And if an outbreak is linked to hockey, it will be a PR nightmare
I hate political correctness, but am going to ask anyway.
I want hockey to play as soon as legitimately possible.
With no fans,
there still has to be
officials. Okay
off ice officials. ok
cameras and production. different world for social distancing needed
trainers...
medical staff/ambulances.
if players, coaches, tv and officials want the risk, I feel it's their choice
But taking any medical resources away will look to SOME as a bad thing.
And if an outbreak is linked to hockey, it will be a PR nightmare
I have no answer, and I'm glad it is not my decision, but returning to some kind normal certainly sounds good
The financial repercussions for the NHL of not delivering on their TV contract obligations would be catastrophic.
This will be interesting. I understand the desire to finish the season, and especially the desire to have a playoffs. However, sequestration is a difficult matter, because:
There is no way to simply give a certain team a set of hotel rooms to finish the regular season unless you can play all games in ONE location. That's because there are inter-conference games left on the schedule, and I do not think it's possible to create 2 'sets' of teams with no crossover. So, even at this....there will be travel.
Now, it's possible that you could do:
Four sites for games (one for each division)
If your team is playing out of site that day: Fly in the AM to the correct site, transport direct to facility, spend the day at the facility, play game, transport to airport, fly 'home'.
Alternatively, one set of hotel rooms in each city could be reserved for traveling teams.....
But the planning logistics are going to be difficult.
I might just take a look at how many games each team has left out of its division - just for kicks. By a quick count, approximately 1/2 the games left on the schedule would fit into this category - either interconference or interdivisional.
If a team is hosting, they will likely not be quarantined. Bettman has said the only way the season will continue is if people can be reliably tested. Besides, most players are quarantined at their homes right now, with their families. A direct quarantine certainly doesn't mean the players leave their families, where they've been since the season has been paused.
Look at the title of this thread. We're not talking about neutral site games. Bettman said they are off the table and the league is looking to have each division play at an NHL arena, since even minor league and high end college arenas they looked at didn't have NHL-standard amenities.
Reckless and irresponsible? Players are already quarantined at home with their families. That's what they've been doing since the season was put on pause. They're not sitting alone in a hotel room. Have you looked at any NHL social media over the last month? Carey Price fishing at home with his family. Zdeno Chara wearing Bruins masks at home with his family. The three Hughes brothers playing street hockey at their home together. Patrick Marleau skating through his house past his wife and kids. Tarasenko playing goalie with his family at his home. Family workout videos posted by Gustafsson, O'Reilly, and no less than dozens of other players. Do you not understand what NHL players have been doing? What you just said is wildly oblivious. Get real and turn your brain on.
they discussed this and said it was not mathematically possible to do that exact scenario and have each team equal the same amount of games before reaching 82.
Start from this: If a player gets COVID during the resumed season, the league has to shut it down again. So how do you ensure that cannot happen?
I can imagine many players not wanting to remove their families from presumably healthy & familiar environs and placing them in unknown ones. Family health status/history & ages of children should be a major determinant. I think you'd see a large number of players deciding in the end that being separated is what's best for their families long-term.... You can imagine NHL players not interested in being separated from families fir months. NBA considering options that allow players to bring their families. NHL may be considering the same.
So THAT'S the solution to this pandemic: Governments should refocus their anti-COVID resources & immediately mandate a crash course in athletic training for EVERYONE within their populations. And imagine the side benefits of re-employing personal trainers & reopening fitness centers around the world. Feel free to start without me, while I finish my mega-Mexi-meal carry-outs & this 12-pack of Dos Equis.... Another note is that there is relatively low risk to the players even if they do catch it. All are young and in excellent shape. So it's unlikely that even in an outbreak anyone would die or even become seriously ill. If the entire world was made up of elite athletes in their 20's and early 30's, covid-19 wouldn't be a major concern.
Bill Daly: Single or multiple positive COVID-19 tests wouldn’t necessarily shut restart attempt - TSN.ca
Daly told TSN’s Ryan Rishaug. “but no, we do not believe that one positive test, even multiple positive tests wouldn’t necessarily shut the whole thing down.
***
The NHL is saying positive test(s) might not shut it down again. Not sure how they think they can manage that. Once one player gets it, it's going to spread thru his whole team. More so if the players are all isolating together.
I know it was a long time ago (1919) , but the last time the NHL was playing games in a pandemic, a player died. So how is the NHL going to deal with a player getting sick while playing in a "forced" restart, and passing away? These players are healthy physical specimens , but even healthy people are catching this and ending up in the hospital in the ICU.
Unless the NHL can come up with some 100% fool proof way of isolation someone is going to get sick.
I suppose if they test every player on a regular basis they could stop it before it spreads too far. And enforce social distancing between the players that are isolating together.
One data point is with the positive tests in the NBA. Though several players on different teams tested positive, there is no indication that it spread to the entire team. A proactive approach could limit this even more.
Another note is that there is relatively low risk to the players even if they do catch it. All are young and in excellent shape. So it's unlikely that even in an outbreak anyone would die or even become seriously ill. If the entire world was made up of elite athletes in their 20's and early 30's, covid-19 wouldn't be a major concern.
I can imagine many players not wanting to remove their families from presumably healthy & familiar environs and placing them in unknown ones. Family health status/history & ages of children should be a major determinant. I think you'd see a large number of players deciding in the end that being separated is what's best for their families long-term.
I agree with you. The NHL is saying that one test wouldn't shut them down, but the fact is, that if one person gets it there's virtually no way to prevent it from spreading within a team, then to other teams/refs/etc.
If you quarantine a number of teams, refs, arena staff, TV crews, bus drivers and hotel staff together - testing them on the way in - and make them bunker down for 3 weeks before training and then start, you can keep them in a COVID free bubble. The only point of entry would be food deliveries to the hotel.
In a non-quarantine situation, the possible points of entry are every person, every interaction.