Mark Cuban was among the big-time sports owners to take in a conference call with President Donald Trump focusing on when sports could potentially return amid the COVID-19 pandemic plaguing the United States.
To say that Cuban and Mr. Trump have clashed at times in the past would be an understatement. But POTUS did call on the Dallas Mavericks owner and potential presidential candidate to join the likes of Robert Kraft and Jerry Jones to council him on a potential return to live sports.
Following the call, Cuban noted it was pretty much a consensus that sports will return as soon as it’s safe. That will initially happen without fans in attendance.
This fits into what Dr. Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said earlier in Wednesday. The well-respected medical expert indicated that sports could potentially return this year without fans in attendance.
There seems to be a widespread consensus when it comes to this. California Governor Gavin Newsom has noted multiple times in the past that sports would not return with fans in attendance in his state at any point moving forward this year.
The backdrop here is real. As a vast majority of the United States is currently under stay-at-home orders, one of the last things to be opened up to the general public is going to be sporting events. It just makes no sense to risk further spread of the deadly COVID-19.
As it relates to the NBA, they suspended their season about a month ago after Utah Jazz center Rudy Gobert tested positive for the virus. There’s been suggestions that the Association would like to resume its season in Las Vegas. Meanwhile, they are looking into the possibility of rapid COVID-19 testing as a way to improve the chances of returning to the season rather than canceling it altogether.
This comes at a time when the United States is the epicenter if the COVID-19 pandemic with north of 635,000 confirmed cases and nearly 28,000 deaths as of early evening east coast time on Wednesday.