MLB Discussing Playing All Games In Phoenix, Arizona Amid Coronavirus

Putting all 30 teams in the Phoenix area and playing in empty ballparks was among the ideas discussed Monday by Major League Baseball and the players’ association.

The sides held a telephone call to talk about paths forward for a season delayed by the new coronavirus pandemic, people familiar with the discussion told The Associated Press. They spoke on condition of anonymity because no details were announced.

Ideas are still in the early stage, and the Arizona option would have many obstacles to overcome, the people said.

Putting all 30 teams in the Phoenix area and playing in empty ballparks was among the ideas discussed Monday by Major League Baseball and the players’ association.

Ideas are still in the early stage, and the Arizona option would have many obstacles to overcome, the people said.

Half of the MLB clubs hold spring training in Arizona, the other half in Florida.

US-backed foreign broadcaster selling pricy news gear for pennies on the dollar to ‘spite’ taxpayers

Biden DOJ subpoenaed Jim Jordan’s phone records covering more than two years

Republicans Working to End Biden-era Regulation That Funded Travel for Illegal Alien Minors Who Were Getting Abortions

Florida executes Richard Barry Randolph, convicted of raping, killing former convenience store manager

Nydia Velazquez, first Puerto Rican woman elected to Congress, announces 2026 retirement

Rescue operation underway after possible overboard incident on Carnival Cruise ship

Fate of Abrego Garcia hangs as judge grills DOJ on removal order

Thune attempt to alter controversial ‘Arctic Frost’ provision blocked

CDC Declares ‘the Possibility That Infant Vaccines Cause Autism’ Has Not Been Ruled Out in Major Messaging Shift

DOJ sues Newsom over California giving illegal immigrants college tuition benefits

Maryland grand jury investigating handling of Schiff mortgage fraud inquiry: Source

Watch: James Comer Brings Hard Evidence to House Floor After Hakeem Jeffries Calls Him a ‘Stone-Cold Liar’

Russia and Ukraine worked ‘equally’ with US counterparts on peace deal for a month, Leavitt says

‘Peak Irony’ Riley Gaines Fires Back Against Megan Rapinoe’s Attack on the ‘Save Women’s Sports’ Movement

New York leaders condemn ‘intifada’ chants targeting a synagogue led by a Holocaust survivor

Arizona’s advantage is 10 spring training ballparks plus the Arizona Diamondbacks’ Chase Field all within about 50 miles. Florida’s spring training ballparks are spread by as much as 220 miles.

“It allows for immediacy of a schedule, where you might be able to begin it and televise it, provide Major League Baseball to America,” said Scott Boras, baseball’s most prominent agent. “I think players are willing to do what’s necessary because I think they understand the importance of baseball for their own livelihoods and for the interest of our country and providing a necessary product that gives all the people that are isolated enjoyment.”

“It gives them a sense of a return to some normalcy,” Boras added. “You talk to a psychologist about it and they say it’s it’s really good for a culture to have to have sport and to have a focus like that, where for a few hours a day they can take their minds off the difficult reality of the virus.”

Baseball’s season had been set to start March 26 but spring training was halted on March 12. After the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommended restricting events of more than 50 people for eight weeks, MLB said it would not open until mid-May at the earliest.

Texas Rangers president of baseball operations Jon Daniels said MLB is examining different options and he didn’t want to speculate.

“But, obviously, we’d all love to find a way to play, provided we could do safely, and that would be the priority,” he said.

The players’ association would want to survey its members to determine whether they would support such a plan, one of the people said.

“You’re going to be largely separated from your families and you’re going to have to function in a very contained way. It’s not it’s not a normal life, this idea,” Boras said. “You’re going to have an identified group of people. You’re going to have a constantly tested group of people. And you’re going to have a very limited access of those people to the outside world so that you can assure a very uncontaminated league, if you will, to produce a product that is inspirational to our country.”