COVID-19, otherwise known as the Coronavirus, has changed society as we knew it. Working and schooling from home have become the new normal, for the time being, but perhaps the biggest change to society has been the absence of new sports content. The homestretches of the NBA and NHL seasons, March Madness, and the traditional opening day of Major League Baseball have all been lost due the state and national restrictions for people to avoid physical contact and large crowds due to the contagious nature of the virus. However, sports in total did not have to go away, because there are ways to create new competitive sports content that haven’t yet been explored.
The NBA, WNBA and ESPN will be broadcasting a basketball H-O-R-S-E competition, where competitors will appear from the individual locales, and perform will shots while their opponent has to try to replicate the shots from their individual locations. This is a novel idea, but real sports could have been held with just a little thought and planning.
During a recent conversation between Stephen A. Smith and the hosts of ESPN’s Golic and Wingo show, Smith mentioned a number of sports that could still be held while adhering to the government’s mandates for isolation and separation.
Smith mentioned baseball, tennis and golf, but of those three, baseball would not work because each team carries 25 players plus a number of coaches, bat boys, trainers, equipment personnel, as well as the four umpires and the necessary broadcast personnel. Even though the games would be held in outdoor facilities, that is still a significant number of participants, and there are still instances where the players are in close quarters, whether it is a player being held on first base by an opposing first baseman, or the 20+ players and coaches who sit in the dugout while a single player is batting.
As for tennis and golf, these sports could be held because, in addition to being held outdoors, there are far fewer participants than many other sports.
The most players who participate in any tennis match is four, so those four players, a line judge, and a ball person would be all who would be needed on the court. Add in the player’s coaches and the broadcast personnel, and the total number of people involved would be less than 20. With the sport being held outdoors, minus an audience, professional tennis matches could be held while adhering to social distancing. The players would have to change sides on opposite sides on the court, and would have to avoid shaking hands after the match, but the events could be held.
The PGA Tour’s first Major Tournament of the year, The Masters, was postponed because of the virus, but similar precautions could make golf a viable sport during these times. Start times would have to be spaced out a little further so that there are only two golfers on a particular hole at a particular time, and again, with no fans in attendance, two golfers, two caddies, an official and the broadcast personnel would be all who were in a particular spot on the course at a particular time.
Other sports like pro bowling, billiards and diving could be held with some planning and precautions, but in short, and with a little effort, the void of not holding sporting events could be filled.
