Dr. Anthony Fauci said the few words Major League Baseball and so many other leagues wanted to hear.
“There’s a way of doing that,” said the face of the fight against the coronavirus pandemic, referring to sports still being played this year.
MLB has been leading the charge in trying to find a way to return to fields even if fans aren’t returning to seats, even if teams wouldn’t necessarily be returning to their home stadiums.
The most notable plan put forth thus far has been sequestering teams in Arizona and ensuring players only go from their hotels to the parks and back again. Thus far, the belief has been families will be not involved.
This idea, which would entail so many games at mostly spring training stadiums around Phoenix, just about lines up with what Fauci sees as a possible option.
“Nobody comes to the stadium. Put [the players] in big hotels, wherever you want to play, keep them very well surveilled,” Fauci told Snapchat’s Peter Hamby on Wednesday. “… 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.”
Not having fans in stands would hurt the MLB bottom line, but not having a season at all would crush it. Commissioner Rob Manfred has seemed open to any way teams can return to play and games can return to television, where there is a lot of money to be made.
President Trump recently said he intended to talk with Manfred, along with several other leading sports voices such as Adam Silver, Mark Cuban, Jerry Jones and Robert Kraft, to discuss reopening the sports world.
Plans are on hold until at least May 10, following the CDC’s recommendation against gatherings of more than 50 people until that date.
Last week, a Seton Hall University poll revealed 72 percent of Americans said they would not attend a sporting event without a vaccine from COVID-19. That may be more an issue with the NFL than MLB, as baseball seems to want to return in any form.
“People say you can’t play without spectators,” said Fauci, a Nationals fan. “Well, I think you’ll probably get enough buy-in from people who are dying to see a baseball game.”