As we the sports fans patiently await the return of MLB, and the NBA, and the NHL, many are more eager to welcome back football. The other non-football sports are scheduled to return first. Their success or failure in this Covid-19 Pandemic will be carefully observed by owners/players/and the fans.
Should the Covid-19 virus begin to infect the players and the coaches on these sports teams it will not go unnoticed by the media sharks. Sports with greater contact like football will find the "Safety Factor" of protecting people over profits in a brighter spotlight. In spite of the monetary losses, owners may be faced with the decision of holding games as players/coaches get sick / die or shut everything down with the future promise of a return in 2021.
I too want to see professional sports to return to normal, but I don't believe that we can just wish away this Covid-19 Pandemic. As careful as they will try to be, this aggressive virus only needs a small opportunity to evolve into a larger spread.
What I fear is that we are going to see a slow motion train wreck with America's professional sports. It will start with scattered small cases of infected players/coaches. We will be told that all is under control and that quick medical attention has saved the day. This will be followed 8 to 10 days later with even more cases, but this time with people that we could never picture in an ICU on a respirator like a Pitcher or Head Coach or Star Basketball player. If this does not work to muster public opinion for shutting down these sports, 1 or possibly more deaths of future HOF players may well turn the arrow toward shutting down for the safety of the players/ coaches and their families. All of this might occur over an 8 to 10 week period of time and it will be like watching a slow motion train wreck and most of us will be unable to turn away from watching the wreck develop.
None of us hope for this to take place, but if it does it may just be that the NFL owners will step in in time to save their sport from a disaster. A season of football is big business indeed, but weighted against destroying what took decades to build is another.