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KPBS Midday Edition

Are Spectator Sports Over In San Diego?

A runner passes Petco Park, home to the San Diego Padres baseball team, which saw its season postponed because of the coronavirus, on Wednesday, March 25, 2020.
Gregory Bull / AP Photo
A runner passes Petco Park, home to the San Diego Padres baseball team, which saw its season postponed because of the coronavirus, on Wednesday, March 25, 2020.
There was no March Madness for the SDSU Aztecs, no NBA finals for the Golden State Warriors. Major League Baseball says it will play fewer than half the games of a normal season starting in late July. Football season is increasingly doubtful, as is the season for that other contact sport, hockey. The reason is, of course, COVID-19, and the fallout from the lack of sports — professional, collegiate and prep — extends far and wide.

While some sports like soccer, tennis and golf are — as of this moment — returning to San Diego playing fields and TV screens, others are unlikely to come back anytime soon.

Players and owners in Major League Baseball came to an agreement just this week to proceed with a 60 game season, instead of 162, during the pandemic. Sportswriters have blamed owners for the squabbles over money and the length of the 2020 season, even calling it shameful.

RELATED: Padres Fans, Staff Excited For News Of 2020 Season

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It is increasingly difficult to see how football of any kind — professional, college or prep — can be played anywhere as long as the coronavirus remains unconquered.

Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, director of the National Institute of Infectious Diseases and Allergies, told CNN, “Unless players are essentially in a bubble — insulated from the community and they are tested nearly every day — it would be very hard to see how football is able to be played this fall.” The National Football League has announced that it is working on protocols to try to make the season happen in September.

Jay Paris, who covers local sports for The Coast News and Forbes.com, and Derek Togerson sportscaster at NBC San Diego, talked with Midday Edition's Mark Sauer about the pandemic's effect on sports and sports fans.