Alameda County Supervisor Wilma Chan said sports fans in the county and Bay Area should not expect to be attending sporting events anytime soon.
“I don’t think we’re going to be going to football games or Warriors games in the near future,” Chan said on Monday, during a telephone town hall with Assemblymember Rob Bonta and other local elected officials.
That includes Alameda County’s lone remaining professional sports franchise, the Oakland Athletics, whose season at the Oakland Coliseum was scheduled to begin last Mar. 26. Major League Baseball, however, is studying an ambitious plan to begin its regular season by staging every game in Arizona and Florida.
Chan’s comments jibe with other Bay Area officials, and Gov. Gavin Newson, who believe the prospects of tens of thousands of fans congregating so soon in stadiums and arenas could reignite a surge in new covid-19 cases in the fall.
Alameda County’s shelter in place orders were given on Mar. 14 and have largely been successful. Just 963 covid-19 cases have been confirmed, along with 36 deaths, in the last month.
Last week, Santa Clara County public health officials said they would not allow sporting events to be held until November. The timeline would cut into the traditional beginning of the next hockey and football seasons at SAP Center and Levi’s Stadium.
The prospects of the National Basketball Association and National Hockey League finishing their current seasons is becoming increasingly unlikely as states and the federal government continue to maintain shelter in place orders.
Major League Soccer, which was only able to play two games before suspending its season last month, is also questioning whether it will be able to play a full season.
The National Football League, and a slate of fall college sports, may not be able to begin training camps and their seasons on time, based on the current outlook being described by local and state officials.
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