MLB commish Rob Manfred is right: Let fans in where possible
By Bill Felber
Safety
Safety – both of the fans and players — is obviously the sine qua non of this discussion. Absent the safety question, we wouldn’t be having this discussion because the entire MLB season would have gone off as normal.
It should go without saying that both player and fan safety have to be ensured to the greatest reasonable degree possible or the gates can’t open.
The question is who makes the decision regarding what is safe? And the answer should be obvious: local health officials. They’re the ones who know how best to assess the risk.
In fact, those local health officials have been providing that answer more or less continuously since the COVID-19 virus emerged as a pandemic threat. The concerns they expressed were the reasons why the MLB season did not begin on schedule, and those same concerns have shaped every subsequent decision.
But for reasons that should be obvious, their advice varies depending on local conditions. In recent weeks, officials in some locales have found it safe to permit limited numbers of fans to attend sporting events – both at the college and professional level – under widely understood guidelines pertaining to social distancing.
That’s why eight NFL teams are permitting fans, while 24 are not. In COVID, one size does not fit all. The Dallas Cowboys are among the eight.
So I repeat my question in a relocated framework: If it’s safe for fans to attend pro football games in Dallas, why isn’t it safe for fans to attend pro baseball games in Arlington? That’s the ‘bubble’ site of one of the National League Division Series as well as the National League Championship Series and the World Series.
That logic does not permit fans in attendance at any of the American League post-season games, which are to be played in San Diego and Los Angeles. Nor does it envision fans at the NLDS series to be played in Houston. Local health officials in those three locales have not yet judged those scenarios to be safe.
Keeping fans away from ‘bubbled’ players should be easy: just restrict players from engaging fans. Problem solved.