Reported By: Vinny Checchia
Coronavirus
So, we all know what the Coronavirus is a.k.a. Covid-19. It is a virus that can affect everyone but is mostly harmful to the elderly and the young. So the question is how does this affect the healthiest people on the planet, athletes. Well it affects them a lot, like I mentioned earlier it can affect even the healthiest people on Earth. So for instance if they were to get the virus (which wouldn’t affect them) it could affect the fans, who might not be able to combat the virus or other players who come in contact with the original player who had the virus. For instance if Rudy Gobert came into contact with an older Chris Paul who has been in the league for 15 years and is about to retire, some bad could happen. But it also affects the players if a fan has it that could touch or infect the players while also affecting other fans in the stadium or arena. So how did every league go against it.
NBA
The NBA has been doing a lot to combat the coronavirus. Being that it was the first professional league to deal with it was when Rudy Goebert and Donovan Mitchell were positive in having the coronavirus. This led to multiple teams going into quarantine due to versusing the Jazz very recently. These teams are the New York Knicks, Boston Celtics, Detroit Pistons, Toronto Raptors, and Cleveland Cavaliers. But other teams have also decided to self-quarantine themselves just to be safe like the Philadelphia 76ers. But the NBA also decided to take more extreme measures for suspending the season for at least 30 days. This could be crazy due to the fact that they will end up starting the season back at playoff time. So there are many questions like. Will they just start in the playoffs? Are they gonna make those games backup? What will they do if the Jazz still has the coronavirus? There are just many unknown regarding the NBA and corona but we do know the season will be suspended.
NHL
Similarly to the NBA they are following many measures to stop corona. While they aren’t quartining specific teams they are suspending the season for who knows how long. They will probably just start in the playoffs, but overall there isn’t much information on the coronavirus and the NHL out at this current point.
March Madness & MLB
Alright I’m combing these two because there isn’t much information about either. The MLB is just delaying the start of the season but no team is being quarantined. March Madness is the same in that they won’t quarantine any team but they are completely cancelling the tournament, which is probably better than their original idea to just not have fans in the arena. But this mainly sucks because after this season alot of their players are going to go straight into the NBA and not comeback after the end of the season.
Soccer & NFL
Soccer like the NHL is just postponed their season overall. While the NFL said they would be willing to but most likely won’t have to since their season doesn’t start until September. But both leagues are telling players to not leave the current cities/states they are in at the moment. While certain teams self quarantine.
Conclusion
In conclusion thissucks going prbably two months without any sport will make them some of the longest months we will ever have to live through. But for players and the league it also sucks because about the amount of money they will be losing without playing any games or having any fan support. But mainly as sports fans we have to persevere and care more about the players and environments making sure those players and teams are safe. We just have to make sure everyone stays safe and healthy.