[ESPN] MLB suspends spring training, delays Opening Day at least two weeks

thanks Doctor

 

this is by far the most likely senario, and it has been widely discussed between Mlb and the mlbpa

the biggest challenge will be having enough testing capability, that is the biggest hold up with the NBA right now and will be a big determining factor with Mlb. As long as the testing capability has greatly increased by mid May, which is likely, we will see teams start to ramp back up without fans

Some people who simply watch the news and believe the worst is the worst that is broadcast have no idea of the many realities that make up society

 

lol, there would be zero reasons to play to empty stadiums AND not televise it lol

well I guess the guys could keep in shape

 

What would be the point, other than padding stats? Where would be the income generation? Professional sports is to be enjoyed fans. Unless we all listen on the radio. That would be something great, IMO--but I'm not sure how many others feel the same way.

But why are huge production crews required? Professional sports have done a lot for cultures before, without the world class 99-camera rigups we have these days. Four camera guys, two video guys, one audio guy, four PBP guys (two each for tv/radio). I'm sure there's a LOT more to it -- but my point is it could be reduced significantly by reducing some of the fancy whatnot. It wouldn't be the quality we're used to, but it'd be baseball. Baseball is what happens on the field, not the state-of-the-art videography and graphical whatnot.

 

You're welcome... that is what I do.

 

And as soon as somebody tests positive.... then what?

Its pretty naive to think that its impossible for sports teams, announcing teams, umpires, grounds crew, technicians, production truck workers, camera-men, stadium security/workers.... to all be consistently free of this, especially when all of them come from separate areas, all have possibly different ideas of what social distancing entails, and all need to be present for even an empty stadium game.

 

Or those that work in hospitals have a little more insight than either the news or sports fans...

 

If the point is to generate income... there are a lot more hard hit sectors/businesses that do not have the ability to withstand this, as opposed to pro sports leagues. If the point is to provide a social distraction, regardless of income generating, then they may have to scale back everything.

A radio broadcast would require a ton less people than a television one. Could be simulcast on a television station... along with a live game-cast.

The guys that are needed to actually set up all the equipment... the guys that run the truck... the staff that assists the pbp guys with everything from stats, wardrobe, hair/makeup (sounds superficial... but its continuing in all other broadcast venues). I don't think Blum, as talented as he is, knows how to trouble-shoot the satellite uplink or run all the audio/video switches.

In the end, if each team has their own production crew, that's close to the 50-100 people I was mentioning... and that's a conservative assessment.

But all that matters is whether or not the 40-50 players/coaches/staff per team at each venue can stay infection free (and I guess the 5 umpires as well...).

 

Exactly.

 

There is a ton of logistics involved in this and quite a few people to make it happen during normal times, but you can most certainly scale things down. Only use the one crew of the home team and use fewer cameras and a skeleton crew in the truck. Yeah fans may not like listening to commentary from the other team's announcers, and the quality of the production would be limited, but that would significantly cut down people. I mean shoot, if me and a handful of other college students back in the day could run the cameras and booth for our RTV classes, then I'm sure they can figure something out for professional sports to operate, albeit in a different capacity. As for players, maybe teams would only be allowed to let those in the starting lineup be in the dugout, bench players would stay in the clubhouse. Starting pitchers not scheduled to pitch that day stay home (aside from their normal bullpen session). Coaching staff allowed in the dugout is maybe limited to the manager, bench coach, pitching coach and trainer. That keeps the numbers down. Now what to do if multiple players test on a team test positive. You would have to go into quarantine, so how could the team field enough players to play? And if you had to postpone a game when would you make it up in a already shortened season?

Might be logistically impossible if we don't have the virus firmly under control around Summertime, but I'm glad they're having these discussions. It may be trivial right now, but the world does need sports and entertainment; they need some form of escapism. And there's only so much Netflix and so many times you can watch Tiger King before things get truly monotonous.

 

I'm all for pro sports getting back in some capacity... just not going to bank on actual games that count/matter for this season.

Out of all sports, basketball probably has the best chance of coming back first. Can definitely limit the rosters, which are smaller than other sports to begin with. You truly only need one camera at all times. There's no extra equipment that requires a separate staff to handle, minus the 1-2 balls they have/game. Arenas are smaller and won't require as much security as stadiums. Players, coaches, and refs can all be screened prior to the start of quarantining them... but will they be able to truly keep everybody in one place (almost like prison) once they start up?

 

you do realize there are very few of us who would give a crap about listening to a game on the radio right? I mean I love it, but nation wide It would do very little

 

I hate to break this to you, but if you think we are going to wait until not one single person will test positive again for this before Sports come back, it’s likely to be years before that happens

this is a virus, they typically don’t fully go away

 

if they are playing all the games at Spring training sites, which would more likely be the Arizona stadiums clustered closely together, you would likely have one production crew per stadium. In fact you probably wouldn’t even have everybody’s broadcast team there, but you could have one broadcast team per stadium to televised games. Anyone thinking everything’s gonna come back exactly as it was beforeRight away, is fooling themselves more than the media is fooling people. But to think games could be played and televised is far from out of the question

 

this is exactly how it is likely to return, and step by step ramp up from there

 

There are going to have to be real viable treatments for those that are not infected. You think Dusty Baker or Brent Stromm should be hanging around a bunch of asymptomatic carriers? Yes once a vaccine is out or there is a version of tamiflu for COVID that counteracts the symptoms, that will render this like “other” viruses.

Now if they can prove the entire team has tested positive and either asymptomatic, or recovered... and thus immune... then that team is free to play.

 

Let’s just focus on keeping the 75 players/coaches/staff involved with these games healthy.... this excludes the workers that are needed to put the game on television, the workers required to transport the teams, and the workers required to provide ancillary support (security, medical, technical) that these teams still need.

 

So are you saying we may get a waiver to get Hinch back early?