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- MLB says losses will only multiply unless spectators return to ballparks
- Manfred also talks up league’s Covid measures for preventing mass outbreaks
Major League Baseball (MLB) has suffered US$3 billion losses on the back of the North American baseball competition’s curtailed 2020 season, according to the Wall Street Journal (WSJ).
Having completed a regular season of just 60 games, drastically reduced from the traditional 162 by the coronavirus pandemic, the league’s commissioner Rob Manfred stressed the importance of bringing fans back to games in 2021 in order avoid another “economically devastating” scenario.
“If we’re going to play next year, and if we don’t have a vaccine and we aren’t past the pandemic, I think we need to think hard about what measures we can take to get people back into the ballpark,” Manfred told the WSJ.
Outbreaks of Covid-19 impacted several teams’ shortened 2020 schedules, most notably the Miami Marlins. However, those did illustrate the upside of MLB’s extensive testing protocols during the 2020 season and later the positive impact of other safety measures.
“I think there was some sense that if you tested enough, the rest of the preventive measures were maybe not as important,” Manfred added. “Those situations emphasised, particularly in closed areas like airplanes, that the preventive measures — distancing, masks on at all times — really, really make a huge difference.”
Major League Baseball (MLB) has suffered US$3 billion losses on the back of the North American baseball competition’s curtailed 2020 season, according to the Wall Street Journal (WSJ).
Having completed a regular season of just 60 games, drastically reduced from the traditional 162 by the coronavirus pandemic, the league’s commissioner Rob Manfred stressed the importance of bringing fans back to games in 2021 in order avoid another “economically devastating” scenario.
“If we’re going to play next year, and if we don’t have a vaccine and we aren’t past the pandemic, I think we need to think hard about what measures we can take to get people back into the ballpark,” Manfred told the WSJ.
Outbreaks of Covid-19 impacted several teams’ shortened 2020 schedules, most notably the Miami Marlins. However, those did illustrate the upside of MLB’s extensive testing protocols during the 2020 season and later the positive impact of other safety measures.
“I think there was some sense that if you tested enough, the rest of the preventive measures were maybe not as important,” Manfred added. “Those situations emphasised, particularly in closed areas like airplanes, that the preventive measures — distancing, masks on at all times — really, really make a huge difference.”
