United States President Donald Trump addressed the nation earlier today, speaking about how he plans to re-open the economy and detailing some steps he will take that would hopefully result in the NBA and other leagues booting back up later this year.
“We have to get our sports back,” Trump said (h/t Kurt Helin of NBC Sports).
He added that he plans on talking to upwards of 120 people – including NBA commissioner Adam Silver and Mavericks owner Mark Cuban – about the best way to re-open the economy and restart sports. The advisory panel, which includes executives and leaders from many industries, also includes a number of other sports commissioners and team owners, including the NFL’s Roger Goodell and MLB’s Rob Manfred.
“We’re not going to rip out every other seat in (stadiums),” Trump said in discussing how to get fans back to sporting events.
All the commissioners of the North American sports leagues recently conducted a call with Trump. All parties want the leagues to start back up, but Trump said he needs to get the “all clear” from officials first.
In addition to the league’s conversations with the White House, the NBA is consulting with health experts on the best way to get back up and running.
He has the best of the best involved
Time to play the games. Enough of this ridiculous nonsense.
Lol what?
You’re not wrong. Pretty obvious by now that the virus has been here since January at the latest and the death rate and rate of spread aren’t as bad as originally thought. Remember, all the projections took stay at home and social distancing orders into account. Also, there is no covid-19 test. Only a “coronovirus” test, which is a family of virus. People with a common cold will test positive.
Ok, Dr.
My mother passed on Dec. 10 and as we’ve gone thru this pandemic and looked back on her passing, she experienced many of the things mentioned with having the virus. I personally think the CV has been around as early as the Fall of ‘19.
God-willing, things can get back to “normal” before or without necessarily having to find a cure or vaccine for this current virus. Sars, Swine Flu, HIV, etc… we haven’t found an answer for those things but we’ve still “moved on”. I’m certainly not saying bring back sports at any cost, but we’ve made it past similar challenges… we can do it again.
Forget fans in stadiums for a while, games on TV are much easier to do safely and get a much wider audience to watch so if they play at all that’s the way to go
Easier said than done. Will they have to go to one city and play games there and be isolated from their families,friends and other ppl for months? Or do they go back to normal fly out to each other cities and risk getting the virus. The season is canceled dude.
Resumption won’t be perfect, some players will refuse, and no fans in the stands, but it would be good enough.
120 people on a comission when only one person is going to make all the decisions. Sounds like the next 4 seasons are going to be canceled.
How bout consulting about giving me my damn ticket money back. It’s a pandemic a**hole
You’re pretty much a one-trick pony, aren’t you?
Trust in Silver and all of the other commissioners to get their leagues respective points of view across. Regardless of political party I think the best case scenario will be the result of honest and dignified discussions by POTUS and the leaders of the parties involved. Trust in democracy.
And/or, if they don’t schedule a restart, it will make the force-majuer lawsuit more difficult to win.
Honest and dignified are two words that can never, ever be used with Mr. Trump.
I’m sorry, but this is ridiculous. I love sports and miss them as much as anyone, but there are around 1,000 people a day dying from this disease. There are more important things for the leader of this country to be doing right now. The death toll doesn’t seem to have even plateaued yet, we don’t need to concern with anything else right now other than making the country safe for a restart.
It’s not just sports. The entire economy is virtually shut down right now. If the U.S. doesn’t open some things back up and get people back to work, a second Great Depression will happen, and many lives will be at risk because of an extended layoff. This is a very complex issue, balancing the health of citizens with the welfare of citizens. Time is of the essence.
Um…starting up sports is NOT going to jump start the economy. And if they get people together too soon, the virus is going to be around longer, and will negatively affect the economy that much longer.
Martevious
It’s the health experts that are saying Sports can return while also protecting the athletes, families and staff from either getting or spreading the virus.
And yes getting sports back up and running will have a positive affect on our economy. “Without a doubt”
Yes, because people will want to spend money going to sporting events during the worst economic crisis we’ve seen since the Depression. Let’s get other things going first before sports.
Exactly right, lambeau. We take risks every day. This virus isn’t going to be isolated. We need to move on with life and use some common sense. The economic hole we’re digging will do far more damage than the virus.
So you think money is more important than lives? Okay, that’s enough of the listening to you. Have a nice life.
No. That’s the stupidest straw man argument around. No choice is a great choice, but getting life back going is better than not. Newsflash, you aren’t going to exterminate this thing. The point was to flatten the curve for hospital care. We’ll all slowly reestablish regular life and be smart about it. Millions of jobless people and a national debt so large we’ll never recover will do FAR more damage.
You are one of like 10 people on this app who actually gets it.
Yes, hiflew, YOU get it. Thank you. The virus CAN be wiped out. We’ve been there, done that, with many other viruses, but not if people keep spreading it.
I’m guessing these people, who are so gung-ho about getting back to normal so quick, don’t have aged parents.
Dude, I’m worried about my aging family members for sure, but I’m also worried for my friends who have been deemed ‘non-essential workers’ by the government. Furlough isn’t an option for everyone. And a $1000 check is not a permanent solution. At some point, the economic shutdown will be catastrophic. If we all continue to take the correct precautions and make accommodations for the virus, it’s possible to open up the economy again at least a bit. But an all-or-nothing approach to combating the virus WILL make this already terrible situation even worse.
hiflew,
I’m not referring to the entertainment industry. I’m talking about the small business owners who have lost all income and are in grave danger of losing everything right now. Virus or not, people without a source of income will NOT be able to afford ANYTHING if the country stays on lockdown like it is for much longer. A tanked economy is bad news for EVERYONE. Let’s remember that every action has a consequence. The lives of those who can’t support themselves or their family are hurt just as much by someone who has coronavirus. Each one will lead to death.
*as* instead of by in that last sentence.
Totally agree
Economic depressions do not end lives, they just change them. Pandemics end lives. You can survive one and rebuild. You can’t the other. One means you face difficulties, the other means you are done facing anything.
The issue is not complex at all. It is the simplest idea in the world. Life is more important than money.
No money ain’t more important than lives. But you couldn’t be any more wrong even if you tried. You can’t beat a virus, just have to come & go. Creating poverty & famine will not do it, actually will make it worst for weak people to fight it. Also death ain’t the worst thing in life, well it is for the surviving family members, but at least with the virus it kills you quickly which is good… poverty, famine & malnourishment kills you very slowly & painfully. I’d rather go by the virus. You should look outside of your bubble to know that the world response to save just a few, very few thousand lives is putting at risk over a billion lives with the biggest economic crash in the world’s history. If you wanna wake up to reality or not is up to you, but dude look ahead. This virus is a tragedy, but the damage to the economy is just a bigger man made tragedy.
El Don, I believe you’re looking at the virus’ impact in a way where it stays on the same trajectory. The problem is, as bad as the statistics are, they’re not currently catastrophic BECAUSE of the measures we have in place. If you throw everything out, it’s going to spike.
I get the economy is bad, and that causes hardship. Sports do boost revenue in some areas. Those are all things, no matter how deep the hole gets, can be dug out of, if you’re alive to do it. Our country has weathered turbulent economic times before.
Restarting sports has to be done safely, when the time is right. Basketball, in particular, has a ton of contact. That’s a huge risk.
Of course you can beat a virus. We have beaten many viruses throughout history. You don’t find many people stricken with polio anymore. Smallpox is also a thing of the past. Patience is a virtue. It’s not going to be easy at all, but it is doable.
“death ain’t the worst thing in life”
“but at least with the virus it kills you quickly which is good”
You are just a monster. I hope you never have any real power in life.
It’s over 2,000 a day actually.
Thought it was just the flu, El Don?
How many people would die per day if we opened everything up right away?
My idea would be rolling re-openings. Keep things locked down until deaths per day start to decline. Then open up one or two states at a time. You can focus the nation’s medical resources on a small area while the virus works its way through the open areas. This would result in fewer deaths than opening everything up at once. After herd immunity builds up, start opening other areas.
Sports in front of live audiences should be probably be one of the last things to return to normal after this. Too big of crowds. Too high of potential of super spreaders creating virus hot spots.
Your living in la, la land. Without the economy returning back to normal we have nothing. Theirs away for the Sports Industry to return and continue to take precautionary measures to assure no one gets put in harms way.
Eventually the virus will run its course!
We need sports back ASAP! We also need our economy back to normal people need to go back to work. It’s awful sitting around doing nothing if sports were back it would soften the blow a bit
I thought this was America. If I want to risk myself to see a game that’s my choice, not some stuffed shirt in Sacramento.
What you are not thinking of, is that you are not just risking YOU, if you get the virus from someone there, YOU will become a risk to other people…if the President had only been willing to completely shut down the country with a 2 or 3 week stay-at-home order, we would probably already be looking at Covid-19 in our rear view mirror.
It’s your choice to go out in public, not wearing PPE, when you could be an asymptomatic career of the virus, and expose hundreds of other people needlessly. You may have the virus right now. This is not the risk you incur, it’s that you (and I) can be dangerous to others and have no idea. This is a major reason why we’re staying home.