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.
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.
Half of the MLB clubs hold spring training in Arizona, the other half in Florida.
Erika Kirk and Charlie’s Parents Set to Attend Pivotal Tyler Robinson Hearing
WATCH: Bill Maher says Vance interview critics wouldn’t be happy unless he ‘punched him in the nose’
Trump Notches Another Victory as ‘Unprecedented Election Endorsement Run’ Shows No Signs of Ending
Alito blasts latest SCOTUS ballot ruling as invitation to ‘voter fraud’ risks
Five uplifting Venezuela earthquake rescue stories
Weekend alligator attacks leave Florida woman dead, child injured
Two corrections officers held hostage after inmates take over portions of North Carolina detention center
Ethics panel clears Gallego as Luna declares, ‘Once a creep, always a creep’
Amy Coney Barrett and John Roberts Side with Liberal Justices on Key Election Integrity Case
Conservatives revolt after Trump-appointed Barrett joins liberals in ‘shockingly wrong’ mail ballot ruling
Netanyahu’s lawyers compare his treatment by court to Adolf Eichmann as yearslong trial could go to 2028
Judge delays trial for White House Correspondents’ Association dinner shooting suspect
Wife of Louis Farrakhan dead at 90
Who is Lisa Cook? The central bank governor at the heart of the Supreme Court’s Trump-Fed showdown
American Airlines flight aborts Miami takeoff after business jet enters runway
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.”
Erika Kirk and Charlie’s Parents Set to Attend Pivotal Tyler Robinson Hearing
WATCH: Bill Maher says Vance interview critics wouldn’t be happy unless he ‘punched him in the nose’
Trump Notches Another Victory as ‘Unprecedented Election Endorsement Run’ Shows No Signs of Ending
Alito blasts latest SCOTUS ballot ruling as invitation to ‘voter fraud’ risks
Five uplifting Venezuela earthquake rescue stories
Weekend alligator attacks leave Florida woman dead, child injured
Two corrections officers held hostage after inmates take over portions of North Carolina detention center
Ethics panel clears Gallego as Luna declares, ‘Once a creep, always a creep’
Amy Coney Barrett and John Roberts Side with Liberal Justices on Key Election Integrity Case
Conservatives revolt after Trump-appointed Barrett joins liberals in ‘shockingly wrong’ mail ballot ruling
Netanyahu’s lawyers compare his treatment by court to Adolf Eichmann as yearslong trial could go to 2028
Judge delays trial for White House Correspondents’ Association dinner shooting suspect
Wife of Louis Farrakhan dead at 90
Who is Lisa Cook? The central bank governor at the heart of the Supreme Court’s Trump-Fed showdown
American Airlines flight aborts Miami takeoff after business jet enters runway
Chase Field, with artificial turf and a retractable roof, could be the site of daily tripleheaders, Boras said.
MLB and the union reached a deal March 26 to advance $170 million in salary to players for the first 60 days of the season. As part of the deal, players would get only prorated portions of their salaries if the regular season is cut from its usual 162 games and would receive no additional salary if the season is scrapped.
Both sides have agreed to attempt to play as full a season as is possible, and this plan would enable to season to start while waiting for health and government officials determine whether it is safe to resume play in regular-season ballparks, with the travel that would entail.
Story cited here.
