Everyone is very eager for the return of professional sports. Major League Baseball has the potential to be the first sport back up and running since the shutdown. This is contingent on the MLB owners and players association agreeing to terms on the so called “Arizona Plan”. So that begs the question; What is the “Arizona Plan”?
The “Arizona Plan” calls for all 30 Major League teams to play in Central Arizona, at the spring training facilities, with no fans, and being forced to stay in hotels until the games the next day. No family, friends, or fans will be allowed to see players until the rest of the country opens back up. Players would sit in the bleachers 6 feet apart from one another when they are not in the field. Players would also be forced to take a pay cut due to the lack of revenue from attendance, parking, and concession sales. Tests would be administered to all players, coaches, and umpires each week.
While at first this seems unlikely and silly, it might be the only way that we get baseball started this season. People are getting to the point where baseball on television with no fans is better than no baseball at all. Owners and sports networks are losing more and more money each day that players sit at home not playing the sport they are paid to play. On paper, this plan makes sense to get the season started. As long as the players don’t have the virus, they should be able to play without fans, right? Well it’s a bit more complicated than that.
After arrival at the hotel and field, players will no longer be able to be in close proximity of any family, friends, children, and non-team personnel. For Mike Trout, Angeles star center fielder, that would mean he would miss the birth of his first child. Lots of issues like this are going to be a tough sell to the players, who just want things to return to normal. I’m sure players also wouldn’t be thrilled about taking an additional pay cut.
With all the flaws that the “Arizona Plan” might have, it might be the only option to get baseball started for the next few months. With the fear of crowds and the hypervigilance surrounding this COVID-19 pandemic, it might be a very long time before fans are able to return to stadiums, and fans might not even want to go for a while.
Sports has never seen anything like this pandemic, and it has been devastating to the sports industry to have to go so long without any kind of sport playing on the television. It is about time to start implementing these drastic measures to get baseball back any way possible. People and players alike thought it was very strange when, in 2015, the Baltimore Orioles and Chicago White Sox played the first ever MLB game played in an empty stadium, with no fans in the stands. This might actually be the new reality for the MLB until this outbreak is under control.
John Marrs Sports Blog 