As someone whose social calendar revolves around the world of sports, I’m ready for sports to return. Even if it’s meaningless pre-season hockey, basketball, or soccer, I’m ready. We’re ready.
But, as we deal with the ongoing pandemic, we need to be patient before any live events return.
As leaders and health experts try to combat COVID-19 and its effects, leagues around the world are trying to plan for the eventual return of sports. Their plans include anything from holding all games in one state, playing in a select few arenas, or playing behind closed doors.
Last week, Dr. Fauci raised the hopes of sports fans across North America by suggesting sports could return this summer, without any fans.
Such a proclamation by a leading health expert brought hope on two fronts: 1) as a world, we might be one step closer to beating this disease, and 2) live sports will be back soon. However, as sports fans hope and wait and leagues plan for an eventual return, it is important to remember that bringing back sports too early comes at a cost that might be too high.
Bringing sports back early means placing a burden on our society, changing behavior that has brought success in fighting this disease, and jeopardizing the health and safety of players.
Burden on Society
Last week, Dr. Fauci indicated sports could return without fans, provided certain conditions were met.
Nobody comes to the stadium. Put [the players] in big hotels, wherever you want to play, keep them very well surveilled. … 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.
Chris Chavez, Dr. Anthony Fauci: Pro sports could return this summer without fans, SI.com.
He provided hope that at least in some capacity sports could come back this summer. However, should leagues resume and follow his directions, it places a burden on society. For example, Fauci indicated that players would need to be tested every single week. But, in at least a month of properly dealing with the virus, both Canada and the US are still facing shortages in test kits.
Bringing sports back would put pressure on a system that is already so fragile. Presumably, if players need to be tested regularly, so do coaches, team medical and training staff, equipment managers, and referees. It would require testing who comes in contact with players and anyone who is needed at the various venues for games to be played.
This would require a huge increase in supply of testing kits, something that is still being figured out. Instead, by keeping leagues on pause, scarce resources, including testing kits, could be distributed to other members of society that need them more urgently.
Reversing Behavior that is Necessary to Fight the Disease
Sports has a way to bring people together. It can help create a bond with family members, friends, and sometimes even strangers. That’s why people throw Super Bowl parties every year and why we find ourselves high-fiving and hugging strangers after a team wins a championship.
However, the pandemic has introduced a new term to our vocabulary: social distancing.
In the last month, we’ve gone from meeting in restaurants, pubs, and coffee shops to meeting on Zoom, FaceTime, and Skype. We’ve gone from house parties to meeting on an app called Houseparty. Taking these measures has helped prevent the spread and save lives. Bringing sports back now will undo the work everyone has put in to fight the disease.
The moment sports return, it will be a matter of time before groups of people come together. And, with group gatherings, there is inherent risk in increasing the spread of disease and increasing the number of people that may suffer.
While governments and law enforcement agencies can try to prevent these gatherings, there is only so much they can do. They are already dealing with enough, from people not obeying social distancing rules to dealing with scammers. If sports were to return, that would just be another thing they need to deal with it.
Instead, why not keep leagues on pause until we are sure the disease has been dealt with. It will help direct local resources in areas of need and maybe even save lives.
Jeopardizing the Health and Safety of Players
The Coronavirus doesn’t care about your race, gender, or socioeconomic status. Anyone can be impacted. And with how easily the virus can spread, a league can only take so many precautions to guard against it.
And despite the precautions to safeguard players and coaches, if leagues resumed this summer, it would only jeopardize the health of everyone that is needed to run the games. Players, coaches, medical staff, equipment managers, security personnel. That’s not a risk worth taking with anyone’s life.
We might care when leagues resume, but the coronavirus does not. It is much more prudent to be patient and wait. Wait until a time when we can contain the disease. Wait until there is a vaccine. Wait till lives aren’t at risk.
There will be a time when sports can return. Now is not that time.