Op-Ed: Coronavirus and Sports

Alexander Ganias, ‘20

April 2020

A full disclaimer, this will NOT go over what has happened with the PSAL and Bard Athletics. Even though it has caused some pain and definite disappointment, I couldn’t get myself to write an article about school sports. I hope you understand, and enjoy the finished product.

In my Fall Season Sports Preview article, I opened with the line “Sport. It never ceases”, and for the most part, this statement still holds true. But with the Coronavirus outbreak, there was a level of uncertainty around everything pertaining to daily life, including professional and local sports. 

Here’s what Tuesday, March 10th, looked like in the sports world for me in New York: The Mets and Yankees were wrapping up their Spring Training seasons as the MLB season would start in a little over two weeks. The Brooklyn Nets had upset the Los Angeles Lakers at the Staples Center the night before with a great performance by Spencer Dinwidde (23 pts); the Rangers continued their hot streak with a road win against the Dallas Stars and were within two points of catching the rival Islanders. The Islanders didn’t help their cause with a shootout loss in Vancouver to the Canucks, making it their seventh loss in a row. The New York City Football Club was preparing to play Tigres UANL at Red Bull Stadium in the CONCACAF Champions League.

March 11th started off normal as well (or as normal as it could be with the ongoing crisis). The Knicks were scheduled to play the Atlanta Hawks and it ended with a rare win for “New York’s team”, albeit in overtime. The Rangers had a chance to draw even with the Islanders on the second half of a back-to-back against the Colorado Avalanche, but they lost in overtime, trailing the Islanders by a single point. NYCFC couldn’t find an equalizing goal against Tigres, and they lost 1-0 in the first leg of their series. My family and I were sitting in our living room watching the Dallas Mavericks and the Denver Nuggets play basketball; I had just gotten home from track practice. I had made plans earlier that week to go to an Islanders game with my friends, and I was pretty excited. In a few short minutes, everything that I had mentioned above would be wiped out starting with breaking news: Rudy Gobert was the first professional athlete to test positive for the coronavirus. Not even ten minutes after I had heard that, Ryan Ruocco, the broadcaster for that game, announced during the Dallas/Denver telecast that the NBA would suspend their season for the next 30 days. The only way to describe what I was feeling is to show Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban’s reaction when he heard the news.

Credit: NBA on ESPN and News9 OKC

The dominos started to fall; the National Hockey League, Major League Baseball, and Major League Soccer seasons were all postponed. Various soccer leagues around the world were also suspending their seasons, and by Friday the 13th, there were no sports. This sent multiple shockwaves throughout the world, and as of now, there hasn’t been a solution. This suspension of all sports has affected the soccer world the most, since there are multiple top-tier leagues in multiple countries that ceased operations for the time being; but everyone is feeling the hurt. In North America, the upstart Canadian Premier League (who added their eighth team, Atlético Ottawa, this year) had to hit the breaks on their second-ever season. Two MLS teams in their inaugural season will have to wait another year as well, in Nashville SC and Inter Miami CF. Speaking of upstart leagues, the second iteration of the X-treme Football League (XFL) has recently announced that they would cease operations indefinitely, with no plans to return in 2021. MLB has delayed the opening of their season. The most obvious call came when Federcalcio (Italian Football Federation) cancelled all soccer in Italy. 

As a result of these cancelations, several team and stadium employees are left without a source of income; this has led to some positive response from players and owners alike, who have donated several million dollars to help medical agencies and the recently unemployed workers. But there is never light without shadow, as this has resulted in a fair share of controversy. This controversy has stemmed from professional basketball players getting tested for COVID-19, despite not showing symptoms. As a huge New York sports fan, I was torn that four Nets players had tested positive, including injured superstar Kevin Durant, and it wasn’t easy to read Mayor deBlasio’s tweet saying that the tests should be for those who show symptoms and not professional athletes, but I agreed with him. This issue that was once solely related to sports has now became a money and insurance issue, which I could go on about, but it isn't the point of this article.

Another controversy is that none of these leagues have canceled their season (except the XFL), and commissioners and owners have been scrambling to try and get their seasons resumed or started, but with the potential longevity of this quarantine, it might be better for them to cancel seasons and see what they could do for next season. But they haven’t done that, and even the man in the oval office masquerading as the president of the USA wants the NFL to start on time; however, there’s no guarantee that this will happen. Major League Baseball has had multiple proposals to keep teams in their spring training facilities in Florida or Arizona, and playing games with no fans. But with several stay-at-home orders around the country, and various people violating said orders (FLORIDA and OHIO), there are no surefire solutions in sight.

While this pandemic has resulted in a pause to live sports, it has shown the creative side of sports leagues. The five major sports leagues of North America have each played several games from their archives on streaming services, social media live, and television. The NBA has had NBA2K and HORSE tournaments, and the United Soccer League (USL) has held RocketLeague tournaments, a game where cars and trucks play soccer. By the time you’ve read this article, the NFL and WNBA drafts will have already occured, which was accomplished through video chat. Despite the pandemic plaguing the world… sport never ceases, and that won’t change.