Eagles Football at an Empty Linc?

Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation's top doc when it comes to infectious diseases, may have hinted about what the return of professional sports will look like in America in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The face of the country’s fight against the disease said sports could return by the summer but only in empty stadiums and arenas and with teams essentially quarantined away from the general public.

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"There's a way of doing that," Fauci responded to Snapchat's Peter Hamby when asked about re-starting sports. "Nobody comes to the stadium. Put (the athletes) in big hotels, wherever you want to play, keep them very well surveilled.”

Ongoing testing would also have to be part of the equation as well, according to Fauci.

“Have them tested every single week and make sure they don't wind up infecting each other or their family, and just let them play the season out," said Fauci.

Both an abbreviated baseball season and the potential start of the NFL season were broached with Fauci during the interview.

Major League Baseball is reportedly weighing a plan in which the start of its season would be in a single location, most likely Arizona but potentially Florida, with no fans in attendance at games. Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey seemed receptive to that idea earlier this week if the all-clear is given.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, meanwhile, has already deemed pro sports “essential” in his state as WWE, the hybrid sports entertainment pro wrestling company, continues to tape television on a closed set at its training facility in Orlando.

President Donald Trump said Tuesday that many key figures in the sports world including NFL commissioner Roger Goodell will be in on the discussions as the POTUS works toward his plan to reopen the country’s reeling economy.

"We want to get our sports back, so importantly," sais Trump on Tuesday. "We have to get our sports back. I'm tired of watching baseball games that are 14 years old."

A conference call is scheduled Wednesday in which all the major-league commissioners as well as Patriots owner Robert Kraft and Dallas owner Jerry Jones, who are generally regarded as the two most powerful in the league, will participate.

Fauci, a sports fan himself, mentioned he wanted to see the Washington Nationals play again.

“People say, ‘You can’t play without spectators,’ well, I think you’d probably get enough buy-in... particularly me," said the doctor. "I’m living in Washington. We have the world champion Washington Nationals. I want to see them play again.”

It’s looking more and more likely that the NFL season will kick off in September as the league has been planning, though everything is very fluid and changing by the hour, never mind the day.

That’s the good news.

The bad news is when the Eagles do kick off, it’s becoming more and more likely that they will be playing in an empty venue, perhaps Lincoln Financial Field or even a neutral site somewhere else in the country.

John McMullen covers the Eagles for SI.com. You can listen to John every day on SIRIUSXM’s Tony Bruno Show with Harry Mayes and on ESPN 97.3 in South Jersey. You can reach him at jmcmullen44@gmail.com or on Twitter @JFMcMullen