MLS is Back Tournament, The Bubble, and The Virus

They are testing and are getting some positive test results too. It's just seems that MLS cases are way more.

 

One team is bad. The rest are only one person so far. That’s not bad.

 

@jaykoz3 perhaps a "round one games" PBP thread is in order?

 

Well, I can think of two reasons:

1. It's not really a "bubble," which implies something air tight. Not a sieve, either, of course, because serious precautions are being taken. But the players do encounter people in Orlando who e it's outside of that bubble. There's always going to be some risk.

2. Some teams have only recently arrived, and I have to think it's possible that a handful of players/staff might have been exposed immediately before traveling to Florida. They could have passed an initial screening, then tested positive a couple of days later.

 

I'll cobble something together later tonight or tomorrow night after work.

 

This is more assuring and convincing for me than the alarmists who keep telling us to cancel the tournament after a few positives.

By contrast Bundesliga and EPL had similar numbers, if not more going into restarting play.

 

As one of those "alarmists" you're leaving out one of the reasons I think they shouldn't be having this tournament right now. The image of the league playing a game while almost literally down the street* there are hospitals filling up with COVID patients is not a good one for the league. Do we really think that by August 12th that Florida won't be in the situation that Arizona and Houston are in right now, where they're having to make quality of care decisions for patients due to a lack of resources? Even if MLS isn't taking any resources from the local community, its not a great look to have them playing and potentially exposing local workers during such a crisis.

*I am, sadly, quite familiar with the hospital just down I-4 from WDW in Dr. Phillips as that's where my mother-in-law spent far too much time in her unsuccessful battle against lymphoma.

 

Honestly, there were plenty of better locations (Utah, anyone?) that would've been better suited for the tournament. Unfortunately, when MLS first announced it, Florida cases weren't as bad as now. There's no turning back from everything being finalized.

Fauci even said that sports can come back if leagues are in a bubble, he even praised NBA campus-like return.

 

If those local workers are working in the MLS bubble then isn’t that a far less exposing situation than what they’d be facing outside?

Most of these players will also be in a less risky environment than their own market. The standards are much more strict even though the situation around them isn’t.

By August 12th the tournament is over, but yes if things get worse they can get worse fast.

On a separate topic, does anyone know when regular season games are planned to be scheduled once teams return to their respective markets?

 

Sure there is.

"MLS has re-evaluated the current conditions in Florida and while we are grateful to our partners at ESPN, Disney, and Marriott and all the work their people put in to make this tournament happen, the situation has changed in Central Florida since we made the decision to play there. We don't wish to be a burden on a region that's currently undergoing a major struggle against this disease, and we want all of the people who working on this tournament to focus on keeping themselves and their families healthy. Because of that we are postponing the MLS Is Back Tournament until such time that it makes sense to play it".

Done.

Would it cost a bunch of money? Yeah. If they were smart they bought insurance and had backup plans. Is it the right thing to do? Also yes.

 

I was off a day, the final is August 11th, not August 12th.

 

These are the sorts of things the players are concerned about. Another told me yesterday a story about a hotel worker entering a player’s room while the player was inside. Even with mostly low numbers, those types of breaches of protocol add to anxiety. https://t.co/5nb38dhOYi

— Sam Stejskal (@samstejskal) July 5, 2020

 

Sources: Colorado Rapids have postponed today’s flight to Orlando. Two members of traveling party, including one player, tested positive for COVID-19 on final round of pre-travel testing. Follow-up testing to occur. Aim is to travel tomorrow.

— Sam Stejskal (@samstejskal) July 5, 2020

 

Almost got to 10! 😅 #MLSisBack pic.twitter.com/Vuru2BCxmx

— FC Cincinnati (@fccincinnati) July 5, 2020

 

It looks like they aren't trying to transport Toronto FC again until Monday.

We can all have our eyes on DAL8913 tomorrow afternoon, as @TorontoFC is scheduled to give it another go for #MLSisBack in Orlando. Plane scheduled to leave ATL at 130pm to pick them up at YYZ. #TFCLive

DAL8913
YYZ - MCO
B738 | N3752
ETD - 5pm | ETA 735pm pic.twitter.com/6IndGOIZEF

— Sports + Aviation (@SportsAviation) July 5, 2020

 

Uh-oh. Another team in trouble. Nashville SC has had 5 players test positive. One upon arrival and 4 since.

Reporting with @samstejskal: Nashville SC has had five players test positive since arriving in Orlando on Friday, per sources. One upon arrival, four more since. Last four need to be confirmed by follow-ups.

Nashville hasn’t trained since Tuesday. Set to play Fire on Wednesday.

— Paul Tenorio (@PaulTenorio) July 5, 2020

 

I even have a dvr recording set for this game...

 

But, you know, we're alarmist for pointing out that another team going through what Dallas is going through (like, apparently, Nashville is) before games even start and before all teams arrive is a good indicator this tournament might not go off as planned.

 

Rapids just sent out an official notification they are rescheduled for Tuesday. Their first game is Sunday.

 

So they're going to violate the 1 week quarantine rule by playing?

 

So, is the NBA going to somehow avoid these types of issues?

 

The good news is that even now it would be an “easy” fix. Drop Nashville and Dallas, move a team from A to B. It would be cross division games, but they can account for that. The bigger issue is that it sounds like they aren’t maintaining protocols and bringing food to isolated players...

 

One thing that is probably better for the NBA's logistics is that everybody is scheduled to arrive three weeks before games. So if players bring the virus from their cities (which is the cause of most, if not all, of the problems in MLS), they have some buffer of time to deal with it.

 

Article about how ESPN plans to try new things during the broadcasts:

https://www.latimes.com/sports/soccer/story/2020-07-05/coronavirus-mls-tv-coverage

 

Grant Wahl has a reality check for some of you doomsayers.

4. If MLS starts getting positive cases that are being transmitted inside the bubble (and not just detected upon initial entry), that would be a giant problem. https://t.co/cmNPYaWA5M

— Subscribe to GrantWahl.com (@GrantWahl) July 5, 2020