Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said this week the state will enter a new phase in an attempted comeback from COVID-19. Texas’ professional and collegiate stadiums can operate at 50% capacity. This order is effective immediately.
This news comes despite Texas setting a new single-day state high for positive coronavirus tests earlier this week, according to the Dallas Morning News. But Texas was one of the first states to announce a reopening for sports.
While neither the Dallas Mavericks — who will head to Orlando to conclude the NBA season — nor IndyCar — which will start its 2020 season next week at Texas Motor Speedway with no fans — will take the state up on the loosened restrictions, this can be construed as a positive sign for the Cowboys and Texans. The PGA Tour will also not have fans in attendance at a Texas tournament next week.
The Cowboys and Texans being allowed to house a certain number of fans, however, would complicate the upcoming NFL-NFLPA negotiations. The NFL could enter the season with some states allowing fans in stadiums and others not, creating a key issue for the league and the union to negotiate.
To all u greedy millionaire football players , u can stick ur league up ur rich asses, ur arrogance is pathetic, their is hardly anyone in this country that didn’t feel the horror of Mr George Floyd death but yet the THUGS that stealing and destroying their cities are not helping bringing reform but bringing more defivesine
1. Soccer
2. MMA
3. Nascar
All other sports are for little kids and decling because of DRAMA.
I’m a kid and I love soccer
Soccer and cars driving in circles both lack drama, that’s true.
Nascar is NOT a sport.
No athletic ability is required.
What else you got?
KingTiger you are so wrong it’s not even funny
what in earth was that rant?
Really….I was hoping that someone could decipher it.
The gentlemen is horrified by the death of George Floyd, but feels the looting is hurting the cause of the protesters (without differentiating between the two).
And he deems NFL players to be greedy, arrogant and rich (but it’s unclear why, exactly).
as are most people
This comment is all over the place but it’s telling that you rebuke the ‘greedy millionaire football players’ but have nothing to say about the billionaire owners who can cut the vast majority of their players and not have to pay a cent more towards the contracts they signed with said ‘greedy players’.
^^^ wish I could like this comment… amazing how people go after the players but like you said never the billionaire owners
Every team in every city should be allowed to have some fans. Thousands of people are in the streets every night now without any talk about COVID or repercussions. Strategically distancing fans is more than plausible now any no one can argue otherwise unless they are against protesting too.
There will be repercussions from the protests. Just wait 2 weeks.
Literally, the ONLY thing I’m hearing about the protests is that they are not social distancing.
The same people who cheered a few weeks ago when people carrying AR-15’s were protesting for their right to kill entire nursing homes are now suddenly deeply concerned about protesters without masks being less than 6 feet apart as a means of ignoring the message of the protests.
Just as they painted Kaepernick as a flag burner as a means of ignoring that same message.
All while trying to deny that he finally won.
Don’t care at all about protests or what their message is. All it shows is unless there is a massive spike in covid, people can clearly be in groups.
A purely scientific interest, then?
We started running the same experiment at Florida’s beaches a bit earlier, though.
You misunderstand. They’re not suddenly deeply concerned. They’re pointing out the hypocrisy. Truth is they were never concerned in the first place. Some of us have looked at the covid-19 pandemic from the beginning and saw it as being overblown.
50% now may be a bit agressive, but any place should be able to have some if spaced properly.
The fact that even in Texas government sees the need to limit spectators to 50% of capacity tells you that there is considerable risk for everyone in the decision to reopen sports play.
I disagree – Texas has ramped up so quickly. in a matter of a month or so Texas has gone from 25% to 50% capacity in lots of places. And while I didn’t originally agree with people being out in mass, it’s almost back to normal life here. Streets are crowded etc.
I actually work loosely with a disease control team in the DFW area; and you can see the “surge” just really hasn’t happened the way they expected.
Of course cases are going up, that’s natural but it’s nowhere near exponential as expected. After the antibodies tests out of California it became fairly apparent that the mortality rate was WAY lower than initially reported, and I think we can all agree that’s a good thing and we got lucky.
I think what you’re seeing is incremental movement. Texas will eventually change that and say 100%. I really believe that will happen before the season starts.
Enjoy Coronavirus day at NRG courtesy of Gubner Abbott.
count me in
How much allowance do you get from the parents? On second thought, I don’t want to know. If my kids see you get enough to buy NFL tickets…they’ll wan’t the same deal.
0 dollars. I was kidding
You must really hate science if you immediately allow stadiums to be half full the same week the state has the highest daily numbers.
ah science… my favorite line is “the science is settled”
A person doesn’t have to go to the stadium if he or she doesn’t want to. If a fan wants to go, have that person sign a waiver that clears the team & league of responsibility if he or she contracts the virus at the game. The fan assumes all of the risk.
1,703 new cases in a state of 20+ million people. Life here has almost completely returned back to normal. And while I originally disagreed with, it’s just not that bad. The streets have been completely full for at least a month now.
The mortality rate is just not that high, the antibodies tests outta California proved that.
Gave you considered the possibility that maybe cases have gone up for a reason other than cases actually going up? Could it possibly be that they’re just testing more people?
This is a bad idea for so many reasons – the obvious is that the virus is not even close to being on the down-swing. The decision to open the stadium to this many people is just not good sense. Infections will occur.
Another reason this decision makes no sense is that if they say this decision is “for the fans”, they’ve got it wrong. This is for the “empowered fans.” Those fans going to the game won’t be the steelworker, teacher or retired Cowboy fan who thinks seeing a game will bring their lives back to “normal” but it will be the exec’s, VP and politicians who have all the power.
I know Pittsburgh is coming off a tough season but did all the steelworkers really make a run to Texas?
Random trivia/history…
Pittsburgh hasn’t had a steel industry since 1980 when it lost it to Japan before they lost it to China. Then it was kind of a dump for a decade or two until the “meds and eds” policy they began in the 90’s took root. Now, colleges, high end hospitals and tech research are the new steel here.
Shhh…don’t tell the yinzers.
Also, FTR, it’s actually the opposite, there are tons of Texans working in PA, moving from the oil fields to the fracking wells.