MLB has stopped play in hopes to resume at some during the coronavirus pandemic. With the possibility of returning without fans in attendance, is that an opportunity the league should look to take at all?
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00:00If Major League Baseball can return without fans, should it?
00:05For more on that question, I'm joined by our Emma Batchelieri.
00:08Now, Emma, to me, this would file under the expression,
00:10perfect is the enemy of good, because if it's safe,
00:14I would want games to be played without fans in the stands.
00:18It's a hard question,
00:19because I think first that if it's safe
00:21is still a really big if,
00:23you know, thinking about the number of people
00:25it takes to play a baseball game.
00:26That's not just the players on the field.
00:28That's not just the managers and the coaching staff.
00:30That's a whole ton of people.
00:32That's trainers and people who are, you know,
00:35the nutritionists and helping with laundry
00:37and cleaning even an empty stadium.
00:39So the if it's safe is still a big if,
00:43but once you've cleared that,
00:46then you're looking at a brand of baseball
00:47that would look really different
00:50to be playing without fans,
00:52to be playing potentially at spring training complexes
00:55in Arizona.
00:56It would still be baseball,
00:58but it would be very, very different baseball.
01:01Yeah, certainly.
01:02Now, obviously though, you know,
01:04that would be something that all sports
01:07are gonna have to deal with, right?
01:08I mean, this seems to be a crisis
01:12that is going to lead to no attendance
01:14for the foreseeable future.
01:16Yeah, I mean, looking at some of the places
01:18around the world that have been able
01:19to return to live sports so far,
01:22you have Taiwan, South Korea is looking like
01:25it might be opening up soon,
01:26and, you know, in both of those places,
01:28you are looking at no fans.
01:30This seems like it's going to be the way that it happens
01:32whenever that's able to happen here in the United States.
01:36But yeah, it'll most certainly be different
01:38if that's what we end up seeing.
01:39Emma, appreciate your time as always.
01:42Yeah, thank you.