Ulrich]

This is entirely correct (and so is what Dan was saying).

The good Dr. G has noted that some people have been wearing painters masks, which have a valve that lets the air out while limiting what comes in. These are close to useless, since they don’t filter anything a person sends out to the world, and the benefit of masks in this crisis is to do just that.

Also, she had a patient that came in with a mask and spent the entire time fiddling with it and moving it around to make it comfortable. So, the mask made her touch her face several times more often than she would have otherwise.

The point of a mask right now is to limit spittle and projection of the virus. Any mask a person wears has to let air out, otherwise you’d be breathing Carbon Dioxide back in like when using a brown bag. Even an N-95 mask allows some air out. A painters mask doesn’t allow straight, hard projection of the air released as there’s a break material in it to filter (same as valves N95) - it does shield other when the wearer sneezes or coughs.

 

[adam]

I direct you back to my ridiculous Randall's Island proposal.

And with it being a closed off island to only MLS players, coaches, and staff, can also throw in other ridiculous reality TV type stuff including cooking competitions and the like.

Please no more soccer tennis.

 

[ZYanksRule]

Remember all the secondary people that are needed to put on games. The game-operations folks, ballboys, clubhouse attendants, etc. Also the TV crews. What do you do about the camera guys, producers, directors, etc -- it's probably at least 30 people on a TV crew to air a game.

What do you do about those folks? It's not just players, coaches, refs, and staff. It probably takes 200-300 people to put a game on. Multiply that by 13 games a week, and you're looking at 2,000-3,000 people that need to be in your bubble. Seems highly unlikely.

 

[mgarbowski]

Sources: MLB, players eye May return in Arizona

Major League Baseball and its players are increasingly focused on a plan that could allow them to start the season as early as May in greater Phoenix and has the support of high-ranking federal public health officials, sources told ESPN.

www.espn.com

It is reported that MLB is seriously exploring the closed compound approach to reopening that I and others dismissed just this morning. Apparently almost all the spring training fields in Arizona are close to Phoenix and they think they can set up there. It's not all worked out with the union or government, but so far nobody it seems has said no.

 

[Fantazma]

Sources: MLB, players eye May return in Arizona

Major League Baseball and its players are increasingly focused on a plan that could allow them to start the season as early as May in greater Phoenix and has the support of high-ranking federal public health officials, sources told ESPN.

www.espn.com

It is reported that MLB is seriously exploring the closed compound approach to reopening that I and others dismissed just this morning. Apparently almost all the spring training fields in Arizona are close to Phoenix and the think they can set up there. It's not all worked out with the union or government, but so far nobody it seems has said no.

i dont know just feels way too fast, i think in May we may have better idea where we are potentially heading but not enough time i think to set this up. And different players are at home now and coming maybe from highly affected areas and potentially can make it a cluster fuck.

also, its "easier" to make this idea for MLB as they have training camp facilities etc. in MLS there really is not somewhere where they can realistically do this. there is no area that has many facilities nearby. unless they gonna try IMG?

 

[mgarbowski]

i dont know just feels way too fast, i think in May we may have better idea where we are potentially heading but not enough time i think to set this up. And different players are at home now and coming maybe from highly affected areas and potentially can make it a cluster fuck.

also, its "easier" to make this idea for MLB as they have training camp facilities etc. in MLS there really is not somewhere where they can realistically do this. there is no area that has many facilities nearby. unless they gonna try IMG?

The biggest obstacle to MLS proceeding like this compared to other leagues is MLS needs the ticket revenue more than other leagues. I'm not sure it is worth paying players, officials and other support personnel just for the TV money. But I think it is a long shot that MLB can even pull this off.

As for fields: MLS has 26 teams, which means 13 games every round. Split those over 2 days and you need 7 fields. Play on every field twice every game day and you need 4 fields. I suppose there are places that can handle that. Though playing games on fields 4 times a week -- because there will be a lot of double game weeks -- will take a toll on those fields.

 

[Fantazma]

The biggest obstacle to MLS proceeding like this compared to other leagues is MLS needs the ticket revenue more than other leagues. I'm not sure it is worth paying players, officials and other support personnel just for the TV money. But I think it is a long shot that MLB can even pull this off.

As for fields: MLS has 26 teams, which means 13 games every round. Split those over 2 days and you need 7 fields. Play on every field twice every game day and you need 4 fields. I suppose there are places that can handle that. Though playing games on fields 4 times a week -- because there will be a lot of double game weeks -- will take a toll on those fields.

seems like too much expense just for minimal gain.

 

[Shwafta]

He said he watched 90% of our game film from last year while in quarantine.

 

[ZYanksRule]

That MLB "plan" seems super ambitious and not terribly likely. Players sitting in the stands, no mound visits, no home-plate umpire?

It seems to me that all the leagues are going to want to come back together because no one is going to want to be first and be seen as rushing, and no one is going to want to be last and lose more revenue. Listen, we're probably not going to have fans at a sporting event or concert until 2021, so might as well get started as soon as you can and salvage what you can of the season. But this seems too fast. It wouldn't surprise me to seems teams start to train by May 15, but I think anything before the June 1 area for restarting the actual season might be a little too fast.

One thing we all need to realize, whether it comes to the economy or sports. Going too fast could actually make the situation worse and cause the virus to return. If we all follow social distancing and keep everything closed for another 6 weeks, some of the projections say we can completely curtail this thing. Patience is a virtue with this thing, and if we get impatient we could see it roar back.

 

[21Architect]

That MLB "plan" seems super ambitious and not terribly likely. Players sitting in the stands, no mound visits, no home-plate umpire?

It seems to me that all the leagues are going to want to come back together because no one is going to want to be first and be seen as rushing

No one is going to want to be the first one back making money for both the league and the players?

I disagree.

And as far as mound visits.........there are already way too many of those and umpires calling balls and strikes is on its way out any way.