While the NBA has settled on a bubble location for its return-to-play plan, and the NHL opted for one hub city for each conference, Major League Baseball has gone down the path of planning on having teams travel and play at respective home stadiums.
Of course, the league has been unable to get out of its own way over the past few weeks as negotiations with the MLB Players Association have stalled. After rejecting a counteroffer from the union and with no intention on submitting another plan to players, MLB reportedly is considering imposing a short season of 50 to 60 games.
If a plan is eventually put into place, teams are expected to begin Spring Training 2.0 at their home ballparks before beginning the regular season. The main sticking point being those games would not have fans in attendance due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.
However, the league reportedly will allow for fans to attend Houston Astros and Texas Rangers home games due to state guidelines that are currently in place, according to Evan Grant of The Dallas Morning News:
According to two major league sources Thursday, the league is inclined to allow local and municipal governance to take precedence when it comes to allowing fan attendance at games.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott recently announced teams in his state could fill their stadiums up to 25% capacity. On Wednesday, he increased that to 50%. If the Astros and Rangers were to take advantage of the loosened restrictions, physical distancing and health and safety protocols would still apply.
That nonetheless would figure to be a financial boon for the Rangers, who are moving into Globe Life Field this year. Team owners have claimed they are unable to pay full prorated salaries for games that will not draw any gate.
Under that setting the Los Angeles Dodgers reportedly would face $232 million in losses, which is second only to the New York Yankees. Though Dodger Stadium doesn’t figure to have fans in attendance this season, the Dodgers could find themselves playing in front of an audience when heading to Texas as part of the National League West facing its American League counterpart.
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