Monday Morning Downer: Why Sports Aren't Coming Back Soon

Sports Illustrated's Stephanie Apstein went in-depth looking at the issues surrounding the possible return of sports, and it's not a pleasant look.

While everyone around the nation continues their shelter in place, self quarantines sports fans are holding out hope for the return of sports by late August when college and NFL football are supposed to kick off their 2020 seasons. 

That, however, seems more and more unlikely as the days go by, and more ideas and issues arise that seem roadblocks for sports return. 

On Friday, Sports Illustrated's Stephanie Apstein released an article on the subject after speaking with people around sports, and her assessment and outlook are bleak. 

Scientists estimate we are still 12 to 18 months away from a vaccine for COVID-19, which according to some, seems like the only way fans will ever get back into stadiums around the country, regardless of sport. 

Most of these ideas are essentially the same: The players live in quarantine, shuttling from the hotel to the stadium, for the duration of the season. They undergo daily COVID-19 tests. They bring joy to a terrified country. That seems reasonable on the surface. But look closer.

First, let’s do away with the suggestion, put forth by President Donald Trump, that football season could go on as normal, beginning on time in September and unfolding in front of crowded stadiums.

"We will not have sporting events with fans until we have a vaccine," says Zach Binney, a PhD in epidemiology who wrote his dissertation on injuries in the NFL and now teaches at Emory. Barring a medical miracle, the process of developing and widely distributing a vaccine is likely to take 12 to 18 months.

But what of the talk of plans to play the games in empty stadiums and venues?

While that seems a workable solution, Apstein goes further in-depth when she writes of how that would have to work, and in the case of college and NFL football, it seems unlikely that colleges might attempt to go through the process.

Players, coaches, administrators, airplane pilots, bus drivers, cooks, cleaning staff, and anyone else that would come in contact with student-athletes would have to be sequestered in a hotel or dorm away from their families and friends for the duration of the season. 

That would create a  burden many of those people, not members of the team, might be unwilling to accept for the length of time necessary to pull it off.

Let's be honest here, many possibilities are under consideration for the return of sports for those of us who are stuck inside and craving something to sustain our attention during these uncertain times, but each proposal is also full of trap doors. 

As I have written previously, there just doesn't seem like a sustainable solution to put sports back on track in 2020, and that pains me to write, but the reality of our current situation makes it something that has to be said.

There are options, but then there are more questions and concerns from both those inside sports and people who want to watch and enjoy them. 

Regardless of what happens with sports, our world is changing and may never return to what it was before. That thought is as scary to people outside the sports world as the thought of an entire calendar year without sports are to fans.

   

Follow Greg on Twitter @GregAriasSports and @SIVanderbilt or Facebook at Vanderbilt Commodores-Maven.