d6 eZ sU the washington post.friday, march 13 , 2020
excerpted from
washingtonpost.com/redskins
Snyder bans travel
for coaches and scouts
Washington redskins owner
Daniel Snyder placed an
immediate travel ban on the
team’s coaches and scouts
Thursday morning as a
precaution during the
coronavirus pandemic.
Coaches and scouts who are on
the road have been told to return
home, and no other trips will be
made until further notice.
“The health and safety of our
staff and players is our number
one priority and we feel that
these are the necessary
precautions given the current
circumstances,” Snyder said in a
statement.
for now, Washington’s coaches
and team executives are working
out of the redskins’ practice
facility in Ashburn. This is
normally a time when most
college scouts are on the road,
attending college pro days on
university campuses and
assessing prospects for April’s
NfL draft.
on Wednesday, the redskins
canceled a fan event at fedEx
field and later called off a news
conference Coach ron rivera
was supposed to hold Thursday
morning after a tour of the team’s
training camp facility in
richmond.
other NfL teams, including
the Pittsburgh Steelers and
Ta mpa Bay Buccaneers, have
instituted similar travel bans.
This is a particularly busy time
for NfL teams. In addition to
scouting prospects for the draft,
teams are preparing for free
agency — which officially starts
Wednesday, two days after teams
are allowed to begin negotiations
with prospective free agents.
Several veteran players have been
released in recent days as teams
try to open extra salary cap space,
and many of those players have
been taking trips to prospective
new teams hoping to sign a deal
before free agency begins.
The NfL, which is asking some
of its own employees to work
from home, has not decided
whether it will make any changes
to its schedule.
— Les Carpenterredskins notesBY MARK MASKEThe NfL canceled its annual
league meeting scheduled to be-
gin later this month, becoming
the latest sports league to make
changes to its operations in re-
sponse to the coronavirus pan-
demic.
The league said it did not plan
to postpone next week’s opening
of free agency, as of early Thurs-
day afternoon. It made no deci-
sion about next month’s NfL
draft, but league leaders were
considering draft-related contin-
gencies, according to multiple
people familiar with the NfL’s
planning. The draft will be held
as scheduled, they said, but it
might have to be a television-only
event.
League officials were “discuss-
ing all matters,” one of those
people said early Thursday. “Stay
tuned.”
The NfL is in the midst of a
busy offseason stretch.
The league meeting had been
scheduled for march 29 to April 1
in Palm Beach, fla. owners,
coaches, front-office executives
and their family members werescheduled to attend the spring
meeting. owners were expected
to take a renewal vote on the
system making pass interference
reviewable by instant replay and
consider other rule-change pro-
posals.
But there was relatively little
pressing business, compared
with other years, and the owners
are scheduled to meet again in
may. The league said Thursday
that coaches and general manag-
ers will attend that meeting,
scheduled for may 19-20 in mari-
na del rey, Calif. All rules-related
votes of the owners now will be
taken at that meeting.
“The decision was made con-
sistent with the league’s primary
concern to protect the health of
club and league employees and
the public while enabling the
league to continue with its essen-
tial business operations,” t he NfL
said in a written statement.
The league’s biggest public
event in the coming weeks is the
NfL draft, scheduled to be held
April 23-25 in Las Vegas. The
league could cancel or curtail the
public portion of the event and
stage the draft and televise itfrom a private venue, such as the
Los Angeles studios of the league-
owned NfL Network.
“We will continue to closely
monitor developments, consult
with leading experts, and be pre-
pared to make any changes neces-
sary as circumstances warrant,”
the league said in its statement.
A person close to the situation
said the NfL hopes to preserve
the live event in Las Vegas associ-
ated with the draft but realizes
that might have to change, point-
ing out that the draft is six weeks
away and circumstances could
change by then.
“We have time,” that person
said.
Te ams’ preparations for the
draft also could be affected by the
spread of the coronavirus. Some
teams have begun to cut back on
travel schedules for scouts and
other evaluators as they travel to
evaluate players at on-campus
pro days. The Washington red-
skins and minnesota Vikings
were among the teams to an-
nounce Thursday they were sus-
pending travel for coaches and
scouts. The Philadelphia Eagles
announced they were shuttingdown their training facility.
The NfL said it told those
employees in its New York office
not needed for daily operations to
work from home. Te ams’ IT de-
partments spoke to the league via
a conference call to discuss oper-
ational issues in this environ-
ment. Even so, the league said it
intended to move forward next
week with its player-related busi-
ness.
Te ams have until 11:59 a.m.
monday to decide whether to use
transition or franchise tags on
players to limit their free agent
mobility. Players eligible for free
agency, including New England
Patriots quarterback To m Brady,
can begin negotiating monday
with all teams, and the free agent
market officially opens Wednes-
day.
The players’ vote on the pro-
posed collective bargaining
agreement with the owners runs
through 11:59 p.m. Saturday. The
NfL Players Association sent a
memo to agents Thursday re-
minding them to encourage play-
ers to cast their votes by Saturday
night’s deadline.
[email protected]NFL cancels meetings; changes to draft considered
BY STEVEN GOFFmajor League Soccer suspend-
ed matches for 30 days amid the
coronavirus crisis, it announced
Thursday. The league plans to
reschedule postponed games on
the back end of the season, ac-
cording to people close to the
situation.
“our clubs were united today in
the decision to temporarily sus-
pend our season — based on the
advice and guidance from the
Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention (CDC), Public Health
Agency of Canada (PHAC), and
other public health authorities,
and in the best interest of our fans,
players, officials and employees,”
mLS Commissioner Don Garber
said in a statement released by the
league. “We’d like to thank our
fans for their continued support
during this challenging time.”
The league, which has 23 teams
based in the United States and
three in Canada, added, “A t the
appropriate time, the league and
clubs will communicate plans for
the continuation of the 2020 sea-
son and update the status of
league e vents.”
The league’s decision comes a
day after the Seattle Sounders and
San Jose Earthquakes postponed
their respective home matches
scheduled for march 21.
mLS’s decision to suspend the
season follows similar action by
the NBA and other sports organi-
zations.
The action affects 12 games this
weekend, including D.C. United’s
visit to Cincinnati on Saturday.
United also was scheduled to play
at Philadelphia on march 22. The
next home game — April 3 against
New York City fC — is also affect-
ed.
If the 30-day pause holds, Unit-
ed would resume April 15 at h ome
against Toronto fC.
United said in a statement,
“The safety of our supporters,
players and staff is our number
one priority, and we feel that these
measures are the appropriate re-
sponse and course of action to
support health authorities’ ongo-
ing efforts to flatten the curve of
covid-19 (coronavirus) spread-
ing.”
Coach Ben olsen and the play-
ers, who were slated to fly to ohio
on friday afternoon, were not
made available to comment.
mLS has some flexibility at the
end of the season. Both last year
and this year, in an effort to
streamline the season, the league
ended the regular season in early
october, about three weeks earli-
er than in recent years. It also
arranged the championship
game, mLS Cup, a few w eeks earli-
er than usual.
The idea of playing behind
closed doors was never seriously
considered, many people close to
the situation said, because teams
would still have to travel and
because of the complicated finan-
cial impact (ticket refunds, ven-
dors and other infrastructure ele-
ments).
The last time mLS faced such a
disruption was after the 2001 ter-
rorist attacks. The final few weeks
of the regular season were can-
celed and play resumed with the
playoffs.
It remains unclear when teams
will resume practicing. Unitedprobably will take the weekend off
and reevaluate the situation be-
fore possibly regrouping monday.
The organization is already tak-
ing precautions to mitigate the
risk of illness. At Audi field, play-
ers and front-office staff are using
separate entrances, and no one
will be allowed to circulate be-
tween the two areas, which are
two floors apart.
Players arrived at the stadium
Thursday for meetings and light
workouts — the team does not do
much two days before a match —
before being e xcused.
overseas, Europa League
matches Thursday in Seville and
milan were postponed, but sever-
al others took place as scheduled.
manchester United’s Europa
League match at LASK (Austria)
was being played without specta-
tors.
UEfA, soccer’s governing body
in Europe, announced next week’s
Champions League games in
manchester, England, and Turin,
Italy, had been postponed.
UEfA also arranged a telecon-
ference Tuesday for member asso-
ciations to discuss “all domestic
and European competitions,” i n-
cluding this summer’s European
Championship, which is second
in global popularity to the World
Cup.
An Associated Press report said
UEfA is preparing to postpone
the tournament until 2021.
fIfA, soccer’s global governing
body, announced the first
10 South American qualifying
matches for the 2022 World Cup,
slated to take place late this
month, were postponed.
meanwhile, the U.S. Soccerfederation called off men’s and
women’s national team matches
in march and April. T he men were
to play at the Netherlands and
Wales late this month, and the
women w ere to host Australia and
Brazil next month in Sandy, Utah,
and San Jose, respectively.
USL Championship, the sec-
ond-tier pro league below mLS,
announced it suspended the sea-
son for a minimum of 30 days. At
least two Loudoun United away
matches are affected.
Third-tier USL League one an-
nounced the suspension of pre-
season activities and a delay to the
start of the regular season, which
was to begin march 27.
The National Women’s Soccer
League is scheduled to begin the
season April 18, including the
Washington Spirit vs. oL reign
(Seattle-Ta coma) at Audi field.
The Spirit arrived in Port St. Luc-
ie, fla., on Thursday for two weeks
of training camp.
The league announced Thurs-
day that all preseason matches
were canceled. The Spirit was to
play three college teams at mary-
land SoccerPlex on consecutive
weekends leading to the opener.
“our priority continues to be
the safety and well-being of our
players, coaches, staff and fans,”
Commissioner Lisa Baird said.
“We are reviewing all contingency
plans related to our regular sea-
son schedule and are monitoring
developing events and their po-
tential impact. We are deeply ap-
preciative of our fans and part-
ners for their continued support
of our league and all our world-
class players.”
[email protected]MLS season suspended; NWSL won’t play preseason
Jonathan newton/the washington PostWith mlS’s decision to halt play for 3 0 days because of the coronavirus outbreak, D.C. United’s next game could be April 15 at Audi Field.
The coronavirus outbreak
season starts, we’ve got to be in
like June 1 form. ‘Hey, it ’s g o time.’
And we’re going to prepare for
that.”
The situation, however, re-
mains fluid, with major league
and union officials expected to
maintain an ongoing dialogue.
As of Thursday afternoon, no
baseball players were known to
have tested positive for coronavi-
rus.
Arizona Diamondbacks Presi-dent Derrick Hall told reporters
mLB’s plan was to pick up the
regular season schedule on what-
ever date play resumes — with
that date becoming the new, de
facto opening Day. If the delay is
short enough, the games that
were lost could be tacked onto the
end of the schedule; otherwise,
they could be scrapped.
“A s of now, as I understand it,
[opening Day] is going to be
postponed, but we’re going to try
to get [all] 162 games in,” Dodgers
manager Dave roberts told re-
porters. “That seems like the best-
case scenario.”
In September 2001, in the af-
termath of 9/11, baseball halted
its season for six days, making up
all the lost games at t he end of the
season and pushing its World
Series into November for the first
time in history. However, it was
the relatively short length of the
disruption that made such a sce-
nario possible.
The resumption of play is not
as easy in baseball as in other
sports, owing to the needs of
pitchers, especially starters, who
by this week were already in the
latter stages of the long buildups
of their arms for the rigors of the
season. Pitchers can’t just shut
down for a stretch of several
weeks and ramp back up in a
matter of days. In 1995, teams
conducted abbreviated versions
of spring training in the run-up to
the delayed opening Day, but
unlike in this situation, pitchers
had not already begun full-scale
preparations.
“obviously, we started building
pitchers up and things like that,”
Boone told reporters, “so we’ll
want to continue with that smart-
ly.”
But as baseball closed up its
collective shop Thursday after-
noon, no one knew precisely
when they would open for busi-
ness again. A game that is played
on a near-daily basis from late
february to late october will now
go d ark for at l east four weeks and
perhaps longer.
“This is weird,” martinez said.
“I said this earlier: This is movie-
esque. It r eally is. You see all these
movies on pandemics, and then
now it’s all of a sudden, we’re in
one.”
[email protected]Jesse Dougherty in west Palm Beach,
Fla., contributed to this report.opening Day to late April, with
the schedule shortened to
144 games.
This time, it remains to be seen
how many games can be played;
Unlike the indoor sports of bas-
ketball and hockey, which could
put their seasons on hiatus and
still (at least theoretically) play a
full season and postseason by
pushing deeper into summer,
baseball’s schedule is hemmed in
by the weather vagaries of late fall
and early winter, which limit how
late into the year it can stage the
World Series.
Baseball officials vowed to
“continue to evaluate ongoing
events leading up to the start of
the season” with the hope of
“resuming normal operations as
soon as possible.”
The evolution of baseball’s
stance toward its 2020 season
underscores the fast-moving na-
ture of the virus and the threat it
presents. It was only days earlier
that baseball joined with the NBA
and NHL in closing locker rooms
to the media, at which time all
three leagues expected their
schedule to proceed unimpeded.
But by Wednesday, as the
World Health organization offi-
cially classified the covid-19 out-
break as a pandemic, the pace of
disruption accelerated signifi-
ca ntly. Local bans on large public
gatherings in Washington state
and California forced the Seattle
mariners, Los Angeles Dodgers,
San Diego Padres and oakland A’s
to explore alternative plans,
which could have included play-
ing their opening series at their
spring training facilities in Arizo-
na.
As late as Thursday afternoon,
with opening Day exactly two
weeks away, spring training
games in the Grapefruit League
started on time, in some cases to
packed stadiums. But with a pub-
lic-health atmosphere that
seemed to change by the hour,
mLB officials convened a confer-
ence call of representatives of all
30 teams and made their an-
nouncement late that afternoon.
“This is obviously a unique
situation. It’s bigger than base-
ball, so you just kind of want to be
part of doing your best on behalf
of the world,” said New York
Yankees manager Aaron Boone,
whose team beat the Nationals,
6-3, in what would be both teams’
final game of the spring. “You
don’t want to contribute to this
becoming a real poor situation, so
we’ll be cooperative and try to
play our part the best way we
can.”
for the time being at least,
spring training camps in florida
and Arizona are remaining open
for players to train and receive
medical treatment — although
they were also free to go home.
The milwaukee Brewers, for ex-
ample, planned to hold an option-
al player workout friday and an-
other monday, with no media
availability until the latter. The
Yankees planned to stay i n Ta mpa
and play intrasquad scrimmages
for the time being. The Nationals
gave their players friday and Sun-
day off but planned to practice
Saturday.
“Especially with a shortened
season, I think the teams that get
off to a fairly quick start are going
to benefit,” Nationals manager
Dave martinez said. “I want these
guys to understand: When thismlb from D1MLB halts spring training,
pushes back O pening Day
“When this season
starts, we’ve got to be in
like June 1 form. ‘Hey,
it’s go time.’ And we’re
going to prepare for
that.”
dave Martinez, nationals managerUPLOADED BY "What's News" vk.com/wsnws TELEGRAM: t.me/whatsnws