Baseball is back! I’m sure you’ve seen the celebratory posts and pictures all throughout your social media feed as of late. As a matter of fact, they’ve looked so genuine you’d get goosebumps thinking about going to Opening Day. But that’s the drop-off right there, an opening day in Milwaukee without fans would be like (let’s see?) a bowling alley without bowling lanes.
It all comes down to the City of Milwaukee and their reopening phases which they have just on Friday (6/26) announced they will move to phase 4 effective July 1st which the part concerning fans at sports facilities is listed below:
Gatherings in Homes or Public Venues – Must be the lesser of the three: 1) 50% of the total occupancy of the location, 2) one person for every 30 square feet or 3) 250 people. Source: City of Milwaukee Health Department [1]
Now because fans will not be allowed to attend baseball games when the “long layoff” ends in about a month, you can blame it on the league?[2] Blame it on the team? Blame it on the Governor? Blame it on potential liability issues (but you can always do that)? But the one subject TO blame it on; Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett! Mayor Barrett has been noticeably ruling on the side of arrogance ever since the coronavirus crisis began. For a while there, it seemed he had forgotten about there being an economy as he only recently allowed the reopening of restaurants & bars. Now he’s in a little bit of a rock and a hard place. The city’s phase 4 guidelines once listed that a maximum of 100 people could be allowed for public gatherings or places of public amusement. Now, it has been adjusted to a maximum of 250 people when the city officially announced it will be going to phase 4. One would have to think it’s to accommodate for the upcoming Democratic National Convention which was just officially scaled back considerably in size this past week. He could feel apt for a larger phase capacity but likely that will be contingent as to what kind of now delegate-free crowd the August convention is expected to bring. Baseball fans might want to watch for that number closely.
Any American who follows the news right now realizes that coronavirus cases are surging again. That includes Wisconsin as of late. Among talk of the reason for exactly why for the latest surge, is because states have been reopening too quickly, hence for concerns about the falling economy as a result of the initial rounds of stay at home orders and lockdowns. While that certainly makes a legitimate argument to loosen restrictions as a means to get people back to work thus helping the economy, some jobs such as the ones we help promote are that of stadium workers of which many have yet to get to work an hour this year. For all we feel, the lockdown still hasn’t let up at all as there are no games with fans to serve to! This would have to suggest that since restrictions have indeed been loosened up (all 50 states now), then why not just remove all the restrictions, that way hardly any jobs would be shut down, because of restrictions that is. Currently, bartenders at many taverns may now work, but in-seat beer vendors, ushers, concession stand attendants, etc. etc. etc. cannot. If we all were to just let ourselves go ahead and forget about the restrictions like certain governments, people seemingly down south or the courts here in our state have done so, then perhaps we can get to that elusive but eventually inevitable herd immunity stage if no vaccine were to come and beat it to the punch. Bottom line is, we have games to work.
[1] Limits subject to change based on CDC guidance
[2] CBS Sports It’s unclear if MLB will have a league-wide policy for allowing fans to attend games. The possibility of having people in attendance was only mentioned one time in the league’s 101-page health and safety protocol:
If and when play resumes with fans, Clubs must adhere to all requirements of the 2020 (Best Stadium Operating Practices) unless MLB specifically provides otherwise.
No fan policy seems set in stone, and a lot could change in the weeks before Opening Day. MLB reportedly had 40 players and staff test positive for the coronavirus last week.
At least Milwaukee has Mayor Choo-Choo’s stupid trolley. And a murder rate out of this world. But we can have the rioting and looting, the massive Juneteenth parties and the DNC sh tshow.
Love watching Sun !