Sunday, April 26, 2020

1st hint of open facilities

A handful of states not hit hard by COVID-19 are starting to make plans to loosen recommended restrictions on the stay at home orders and certain non-essential business closures.

There are a few states that are itching to open up earlier than recommended guidelines by a few days but a rundown of what each state is doing shows that most (outside of the Northeast, Northwest, and California) are going to start slowing opening this week (Monday, April 27).

With that news, the NBA is the first league to start opening facilities in areas where the state is lifting restrictive orders. The NBA is being very careful to word things right in order to not draw the ire of politicians. Opening facilities does not mean that there will be practices, just that players can come to work out, yet will still observe social distancing.



Major League Soccer has not floated any ideas about reopening facilities, but it is safe to say that with the NBA doing it - they will follow.

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Here's a quick rundown of MLS teams that might be able to use team facilities in the next week or so (state by state summaries pulled from New York Magazine):

Atlanta United
Governor Brian Kemp has made the nation’s biggest push to reopen in the country. Starting Friday, April 24, barbershops, gyms, salons, and massage therapists can reopen. On Monday, April 27, restaurants and movie theaters can follow. Despite the loosened restrictions, not all business owners will be reopening.

Colorado Rapids
With its stay-at-home order set to expire Sunday, Colorado moves to a new phase called “safer at home” on Monday, with some businesses allowed to reopen for curbside service. Then on Friday, May 1, personal-service and retail businesses can reopen with strict social-distancing measures in place. Bars and restaurants will remain closed to in-person dining at least until mid-May.

Minnesota United FC
Starting Monday, April 27, some nonessential businesses will begin to reopen in Minnesota. An executive order from Governor Tim Walz applies to “workers in non-customer facing industrial and office-based businesses who cannot work from home,” he said. Walz estimated that this would put 80,000 to 100,000 people back to work.

Nashville SC
Restaurants in Tennessee will be allowed to reopen on April 27, and retail stores on April 29, provided they operate at 50 percent capacity. The loosened restrictions from Governor Bill Lee will apply only in Tennessee counties without their own public-health departments, meaning large cities including Nashville, Memphis, and Knoxville will be allowed to set their own timeline.

FC Dallas / Houston Dynamo
Friday, April 24, will be the first day Texas businesses can offer “retail-to-go” services. This will allow nonessential retail businesses to make sales online or over the phone and deliver products curbside. Governor Greg Abbott has said he will make announcements about additional openings on Monday, April 27.

Columbus Crew / FC Cincy
When the state’s stay-at-home order expires on April 30, Governor Mike DeWine has pledged to begin “a phased-in reopening of the state economy.”

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There are likely going to be some issues around competitive advantage coming along with this. I'm sure that team personnel has already been in and out of offices throughout the lockdown and that means that players have been in as well.

Competitive advantages aren't always in regards to practice and working out. It is also resolving contract issues, bring players back into town to be ready to go. Player evaluations. Etc, etc.

I have a feeling that most will open facilities back up for employees and players within two weeks of this first group but getting the wheels turning for a few of these teams will give them a little edge over the coastal areas that are likely weeks and weeks off letting things open.

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