The coronavirus is destroying everything

[hbelkins]

Maybe use full-face helmets like the drivers use?

[RobbieL2415]

NASCAR announces a proposed schedule.

https://www.autoweek.com/racing/nascar/a32302518/nascar-teams-given-may-june-schedule-with-midweek-races-across-the-south/

I don't understand how they will conduct races without live pit stops.

What's a "live" pit stop? 

ixnay

A live pit stop is basically any pit stop you've ever seen in a race in that the race continues, either under green or yellow, while the car is being serviced.  What I'm assuming is going to happen is that every x laps, the field will get frozen, teams will have y minutes to service their cars and then restart in the same order.

Either that or they do a pacecar lap every so often and whoever wants to make a pit stop can do so, without anyone changing position.

Sorry, I don't know much about NASCAR so I don't know if such a thing is even allowed.

[Max Rockatansky]

NASCAR announces a proposed schedule.

https://www.autoweek.com/racing/nascar/a32302518/nascar-teams-given-may-june-schedule-with-midweek-races-across-the-south/

I don't understand how they will conduct races without live pit stops.

What's a "live" pit stop? 

ixnay

A live pit stop is basically any pit stop you've ever seen in a race in that the race continues, either under green or yellow, while the car is being serviced.  What I'm assuming is going to happen is that every x laps, the field will get frozen, teams will have y minutes to service their cars and then restart in the same order.

Either that or they do a pacecar lap every so often and whoever wants to make a pit stop can do so, without anyone changing position.

Sorry, I don't know much about NASCAR so I don't know if such a thing is even allowed.

Probably an intermission or "stage"  in regular intervals.  The Truck Series used to do that when they got going to keep costs on top tier pit crews down.  For what it's worth the early era Truck series in mid 90s had some awesome races because the field was never allowed to spread out too much due to no long periods of green flag racing. 

[Henry]

I heard baseball is going to do away with the AL/NL setup if and when this season get the green light, with a 100-game season and these three divisions:

EAST
Baltimore Orioles
Boston Red Sox
Miami Marlins
New York Mets
New York Yankees
Philadelphia Phillies
Pittsburgh Pirates
Tampa Bay Rays
Toronto Blue Jays
Washington Nationals

CENTRAL
Atlanta Braves
Chicago Cubs
Chicago White Sox
Cincinnati Reds
Cleveland Indians
Detroit Tigers
Houston Astros
Milwaukee Brewers
Minnesota Twins
St. Louis Cardinals

WEST
Arizona Diamondbacks
Colorado Rockies
Kansas City Royals
Los Angeles Angels
Los Angeles Dodgers
Oakland Athletics
San Diego Padres
San Francisco Giants
Seattle Mariners
Texas Rangers

Of course, we'll have to see about that, but I'm hoping that they will play this summer, even if fans will not be allowed in for social distancing reasons.

[NWI_Irish96]

With the Tigers in the Central, that should keep the Cubs out of last place.

[Eth]

Separated from all the opponents we care about, and probably also having the DH forced down our throats in the process? Sign me up. 

[SP Cook]

This is the 4th plan baseball has trotted out.  First was this "bio-dome" proposal in metro Phoenix; then they were going to divide between the "Grapefruit League" and the "Cactus League" and use both the Florida and Arizona spring training sties; then they added in using metro Dallas as a third site.  Now this deal, which apparently is based on playing in the actual stadiums, and each group of 10 playing only within its group.  The benefit of less travel is questionable, as once you get on an airplane, it really doesn't matter where your are going, particularly in a luxury charter and particularly at a time when there is no competing air traffic.

[NWI_Irish96]

I heard baseball is going to do away with the AL/NL setup if and when this season get the green light, with a 100-game season and these three divisions:

EAST
Baltimore Orioles
Boston Red Sox
Miami Marlins
New York Mets
New York Yankees
Philadelphia Phillies
Pittsburgh Pirates
Tampa Bay Rays
Toronto Blue Jays
Washington Nationals

CENTRAL
Atlanta Braves
Chicago Cubs
Chicago White Sox
Cincinnati Reds
Cleveland Indians
Detroit Tigers
Houston Astros
Milwaukee Brewers
Minnesota Twins
St. Louis Cardinals

WEST
Arizona Diamondbacks
Colorado Rockies
Kansas City Royals
Los Angeles Angels
Los Angeles Dodgers
Oakland Athletics
San Diego Padres
San Francisco Giants
Seattle Mariners
Texas Rangers

Of course, we'll have to see about that, but I'm hoping that they will play this summer, even if fans will not be allowed in for social distancing reasons.

If travel is a concern, swap Pittsburgh with Atlanta, and Kansas City with Houston.

[RobbieL2415]

Why do we need to reinvent the wheel?

Keep both leagues, go back to the old east and west divisions, two top record-holders play in the CS, winners play the WS.

Literally the easiest way to do it

[Max Rockatansky]

NASCAR is official starting May 17th.  Apparently there won't be practice or qualifying but actual pit stops:

https://www.espn.com/racing/nascar/story/_/id/29118934/nascar-goes-green-seven-races-11-days

I guess that I know what days I'll be taking off from the office for the time being, glad something is coming back. 

[corco]

Separated from all the opponents we care about, and probably also having the DH forced down our throats in the process? Sign me up. 

Yeah this is so clearly a way to backdoor in a permanent universal DH, and fuck that.

[NWI_Irish96]

Why do we need to reinvent the wheel?

Keep both leagues, go back to the old east and west divisions, two top record-holders play in the CS, winners play the WS.

Literally the easiest way to do it

Teams are already losing a bunch of TV money with the reduced schedule.  Games within a team's own time zone get higher ratings than games in other time zones, so this is a way to get the highest ratings possible.

[SP Cook]

Baseball - Long time fans will remember that when divisions first were thought up, ET Cincinnati and Atlanta were forced into the western division, meaning they played at each California team 9 times, meaning generally 10:00 local starts; while the more powerful owners in CT Chicago and St. Louis got in the eastern division, meaning they played the California teams only 6 times.   

As far back as the 1990s baseball has been trying to make a much more time zone specific scheduling system, as the bulk of the money teams make is out of their local TV deals.   They even had a proposal to remake the two leagues by time zones.  IIRC, the NL would have been the east, and the AL the west.  Nutty.

Basketball - A forgotten corner of the enormous Walt Disney World complex is called the "Wide World Of Sports" and is basically a campus of venues for about any sport you can name.  Disney gins up competitions, mostly at the HS level, to fill up the park during the slower times.  It has 12 basketball courts, including 3 in arenas which are set up for TV coverage.  And of course, with the place closed, Disney has thousands of hotel rooms and hundreds of food preparation outlets, so setting up a "bio-dome" would be fairly easy.

https://sports.yahoo.com/report-disney-nbas-latest-destination-003305135.html

Hockey - Meanwhile, hockey is looking at playing well into late summer, and then not starting again until near Christmas.  The NHL (which means us, the fans) has a much better deal with its union than the other sports, and the players resent it and are using the current situation a leverage, as a shortening of the off-season would require their sign off.  So the solution is apparently to just not shorten the off-season.

https://sports.yahoo.com/coronavirus-bettman-says-2020-21-001624157.html

Horse racing - The largest mistake of this whole event, the greed based decision to postpone the Triple Crown races, is highlighted yet more as Kentucky admits that horse racing really can be held (as it has been all along) and looking at opening Churchill Downs as soon as mid-May.  Greed.

[1995hoo]

Why do we need to reinvent the wheel?

Keep both leagues, go back to the old east and west divisions, two top record-holders play in the CS, winners play the WS.

Literally the easiest way to do it

Or just use the traditional single tables. You play the season, whoever finishes in first place goes to the World Series. No need for multiple rounds of playoffs, though I'll concede the playoff system worked quite well in 2019.

[RobbieL2415]

Why do we need to reinvent the wheel?

Keep both leagues, go back to the old east and west divisions, two top record-holders play in the CS, winners play the WS.

Literally the easiest way to do it

Or just use the traditional single tables. You play the season, whoever finishes in first place goes to the World Series. No need for multiple rounds of playoffs, though I'll concede the playoff system worked quite well in 2019.

Way old-school.  I like it.

[Roadgeekteen]

Why do we need to reinvent the wheel?

Keep both leagues, go back to the old east and west divisions, two top record-holders play in the CS, winners play the WS.

Literally the easiest way to do it

Or just use the traditional single tables. You play the season, whoever finishes in first place goes to the World Series. No need for multiple rounds of playoffs, though I'll concede the playoff system worked quite well in 2019.

Multiple rounds makes the regular season more interesting if one team is super dominant.

[1995hoo]

Why do we need to reinvent the wheel?

Keep both leagues, go back to the old east and west divisions, two top record-holders play in the CS, winners play the WS.

Literally the easiest way to do it

Or just use the traditional single tables. You play the season, whoever finishes in first place goes to the World Series. No need for multiple rounds of playoffs, though I'll concede the playoff system worked quite well in 2019.

Multiple rounds makes the regular season more interesting if one team is super dominant.

Yeah, but on the other hand, I think there's something to the idea that if you couldn't finish in first place after 162 games, why should you be given the opportunity to overturn that in five games or seven games (and yes, I recognize my team benefitted from the current setup last year and I wear a Nats World Series hat almost every day when I go out for a walk).

[Roadgeekteen]

Why do we need to reinvent the wheel?

Keep both leagues, go back to the old east and west divisions, two top record-holders play in the CS, winners play the WS.

Literally the easiest way to do it

Or just use the traditional single tables. You play the season, whoever finishes in first place goes to the World Series. No need for multiple rounds of playoffs, though I'll concede the playoff system worked quite well in 2019.

Multiple rounds makes the regular season more interesting if one team is super dominant.

Yeah, but on the other hand, I think there's something to the idea that if you couldn't finish in first place after 162 games, why should you be given the opportunity to overturn that in five games or seven games (and yes, I recognize my team benefitted from the current setup last year and I wear a Nats World Series hat almost every day when I go out for a walk).

It's bout that money. Fans would not tune in to late season games when nothing mattered anymore.

[kevinb1994]

Why do we need to reinvent the wheel?

Keep both leagues, go back to the old east and west divisions, two top record-holders play in the CS, winners play the WS.

Literally the easiest way to do it

Or just use the traditional single tables. You play the season, whoever finishes in first place goes to the World Series. No need for multiple rounds of playoffs, though I'll concede the playoff system worked quite well in 2019.

Multiple rounds makes the regular season more interesting if one team is super dominant.

Yeah, but on the other hand, I think there's something to the idea that if you couldn't finish in first place after 162 games, why should you be given the opportunity to overturn that in five games or seven games (and yes, I recognize my team benefitted from the current setup last year and I wear a Nats World Series hat almost every day when I go out for a walk).

It's bout that money. Fans would not tune in to late season games when nothing mattered anymore.

So what if the fans don't tune in? The team(s) would still make money.

[Roadgeekteen]

Why do we need to reinvent the wheel?

Keep both leagues, go back to the old east and west divisions, two top record-holders play in the CS, winners play the WS.

Literally the easiest way to do it

Or just use the traditional single tables. You play the season, whoever finishes in first place goes to the World Series. No need for multiple rounds of playoffs, though I'll concede the playoff system worked quite well in 2019.

Multiple rounds makes the regular season more interesting if one team is super dominant.

Yeah, but on the other hand, I think there's something to the idea that if you couldn't finish in first place after 162 games, why should you be given the opportunity to overturn that in five games or seven games (and yes, I recognize my team benefitted from the current setup last year and I wear a Nats World Series hat almost every day when I go out for a walk).

It's bout that money. Fans would not tune in to late season games when nothing mattered anymore.

So what if the fans don't tune in? The team(s) would still make money.

Advertisers won't pay as much for ads if fans aren't tuning in, tv contracts become less valuable, league loses money

[LM117]

NASCAR realigned it's 2020 schedule.

https://m.nascar.com/news-media/2020/05/08/nascar-2020-schedule-realignment-chicagoland-richmond-sonoma/

[NWI_Irish96]

The Bundesliga is resuming May 16.

[Max Rockatansky]

NASCAR realigned it's 2020 schedule.

https://m.nascar.com/news-media/2020/05/08/nascar-2020-schedule-realignment-chicagoland-richmond-sonoma/

Cutting Sonoma was a smart move.  The Bay Area is super strict with virus anything and even the State has generally been unfriendly to any real attempts of reactivating sports.  It's been pondered locally that the NFL teams might have to play out of state possibly. 

[GaryV]

The Bundesliga is resuming May 16.

Without spectators. 

They have listed a maximum of 322 people allowed.  Which seems to be a weirdly specific number.  Consensus on a soccer board is that the 22 are probably the 11 x 2 players on the field; each team has up to 150 more people allowed.  And since it says max, it might be that those 150 are broken down into categories (e.g. subs, coaches, trainers, medical, ...) each with their own specific limits.

[ftballfan]

NASCAR realigned it's 2020 schedule.

https://m.nascar.com/news-media/2020/05/08/nascar-2020-schedule-realignment-chicagoland-richmond-sonoma/

Cutting Sonoma was a smart move.  The Bay Area is super strict with virus anything and even the State has generally been unfriendly to any real attempts of reactivating sports.  It's been pondered locally that the NFL teams might have to play out of state possibly. 

If the NFL teams were required to play out of state, would the Rams, 49ers, and Chargers play 16 road games or would the NFL help them with setting up a "home" stadium outside of CA a la the 2005 Saints?

The Bundesliga is resuming May 16.

Without spectators. 

They have listed a maximum of 322 people allowed.  Which seems to be a weirdly specific number.  Consensus on a soccer board is that the 22 are probably the 11 x 2 players on the field; each team has up to 150 more people allowed.  And since it says max, it might be that those 150 are broken down into categories (e.g. subs, coaches, trainers, medical, ...) each with their own specific limits.

I would also assume the 322 involves some members of the media.