I must give a lot of credit to James Briggs and the Indianapolis Star.  The editors published a piece written by Briggs which quotes experts as saying holding the Indianapolis 500 August 23rd with 175,000 fans (half the normal seated crowd) would be a huge health risk in the age of novel coronavirus.

One noted epidemiologist described fans at the 500 as “rolling the dice unnecessarily.”  All four experts cited in Briggs’ commentary, all living outside of Indiana, took issue with the Indianapolis Motor Speedway’s (IMS) argument that a stands-half-full race would be safe.

Indianapolis media has a history of not taking on IMS on an issue such as this.  As someone that has loved the 500, its history, traditions, social & economic impact, I want the race run this year, but only if it can be run safely.  After reading the Briggs piece, I am not so sure.

Even the drivers and crews of this weekend’s IndyCar and NASCAR races at IMS will be subject to strict health protocols in an effort to prevent a COVID-19 outbreak.  This weekend there will be no fans in the stands at IMS.

All sports are struggling to start or restart.  Golf is underway, but that is a sport that can be more easily controlled and can be held without fans.

The NBA will be starting up in July but one wonders how many players will opt not so show up.  After, all, most of those players have already collected the lion’s share of their pay during the season that was stopped.  One also wonders how well the NBA “bubble” at Florida’s Walt Disney World will work out.

Major League baseball players have not been paid yet this year, those teams were in the middle of spring training when coronavirus put a stop to everything.  Their protocols health-wise are much less stringent than the NBA.  A handful of players have said they will not play this shortened season due to health concerns.

The NHL has a restart plan with not a lot of details at this time.

Here is my point.  Any outbreak, even a few COVID-19 positive tests by players, coaches or support personnel in any of the professional sports, would likely shut down this season for good.  I have been reading many seasoned sportswriters with lots of good sources and they all voice concern that these truncated seasons will play out, or in some cases, even startup if coronavirus breaks out before official play begins.

As a life-ling sports fan, I miss sports.  I want sports back as a way to cope with the bad news we are experiencing during this difficult time in our history.  But lets be careful and do this the right way.  If we startup a season just to end it again prematurely, that would be the worst outcome for me.