In bits and pieces, sports across the country is trying to come back, mostly without any fans in attendance. At the very least, fans will at least have something to watch on TV besides a recap of Michael Jordan’s last title run.
NASCAR returns at Darlington, with no fans in attendance: This Sunday one of the bigger sports will return as NASCAR stages a race in Darlington, S.C. This ESPN post has a good breakdown of all the rules in place to keep drivers and staff safe from the coronavirus. What will be interesting will be to see how the announcers do, calling the race remotely. Here is an FAQ about the return to racing from the NASCAR web site.
MLS considering full-league tournament in Orlando: It sounds like a very strange summer vacation, but according to this Washington Post report, Major League Soccer is considering a plan to bring all 26 teams to Walt Disney World in Orlando for a full-league tournament. No official comments yet but it sounds like a fairly ambitious quarantine plan.
Golf gets going with a mini-tour event: With professional golf planning to hold events soon without fans, a mini-tour event in Arizona gave a glimpse of what it might look like to have players compete under safety conditions, which were followed by some but not all in this great report from Golf.com’s Alan Shipnuck from earlier this week. Now all we need is a self-sanitizing bunker rake and pin pole.
What will happen if and when the NFL season starts up? A couple interesting takes on what might happen (or not happen) if and when the NFL starts its season. In Carolina, the owner doesn’t see fans packing the venues at the start. And a good Washington Post piece about the challenges of coping with different situations in different states.