MLS commissioner Don Garber: Soccer will have fans 'where we can' in resumed season
The MLS is Back Tournament is reaching its victorious end, as the league managed to survive a few coronavirus outbreaks early on and the MLS now appears primed to be the first America sports league to successfully finish a tournament during the global pandemic.
So what is next for Major League Soccer? The league is reportedly planning to resume its regular season later this month. Based on the comments of MLS commissioner Don Garber, teams hope to be able to play in front of fans, at least in cities where that would be allowed.
"What drives MLS is this soccer culture, getting into our markets and getting our players back, getting them home, getting them to play in their stadiums and being able to train in their training grounds," Garber said. "We will get back to our markets. We'll be announcing their schedule soon. We're going to be able to play with fans where we can and not play with fans in most of our markets."
There are obvious risks with bringing fans back into the fold. The MLS is Back Tournament relied on a bubble format in order to ensure player safety and it worked extremely well. But abandoning the bubble presents a whole new set of risks, just look at the MLB's struggle to keep its season alive. And adding fans brings in a whole new element of danger, as stopping the spread of COVID-19 becomes a lot harder when thousands of people gather in one place.
Garber acknowledges the risk but he believes that the players have learned how to be safe and careful during the MLS is Back Tournament. He believes that players will apply what they learned about social distancing to their normal lives. It's a risky strategy, but hopefully Garber is able to keep both players and fans safe if the season is resumed.
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