Gavin Newsom suggests professional sports may return in June
The California governor says that if current trends continue, teams may return to playing without live spectators.
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California Gov. Gavin Newsom on Monday announced that professional sports could begin in June without spectators if the state’s number of coronavirus cases continues to decline.
The NBA, NHL, MLB and other sports franchises suspended their seasons in mid-March as coronavirus deaths began to climb in the U.S.
The Democratic governor qualified that the early June timeline was preliminary. He said the return of sports will come with “deep stipulations” and “very prescriptive conditions.”
“In terms of protecting not only the players but more broadly their support staff,” Newsom said. “And again, we’re not talking about fans in this respect.”
Newsom’s comments Monday came during an announcement in which he outlined criteria for allowing most of the state's 58 counties to begin allowing dining in restaurants and other services.
"Bottom line is: People can go at their own pace, and we are empowering our local health directors and county officials that understand their local communities and conditions," Newsom said.
The new criteria applies to counties that want to reopen faster than the state. While retail may open for curbside pickup statewide, restrictions on dining in at restaurants and other services are still in place statewide. Counties can move faster if they win state approval.
Twenty-four counties in mostly rural Northern California have already won approval under the old guidance.
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The new criteria requires that counties must have no more than 25 cases per 100,000 residents or no higher than an 8 percent positive rate among people testing for the coronavirus.
Newsom said counties will soon be able to allow shopping in stores and hair salons to reopen. He also said the reopening of churches could begin within weeks.
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As of Monday, California has confirmed nearly 80,000 cases of the novel coronavirus with some 3,261 deaths.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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