MLS is back and in a big way, a massive tourney, multiple games a day from Disney. Teams may arrive as early as June 24 at the ESPN Wide World of Sports complex, as games begin July 8, they and staff will occupy the full of 2 hotels, making it far easier for them to control who they come into contact with. Garber gave big praise to DIsney for their trust that this is able to be carried out at their ESPN facility, all 54 games with 3 games minimun during the first round, ala World Cup style, it then goes to knockout stages on Aug. 11 the final will be held for a share in the $1.1 million in the prize pool. It was further worked out with the Canadian Federation, USSF & Concacaf, that the winner would also secure a berth in the CCL Champions league of 2021. The first three games will count toward the MLS regular season.
The league and teams were in consultation with doctors to determine their best practices, there will be temperature checks, contact tracing and other safeguards in place. Numerous tests will be given at no cost to residents of Central Florida. No fans will be present at the games as a precaution for all. Each and every game will be broadcast from their international, national and regional broadcast partners. Games will start with an early one, 9 a.m. ET and the latest begins at 10:30 p.m., this will wreak havoc on my sleep pattern. Many new innovations will be put into play during these games serving the dual purpose of testing them out and bringing new experiences to their viewing public.
The commish was certain that there would in fact be a 2020 season played, no date was even mentioned and one is not to be expected for upwards of a month. Knowing that all who the players encounter are not able to be tested, there will be more than ample PPE, sanitizing stations, the protocols were developed with the MLSPA & Florida medical experts. As to team alingnment, they will be split first into East & West, during the season it will revert back to how it began, this is to accomodate new additions and will change again as more teams are added in the near future. A lot of money has been lost as the teams do expect funds to come from home games, the gate, concessions etc. to stave this off, they will play an equal number of games as their sponsors had put down for to fullfill the quantity of games arranged with sponsors and broadcasters. Again, back to new things being tried on the broadcasts such as virtual ads and more to draw in those on TV more will not bring in more dollars but be getting tested out here. There has been a spike recently in the Orlando area of the virus, they expect to move ahead as planned as not much "Close Contact" is expected with others. Players and support staff will be screened often those with the venues, hotels, drivers etc. are not going to have close contact with players and team staff, despite the spike, he noted that the numbers in Orlando are lower than other cities. Whatever arranged public contact would happen would be with full PPE deployed.
It was asked how MLS may raise their value for Media, the hope is that some of these new things being done might in fact do so when the contracts come up for bid again with their media partners, for now it would be added value. There are player with underlying concerns, not to be named here, one prominent player has an expectant wife, Carlos Vela, he, his family, medical team, etc. will determine should he play or not as to those with conditions it must be met with much more scrutiny for both players and staff. A statment was made as to the league policy of standing for the anthem, it was not a new one the same one just re - released, but from 2017, his preference is that they stand, but the players may do as they choose, the US National Anthem will not be played during these games to limit exposure as the players and others would be standing near to each other. At the commissioners level, MLS & NBA players attending the others games had not been discussed, I think that would not be a bad idea for cross marketing, have each city support the team of the other sport, fellow contrymen etc. A change that came into place earlier in the day was that VAR will be utilized, that is good as it will be in the season as well, PRO has been part and parcel of these talks from the get go, why that was up in the air, I have no idea. Interestingly, radio crews are not to be in the stadium, yet the TV ones will. Though glad to be ther first back to play in the states, it was not rushed but rather at one point it was pushed back, they had hoped to get games going in late June, it is important to be back but some cities will open later than others, that needs to be sorted out of course. I was surprised to hear that they have not set a number as to how many positive tests would cause then to shut down again, the affected party would be put into isolation and their contacts traced. An opportunity may have been lost in that they did not seek to sell the naming rights to these coming games.