Report: Texas Included in Potential Three-State Solution for MLB Regular Season
Major League Baseball is discussing a potential three-state plan that where teams would be stationed in Arizona, Florida, and Texas, according to a report by CBS Sports.
According to the report, teams would utilize both major- and minor-league stadiums, along with spring training facilities. Five major-league ballparks reside in the three states: Arizona's Chase Field in Phoenix, Florida's Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg and Marlins Park in Miami, and Texas' Minute Maid Park in Houston and newly built Globe Life Field in Arlington. All five stadiums have retractable or permanent roofs.
Part of the idea behind this plan is taking advantage of those five ballparks, excluding rain delays and extreme heat, which would allow multiple games to be played at each facility per day. The report also suggests MLB could ask teams to drive three-plus hours between the ballparks in Texas and Florida.
Another key part of this plan is minimizing the amount of teams concentrated in one area. Each state could host 10 teams, or MLB could spread the teams in an unbalanced fashion, with 12 teams in one state and eight in another.
Nothing in this latest idea is written in stone. On April 6, ESPN reported an "Arizona plan" where all 30 teams would utilize stadiums there while under strict isolation. Just days later, USA Today reported a plan where teams would play at their spring training facilities in Arizona and Florida while drastically realigning the leagues and divisions to help limit travel in the two areas. CBS suggests this proposal "should be taken with a grain of salt." All three ideas plan for games without fans in the stands.
Just last week, MLB commissioner Rob Manfred told Fox Business that these ideas are all ways to "address limitations that may exist when businesses restart."
"The only real decision that we have made, the only real plan that we have is that baseball is not going to return until the public health situation has improved to the point that we're comfortable," Manfred said in the interview. "That we can play games in a manner that's safe for our players, our employees, our fans, and in a way that will not impact the public health situation adversely.
Major League Baseball will continue to exhaust all of their options to salvage the season. The loss of an entire season after $10.7 billion in revenue in 2019 would be detrimental to the game. Even games without fans, in whatever structure, would salvage television revenue.
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