If I had a witty way to introduce the concept of the Governor of Florida enthusiastically insisting on mass infections, this is where that introduction would go. Unfortunately, I don’t have that. What I do have is a tweet:
Rick DeSantis, the Governor of Florida, wants very much for the NFL to get back to normal and have a full stadium of fans. The NFL, who would prefer to not have to deal with myriad wrongful death lawsuits, wants very much for that to not happen before the country is ready.
Do you have any idea how cavalierly someone has to be taking public health in order to make the NFL look good? Please recall for a moment that the main product produced by the NFL is injured brains, and the main purpose of watching the NFL is to see exactly whose brain will get injured this week so that you can gather around at work on Monday and say, “My favorite football team suffered three debilitating brain injuries yesterday,” making a fool of the person whose favorite football team only had a torn ACL to deal with.
So for the NFL — football’s NFL — to make Florida’s governor seem indifferent to human suffering, well, that doesn’t speak well of his moral character, such as it is. He is exacerbating a public health nightmare in order to give the obviously ridiculous facade of normalcy. Attack him relentlessly, you like. He deserves it. Callooh callay.
On the other hand, though, it’s not like the NFL is covering itself in glory here. It is not necessary for fans to attend football games, so in the interest of avoiding infections, there should not be fans at football games. Yes, I’m sure the seats will be separated from each other and there will be a scoreboard announcement about how important it is to wear masks, but expecting drunk football fans to abide by social distancing is like expecting college students to not party. If the possibility is there, they’re taking it.
Surely baseball, a much more cerebral and forward thinking sport, will not follow suit!
Wow, that was unexpected!
Yes, baseball will be inviting fans in for a sparsely attended World Series, and trusting them to do the right thing. According to the LA Times:
However, MLB and the Rangers said there would be no temperature checks. The Rangers said “public health authorities recommend self-screening before you enter public places,” and MLB said fans exhibiting symptoms could be denied entry.
It’s the honor system! The honor system is a good thing to put people on when you’re trying to contain a pandemic. Also, it’s extremely possible to infect people with a deadly disease when you yourself do not have symptoms. Just ask the original Typhoid Mary, Typhoid Mary, who is famous for literally that exact reason.
Also, just to point out: Local fans of the teams that could make the World Series, other than maybe the Astros, will not be able to go. By necessity, the tickets will have to go to people in the Dallas area, so that diehard Angelino who’s been waiting to see a World Series victory for the entire run of The Simpsons will not be able to travel to the site, unless said diehard Angelino wants to take a plane, which can only increase the risk of contracting Covid.
So who is this for? The fans at the game won’t spend that much money to be there, at least by baseball revenue standards, so that’s not it. The fans at the game will almost certainly not be fans of the teams on the field, so it’s not for the fans. So what’s left? Corporate sponsors who want the prestige of having World Series tickets they can wow clients with? I mean, maybe. But I think there’s another possibility.
It’s just PR. Just like in Florida, this is a message: We can’t be stopped. We will do whatever we want all the time, and if you think that’s a bad idea, you can suck it. MLB is signaling to its followers that Everything Is Fine, and if, a couple months down the road, it turns out that everything was not fine and people are sick because of going to the World Series, well, that’s a problem for later. Probably one they’ll never have to deal with, considering how fast the news cycle runs these days.
Putting fans in the stands at 35% capacity is empty signaling to no one in particular. It is a bad, dumb idea that will not lead to any positive effect at all, and there is a strong possibility it will lead to negative ones. It is the exact choice that best represents the United States in 2020. It’s rare that you find so perfect a metaphor in the wild. I guess we should treasure this one.