We are in a global pandemic and hospitals are overwhelmed, people are working from home or not at all, and all professional sports have come to a complete halt. Athletes are out of work, stadiums are empty, janitors and concession workers aren’t making money, and morale is low. Unsurprisingly, there are people who are trying to get sports reopened or relax the regulations so their teammates can play, practice, and train again. What do the people think about this? There are mixed reactions. -CHiara Kovac
We are in a global pandemic and hospitals are overwhelmed, people are working from home or not at all, and all professional sports have come to a complete halt. Athletes are out of work, stadiums are empty, janitors and concession workers aren’t making money, and morale is low. Unsurprisingly, there are people who are trying to get sports reopened or relax the regulations so their teammates can play, practice, and train again. What do the people think about this? There are mixed reactions.
The first person is sixth grade Holly Young. She watched sports with her family and is disappointed that she cannot watch baseball and soccer. “I think that it was necessary (closing down sports and practices), even though a lot of people were disappointed by the decision (to close sports),” she said. Young also notes that her dad “has been going crazy without it (without being able to watch sports).” Young thinks that this period of time where there aren’t any sports activities won’t permanently affect the future but “the next few months will probably be very shaky.” She also mentions that the staff at the stadiums, like the vendors and custodians will be affected since they aren’t paid as much as athletes and the pay might be their only source of income.
Speaking of stadium workers, normal pay for a concession stand worker is about $14 per hour which is barely enough, especially for workers who need to support their families. The coaches, athletes and owners of teams are coming together and setting aside hourly pay for their game day employees. Each team set aside about $1 million dollars. However some are not eligible for their paycheck, such as the workers who are not employed directly by the stadium and work for companies who have contracts with teams and employ their workers there. Most of the workers who end up getting paid still only get about half of what they were promised. Rosslyn Wuchinich is the president of UNITE HERE Local 274, a union representing workers in Philadelphia says this about the situation, "Some people think this is like pocket change or work for folks in high school or college. It's not. These are people supporting families on this income," Wuchinich says, adding, "This crisis is a deep, deep financial crisis for low-wage workers." In New York city the workers not part of the direct staff of the stadiums are still getting paid thanks to the work of UNITE HERE local 100. The workers for stadiums in Los Angeles for the LA Kings and LA Clippers will be covered until the end of the season and there is a petition for the Dodgers and Angels to do the same. In Chicago, the 792 Levy workers for the Blackhawks and the Bulls are getting paid. Thanks to UNITE HERE local 1, about 1,060 workers for the Cubs and White Sox could potentially qualify for a grant of $500. Thanks to the work of these unions for the workers, many people have been able to get paid.
Robert O’Grady, an eighth grade basketball player also has an opinion about these sports closures. “I think that sports were an important part of not only my life but American society as a whole but sports involve a lot of people in a very small area. I do however think that we could make do without having audiences at sporting events.” O’Grady doesn’t think that spring training needs an audience either and says basketball games would be just as enjoyable watching from home on the Tv. Since the shelter in place order was issued and public places started closing down he has been unable to play basketball at all. O’Grady notes that “The gyms are closed, the parks are tapped off, there is no way I am playing basketball unless stuff starts to re-open.” He says he misses his teammates, they became like a second family to him.
Unlike Young, O’Grady thinks that the players will be most affected,“Everyone is going to be hit hard. That is obvious. But I think that the players are losing the most because if you think about it, the fans move on, the workers move on, the owners can move on, but it's the players and coaches that are losing that huge part of their life.” Basketball has been a big part of his life and he says he knows firsthand how important your teammates are. O’Grady thinks that this time in which sports have halted will have “a permanent impact on everything”. “People are saying they want things to go back to ‘normal’ but nothing will ever be normal again. When that comes to sports, game schedules will be shifted, the atmosphere of the stadium will be different, I don't think there will ever be another full stadium due to people being scared.” He reminds us that sporting events involve a lot of people in a very small area making contact and that's exactly what the government is trying to prevent. He ends the interview by saying: “There will be more people taking precautions even when this is all over. And people will have to come to terms with the new ‘Normal’.”
In fact, the losses estimated for the sports industry are at least 12 billion dollars that might double if sports cannot continue in the fall. Not just athletes are affected by this, think of the stadium workers previously mentioned, the managers, the tv network crews. The absence of sports has somewhat of a ripple effect and the results are far worse than disappointed fans.
Now comes the 12 billion dollar question: should we reopen sports? This question has been asked by many people and as always there are opposing sides. It would be quite ignorant to open sports at a time like this. With all the touching and contact made in a game, too much equipment to sanitize routinely, traveling and staying in small locker rooms, many more people would fall sick. And even if a person didn’t show symptoms they could still be a carrier of the disease and still spread it to others. If the case of coronavirus was strong enough, then the athlete would be sent to a hospital and take up equipment that was meant for others who need it more. If sports reopened, the stadiums would still be empty and concession workers would still be out of work. However, thousands of people would be happier and have their spirits lifted. Sports announcers could work again, and athletes could stay in shape. Of course it would be the same but it might be an opportunity to potentially make more money for the sports industry. And this is just what the German league decided to do.
Bundesliga the German Football league, has decided to start playing again. They started on May 16, the first of all Europe’s elite teams to return to a pre-pandemic state. Rules will be changed for example, teams are allowed five substitute players instead of three and any member of the team who has tested positive will be quarantined instead of the entire team being quarantined. Bayern Munich, the leading team in the league were one of the very first teams to start training in April. They practiced in small groups of four people and claimed to have followed social distancing norms. Only two people are allowed in the locker rooms at one time. The league was originally supposed to finish on June 3, 2020, but the league will take much longer. If there are too many players on a team who tested positive the entire team will be quarantined. This will result in missing two weeks of games and set the league back even further. There is a lot of physical contact in sports especially when celebrating a goal, but so far the only contact permitted is “short contact with an elbow or foot”. The players will not wear masks so they can breathe freely.
The Spanish and Italian leagues have also discussed returning to play games and the Spanish La Liga president, Javier Tebas assures the public that “The risk (of getting sick) will be zero (percent) or practically zero (percent) because the players will be tested, with only a five percent possible failure rate, 24 hours before.” He also brought up a study done by Danish and German Health Ministries and calculated that players will be about a meter away from each other. The study also says that only one of twenty-two players will get between a meter of another and for only sixty-seven seconds. This contact is not physical or face-to-face Tebas reasons they would have to be standing there for fifteen minutes for the virus to be transmitted. However, there is little information available about this new threat, and to confidently calculate a percentage is difficult and often can be proved wrong with new discoveries. There really is no way of knowing if this was a safe choice and will help the recovery of sports or damage its return, until the games have been played. The games will be played, and the world will be watching.
The first person is sixth grade Holly Young. She watched sports with her family and is disappointed that she cannot watch baseball and soccer. “I think that it was necessary (closing down sports and practices), even though a lot of people were disappointed by the decision (to close sports),” she said. Young also notes that her dad “has been going crazy without it (without being able to watch sports).” Young thinks that this period of time where there aren’t any sports activities won’t permanently affect the future but “the next few months will probably be very shaky.” She also mentions that the staff at the stadiums, like the vendors and custodians will be affected since they aren’t paid as much as athletes and the pay might be their only source of income.
Speaking of stadium workers, normal pay for a concession stand worker is about $14 per hour which is barely enough, especially for workers who need to support their families. The coaches, athletes and owners of teams are coming together and setting aside hourly pay for their game day employees. Each team set aside about $1 million dollars. However some are not eligible for their paycheck, such as the workers who are not employed directly by the stadium and work for companies who have contracts with teams and employ their workers there. Most of the workers who end up getting paid still only get about half of what they were promised. Rosslyn Wuchinich is the president of UNITE HERE Local 274, a union representing workers in Philadelphia says this about the situation, "Some people think this is like pocket change or work for folks in high school or college. It's not. These are people supporting families on this income," Wuchinich says, adding, "This crisis is a deep, deep financial crisis for low-wage workers." In New York city the workers not part of the direct staff of the stadiums are still getting paid thanks to the work of UNITE HERE local 100. The workers for stadiums in Los Angeles for the LA Kings and LA Clippers will be covered until the end of the season and there is a petition for the Dodgers and Angels to do the same. In Chicago, the 792 Levy workers for the Blackhawks and the Bulls are getting paid. Thanks to UNITE HERE local 1, about 1,060 workers for the Cubs and White Sox could potentially qualify for a grant of $500. Thanks to the work of these unions for the workers, many people have been able to get paid.
Robert O’Grady, an eighth grade basketball player also has an opinion about these sports closures. “I think that sports were an important part of not only my life but American society as a whole but sports involve a lot of people in a very small area. I do however think that we could make do without having audiences at sporting events.” O’Grady doesn’t think that spring training needs an audience either and says basketball games would be just as enjoyable watching from home on the Tv. Since the shelter in place order was issued and public places started closing down he has been unable to play basketball at all. O’Grady notes that “The gyms are closed, the parks are tapped off, there is no way I am playing basketball unless stuff starts to re-open.” He says he misses his teammates, they became like a second family to him.
Unlike Young, O’Grady thinks that the players will be most affected,“Everyone is going to be hit hard. That is obvious. But I think that the players are losing the most because if you think about it, the fans move on, the workers move on, the owners can move on, but it's the players and coaches that are losing that huge part of their life.” Basketball has been a big part of his life and he says he knows firsthand how important your teammates are. O’Grady thinks that this time in which sports have halted will have “a permanent impact on everything”. “People are saying they want things to go back to ‘normal’ but nothing will ever be normal again. When that comes to sports, game schedules will be shifted, the atmosphere of the stadium will be different, I don't think there will ever be another full stadium due to people being scared.” He reminds us that sporting events involve a lot of people in a very small area making contact and that's exactly what the government is trying to prevent. He ends the interview by saying: “There will be more people taking precautions even when this is all over. And people will have to come to terms with the new ‘Normal’.”
In fact, the losses estimated for the sports industry are at least 12 billion dollars that might double if sports cannot continue in the fall. Not just athletes are affected by this, think of the stadium workers previously mentioned, the managers, the tv network crews. The absence of sports has somewhat of a ripple effect and the results are far worse than disappointed fans.
Now comes the 12 billion dollar question: should we reopen sports? This question has been asked by many people and as always there are opposing sides. It would be quite ignorant to open sports at a time like this. With all the touching and contact made in a game, too much equipment to sanitize routinely, traveling and staying in small locker rooms, many more people would fall sick. And even if a person didn’t show symptoms they could still be a carrier of the disease and still spread it to others. If the case of coronavirus was strong enough, then the athlete would be sent to a hospital and take up equipment that was meant for others who need it more. If sports reopened, the stadiums would still be empty and concession workers would still be out of work. However, thousands of people would be happier and have their spirits lifted. Sports announcers could work again, and athletes could stay in shape. Of course it would be the same but it might be an opportunity to potentially make more money for the sports industry. And this is just what the German league decided to do.
Bundesliga the German Football league, has decided to start playing again. They started on May 16, the first of all Europe’s elite teams to return to a pre-pandemic state. Rules will be changed for example, teams are allowed five substitute players instead of three and any member of the team who has tested positive will be quarantined instead of the entire team being quarantined. Bayern Munich, the leading team in the league were one of the very first teams to start training in April. They practiced in small groups of four people and claimed to have followed social distancing norms. Only two people are allowed in the locker rooms at one time. The league was originally supposed to finish on June 3, 2020, but the league will take much longer. If there are too many players on a team who tested positive the entire team will be quarantined. This will result in missing two weeks of games and set the league back even further. There is a lot of physical contact in sports especially when celebrating a goal, but so far the only contact permitted is “short contact with an elbow or foot”. The players will not wear masks so they can breathe freely.
The Spanish and Italian leagues have also discussed returning to play games and the Spanish La Liga president, Javier Tebas assures the public that “The risk (of getting sick) will be zero (percent) or practically zero (percent) because the players will be tested, with only a five percent possible failure rate, 24 hours before.” He also brought up a study done by Danish and German Health Ministries and calculated that players will be about a meter away from each other. The study also says that only one of twenty-two players will get between a meter of another and for only sixty-seven seconds. This contact is not physical or face-to-face Tebas reasons they would have to be standing there for fifteen minutes for the virus to be transmitted. However, there is little information available about this new threat, and to confidently calculate a percentage is difficult and often can be proved wrong with new discoveries. There really is no way of knowing if this was a safe choice and will help the recovery of sports or damage its return, until the games have been played. The games will be played, and the world will be watching.