One of the nation’s premier college conferences is preparing for a drastic change for its teams which will affect their schedules greatly as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Big 10, which is the college sports home of some of the nation’s biggest athletic schools, like Ohio State, Michigan, and Penn State, is planning to have its teams only play their in-conference schedules for fall sports. This is, of course, if college sports even take place in the fall, a possibility which is not 100% certain considering the current situation in the United States.

The sports which this change would impact include cross country, field hockey, soccer, volleyball, and most notably, football. This means that planned encounters such as Oregon-Ohio State and Washington-Michigan won’t take place if sports are allowed to go forward.

The reasoning for the conference’s decision is to reduce travel for schools and also allow for greater cooperation and flexibility, something which the conference values greatly given the fluid situation.

It’s clear that sports and their schedules will have to be adapted in the near future due to the pandemic, but the Big 10’s Wednesday announcement is unprecedented and will have far-reaching effects for programs both within the conference and outside of it.

The post Big 10 Introduces Conference-only Sports Schedules for this Fall appeared first on SportzBonanza.

Florida governor Ron DeSantis became the second state executive in the United States to announce that his state is “open for sports” in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic on Wednesday.

In a state government session, DeSantis adamantly defended his opinion that it is safe for sports teams to return to practicing and potentially playing games, effective immediately.

While it remains unclear what effect this move will have on sports actually being played in the state, it opens the door for leagues to potentially implement plans to return to action in either Florida or Arizona, or potentially both, as the latter state’s governor also announced the permission of sports in his state earlier in the week.

The league that could be most attracted to Florida’s call for action is Major League Baseball, which possesses a large network of Spring Training, professional, and minor league stadiums in the state. Previous plans discussed by the league have mentioned the possibility of grouping various teams together in the state of Florida to play games.

Florida is home to four professional major sports teams whose seasons are currently on hold, the MLB’s Miami Marlins and Tampa Bay Rays and the NBA’s Miami Heat and Orlando Magic.

The post Florida Governor: Our State is Also Open For Sports appeared first on SportzBonanza.

In yet another blow to the world of sports thanks to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, news leaked on Monday that the 2021 World Baseball Classic is set to be canceled.

This spring tradition, which normally takes place every four years in March as a lead-in to the Major League Baseball season, is going to be canceled next year due to the circumstances of this season and the preparations for next season.

MLB is set to go forward with an abbreviated regular season in 2020 which will hamper preparation plans and players’ normal routines for the 2021 season, which led to the decision about the 2021 World Baseball Classic.

Normally, players are forced to skip part of Spring Training in order to participate in the WBC, a step which they clearly will not feel inclined towards taking next spring.

The uncertainly revolving around sites for games and the possibility of crowds at games next March also factored into the decision.

The last edition of the WBC, held in 2017, saw the United States defeat Puerto Rico for the title.

It’s still unknown when the competition’s next tournament will take place, although tentative plans have it penciled in for 2023.

The post 2021 World Baseball Classic Set to Be Cancelled appeared first on SportzBonanza.

Spain’s domestic football league has returned to training over two months after the league was postponed due to the ongoing COVID-19 outbreak as teams prepare for a proposed June return date to action.

Last week, hundreds of players and staff members from Spain’s first and second division clubs underwent coronavirus testing as a prerequisite to return to training. Five players reportedly tested positive, with three of them being members of Real Betis.

These five players will be forced to remain quarantined in their homes and will have to receive two negative test results before they are allowed back to their teams’ training grounds.

The rest of players have returned to the pitch as part of reduced groups that will spend time training individually, maintaining a significant distance away from both coaches and teammates as they look to get back in shape before returning to a team practice.

Over the weekend, it was revealed that La Liga’s current plan for the return to competition is on June 12th. These games, which will be played without fans, are expected to take place every two to three days as the league looks to finish its season before August.

If everything goes well and all players obtain negative COVID-19 test results, it seems that Spanish soccer is closer than ever to returning.

The post La Liga Teams Return to Training Ahead of June Games appeared first on SportzBonanza.

The English Premier League is currently evaluating plans for the return to the competition after nearly two months of being postponed due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic which has forced the cancellation of sports around the globe.

According to some reports, the Premier League could look to get creative with their plan to return to action, including the possibility of game times that are shorter than the habitual 90 minutes.

This plan would theoretically be put in place due to the increased number of games per week, a plan that the league could be forced to implement in order to finish the 2019-20 season before the end of the summer.

Reducing the number of minutes per match would theoretically reduce the physical toll on players’ bodies if they are forced to play two or three games per week, reducing the risk of injury and fatigue issues.

No definitive plan has been put in place, however, as Premier League teams are still waiting to find out when their season will get back underway and when teams will be able to return to training sessions.

The COVID-19 pandemic has forced leagues around the world to deal with unprecedented situations, some of which, as this case demonstrates, may require unprecedented solutions.

The post Premier League Reportedly in Talks to Shorten Games Post-Return appeared first on SportzBonanza.

With the COVID-19 pandemic having postponed and canceled nearly all soccer leagues across the planet, decision makers have a tough task ahead of them. They must choose whether to restart their leagues in the coming months, scrap them and act as if 2019-20 never happened, or end the leagues with the current standings intact.

While some European leagues are looking to continue their competitions, such as Spain’s La Liga, others like France’s Ligue 1 have already announced their plans to not continue with the rest of the season.

In the case of the UEFA Champions League, the best solution to the dilemma would be to simply cancel the rest of the competition and look ahead to next season.

The last UEFA Champions League games that were played took place in early March, with half of the Round of 16 matches having had both legs completed. Four of the eight matchups, however, were unable to complete the second leg of draws.

That means that the Round of 16 would have to be completed, and the entirety of the two legs of quarter-finals and semi-finals matchups would have to be completed before two teams could even be decided for a theoretical final.

In total, five sets of games remain between a potential final, something that seems nearly impossible considering the current context of the sport.

Most European leagues that would be allowed to continue play will not be able to restart their leagues until early June at the earliest, meaning that the Champions League would be on a similar time table. These leagues will have to pack a lot of games into a short amount of time, requiring that at least two be played per week in most potential scenarios.

So, how would the Champions League even be able to fit into this potential scenario? It seems nearly impossible, and teams whose leagues do continue play would be at a huge competitive disadvantage compared to teams like Paris Saint-Germain, who won’t have domestic play to worry about.

While it might seem sacrilegious to end a Champions League campaign in his way, the circumstances resulting from the current global health crisis will make uncomfortable and unprecedented solutions necessary. Instead of putting players’ health at risk, both from a COVID-19 and a fitness perspective, the best solution is to simply write down this competition as a loss and look forward to starting anew in the fall.

The post Canceling the Remainder of the 2019-20 Champions League is the Fairest Solution For All appeared first on SportzBonanza.

After seeing the postponement of the season in March bring a sudden halt to the league, Italy’s Serie A soccer competition will allow its teams to return to group training on May 18th.

The COVID-19 pandemic, which had an especially severe impact in the country of Italy, has kept teams away from the field and from practice facilities since March 9th. Players have been forced to train individually at their homes in order to prevent the spread of the virus.

With the number of cases and deaths now falling in Italy and across Europe, the league has now given teams preliminary guidelines about their returns to the pitch.

Teams will begin to be able to work with players on an individual, non-team basis for training on May 4th. However, teams will not be allowed to congregate and practice in a group setting at team facilities until May 18th, over two months after the last time that teams were together.

Italy plans to resume play for its league sometime in June, however, the plans do not include games played with fans in the stands.

Juventus currently holds a one-point lead for the Scudetto in front of upstart Lazio. This race, as well as the race for the final two Champions League spots, are worth keeping an eye on once the league resumes play.

The post Serie A Teams to Return to Training on May 18th appeared first on SportzBonanza.

The United States’ leading infectious disease expert and the public face of the country’s response to the COVID-19 crisis has weighed in on how sports might be able to return this summer.

His path for the return of sports, however, might leave some fans disappointed and upset.

Fauci’s position on the return of American sports leagues this summer is that they must be done with lots of protocols in place in order to keep players, their families, and the population as a whole safe.

That includes the lack of spectators at games, something that would be completely unprecedented on a large scale.

In an interview with Snapchat’s Peter Hamby, Fauci stated that the way to return to sports this summer is to ensure that “Nobody comes to the stadium. Put [the players] in big hotels, wherever you want to play, keep them very well surveilled. … Have them tested every single week and make sure they don’t wind up infecting each other or their family, and just let them play the season out.”

The National Basketball Association, the National Hockey League, and Major League Baseball are the three major American pro sports leagues which are currently awaiting to return after experts decide on a path for a safe way back during the ongoing crisis.

Fans, unfortunately, might have to sit out until 2021 runs around.

The post Dr. Anthony Fauci Advocates For a Return to Sports Without Fans appeared first on SportzBonanza.

The ongoing COVID-19 outbreak has forced nearly all of the world’s sporting leagues to be put on hold as governments and societies at large attempt to slow the spread of this global health pandemic.

Major League Baseball, whose Opening Day was scheduled for March 26th, was forced to postpone the beginning of its season after calling off all activities in mid-March.

In recent days, an audacious and unprecedented idea has been proposed by forces inside the league. This plan would have all thirty teams congregate in Arizona, undergo a “mini Spring Training,” and then switch to regular season action at the eleven baseball parks in the Phoenix metro area.

Despite the temptation to return to baseball as soon as possible, this plan presents a number of problems. From the brutal Arizona summer heat to logistical problems to the health risks associated with gathering so many athletes in one place, MLB’s Arizona plan is flawed and simply would not be a good plan of action.

Arizona has long been a late winter and early spring refuge for many teams, as its warm and dry climate allows for a great place to get prepared for the season. Ten Spring Training parks are located near Phoenix, and the regular season home of the Diamondbacks, Chase Field, would presumably be the parks where games would be held in this scenario.

However, this plan ignores one key problem: while late winter and early spring weather is nice, once the calendar turns to June, all bets are off. Average summer highs in Arizona regularly top 100 degrees, and only Chase Field features a roof and an air conditioning system. This brutal heat, which often persists into the night, would be a real health risk for players and umpires.

Even if the league planned to hold the games late at night in order to avoid brutal heat, the three-hour time difference between Arizona and the East Coast of the United States, where many teams are based, would make it exceedingly difficult for fans to follow the games on television.

In addition, with eleven parks only being enough for eleven games to be held simultaneously, it would be extremely difficult to maintain a normal competition rhythm in a sport in which teams are used to playing nearly every day.

Finally, let’s not ignore the real and persistent risk that the coronavirus still poses in the United States. Maricopa County, Arizona, where all eleven parks are hosted, currently has over 1,500 active cases of the virus. How could Major League Baseball expect to keep its players safe here in just a month’s time? Gathering so many athletes in such a small area, relatively speaking, could lead to an outbreak and potentially disastrous outcomes.

While temptation might lead us to want our sports to be back as soon as possible, the Arizona proposal suggested by Major League Baseball is simply not how the game should return.

The post MLB’s Arizona Proposal is the Wrong Way to Return to Baseball appeared first on SportzBonanza.

The National Basketball Association, currently in a game stoppage due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic that has ravaged the sports world and society as a whole, is looking to put together an event that will bring together some of the game’s biggest stars.

H-O-R-S-E, a traditional playground game, is set to be the competition that various basketball stars will take part in. The event is set to be broadcast on television and done live, with players using their homes as the setting for the contest.

Three names, Hawks guard Trae Young, Wolves guard Zach LaVine, and Thunder guard Chris Paul, have been confirmed as players that will take part in the event.

H-O-R-S-E consists of a competition in which players take a shot from somewhere on the court, often with astounding levels of difficulty. If they make the shot, the rest of the players must attempt to make the same basket. If they are unsuccessful, they receive one of the five letters of the word “horse.”

After spelling out the entire word, amounting to five missed shots, the player is eliminated.

Details for the broadcast and format of the competition, including the number of players that will participate, are set to be announced later this week.

The post NBA Planning to Hold H-O-R-S-E Shooting Competition appeared first on SportzBonanza.

One of the nation’s premier college conferences is preparing for a drastic change for its teams which will affect their schedules greatly as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Big 10, which is the college sports home of some of the nation’s biggest athletic schools, like Ohio State, Michigan, and Penn State, is planning to have its teams only play their in-conference schedules for fall sports. This is, of course, if college sports even take place in the fall, a possibility which is not 100% certain considering the current situation in the United States.

The sports which this change would impact include cross country, field hockey, soccer, volleyball, and most notably, football. This means that planned encounters such as Oregon-Ohio State and Washington-Michigan won’t take place if sports are allowed to go forward.

The reasoning for the conference’s decision is to reduce travel for schools and also allow for greater cooperation and flexibility, something which the conference values greatly given the fluid situation.

It’s clear that sports and their schedules will have to be adapted in the near future due to the pandemic, but the Big 10’s Wednesday announcement is unprecedented and will have far-reaching effects for programs both within the conference and outside of it.

The post Big 10 Introduces Conference-only Sports Schedules for this Fall appeared first on SportzBonanza.

Florida governor Ron DeSantis became the second state executive in the United States to announce that his state is “open for sports” in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic on Wednesday.

In a state government session, DeSantis adamantly defended his opinion that it is safe for sports teams to return to practicing and potentially playing games, effective immediately.

While it remains unclear what effect this move will have on sports actually being played in the state, it opens the door for leagues to potentially implement plans to return to action in either Florida or Arizona, or potentially both, as the latter state’s governor also announced the permission of sports in his state earlier in the week.

The league that could be most attracted to Florida’s call for action is Major League Baseball, which possesses a large network of Spring Training, professional, and minor league stadiums in the state. Previous plans discussed by the league have mentioned the possibility of grouping various teams together in the state of Florida to play games.

Florida is home to four professional major sports teams whose seasons are currently on hold, the MLB’s Miami Marlins and Tampa Bay Rays and the NBA’s Miami Heat and Orlando Magic.

The post Florida Governor: Our State is Also Open For Sports appeared first on SportzBonanza.

In yet another blow to the world of sports thanks to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, news leaked on Monday that the 2021 World Baseball Classic is set to be canceled.

This spring tradition, which normally takes place every four years in March as a lead-in to the Major League Baseball season, is going to be canceled next year due to the circumstances of this season and the preparations for next season.

MLB is set to go forward with an abbreviated regular season in 2020 which will hamper preparation plans and players’ normal routines for the 2021 season, which led to the decision about the 2021 World Baseball Classic.

Normally, players are forced to skip part of Spring Training in order to participate in the WBC, a step which they clearly will not feel inclined towards taking next spring.

The uncertainly revolving around sites for games and the possibility of crowds at games next March also factored into the decision.

The last edition of the WBC, held in 2017, saw the United States defeat Puerto Rico for the title.

It’s still unknown when the competition’s next tournament will take place, although tentative plans have it penciled in for 2023.

The post 2021 World Baseball Classic Set to Be Cancelled appeared first on SportzBonanza.

Spain’s domestic football league has returned to training over two months after the league was postponed due to the ongoing COVID-19 outbreak as teams prepare for a proposed June return date to action.

Last week, hundreds of players and staff members from Spain’s first and second division clubs underwent coronavirus testing as a prerequisite to return to training. Five players reportedly tested positive, with three of them being members of Real Betis.

These five players will be forced to remain quarantined in their homes and will have to receive two negative test results before they are allowed back to their teams’ training grounds.

The rest of players have returned to the pitch as part of reduced groups that will spend time training individually, maintaining a significant distance away from both coaches and teammates as they look to get back in shape before returning to a team practice.

Over the weekend, it was revealed that La Liga’s current plan for the return to competition is on June 12th. These games, which will be played without fans, are expected to take place every two to three days as the league looks to finish its season before August.

If everything goes well and all players obtain negative COVID-19 test results, it seems that Spanish soccer is closer than ever to returning.

The post La Liga Teams Return to Training Ahead of June Games appeared first on SportzBonanza.

The English Premier League is currently evaluating plans for the return to the competition after nearly two months of being postponed due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic which has forced the cancellation of sports around the globe.

According to some reports, the Premier League could look to get creative with their plan to return to action, including the possibility of game times that are shorter than the habitual 90 minutes.

This plan would theoretically be put in place due to the increased number of games per week, a plan that the league could be forced to implement in order to finish the 2019-20 season before the end of the summer.

Reducing the number of minutes per match would theoretically reduce the physical toll on players’ bodies if they are forced to play two or three games per week, reducing the risk of injury and fatigue issues.

No definitive plan has been put in place, however, as Premier League teams are still waiting to find out when their season will get back underway and when teams will be able to return to training sessions.

The COVID-19 pandemic has forced leagues around the world to deal with unprecedented situations, some of which, as this case demonstrates, may require unprecedented solutions.

The post Premier League Reportedly in Talks to Shorten Games Post-Return appeared first on SportzBonanza.

With the COVID-19 pandemic having postponed and canceled nearly all soccer leagues across the planet, decision makers have a tough task ahead of them. They must choose whether to restart their leagues in the coming months, scrap them and act as if 2019-20 never happened, or end the leagues with the current standings intact.

While some European leagues are looking to continue their competitions, such as Spain’s La Liga, others like France’s Ligue 1 have already announced their plans to not continue with the rest of the season.

In the case of the UEFA Champions League, the best solution to the dilemma would be to simply cancel the rest of the competition and look ahead to next season.

The last UEFA Champions League games that were played took place in early March, with half of the Round of 16 matches having had both legs completed. Four of the eight matchups, however, were unable to complete the second leg of draws.

That means that the Round of 16 would have to be completed, and the entirety of the two legs of quarter-finals and semi-finals matchups would have to be completed before two teams could even be decided for a theoretical final.

In total, five sets of games remain between a potential final, something that seems nearly impossible considering the current context of the sport.

Most European leagues that would be allowed to continue play will not be able to restart their leagues until early June at the earliest, meaning that the Champions League would be on a similar time table. These leagues will have to pack a lot of games into a short amount of time, requiring that at least two be played per week in most potential scenarios.

So, how would the Champions League even be able to fit into this potential scenario? It seems nearly impossible, and teams whose leagues do continue play would be at a huge competitive disadvantage compared to teams like Paris Saint-Germain, who won’t have domestic play to worry about.

While it might seem sacrilegious to end a Champions League campaign in his way, the circumstances resulting from the current global health crisis will make uncomfortable and unprecedented solutions necessary. Instead of putting players’ health at risk, both from a COVID-19 and a fitness perspective, the best solution is to simply write down this competition as a loss and look forward to starting anew in the fall.

The post Canceling the Remainder of the 2019-20 Champions League is the Fairest Solution For All appeared first on SportzBonanza.

After seeing the postponement of the season in March bring a sudden halt to the league, Italy’s Serie A soccer competition will allow its teams to return to group training on May 18th.

The COVID-19 pandemic, which had an especially severe impact in the country of Italy, has kept teams away from the field and from practice facilities since March 9th. Players have been forced to train individually at their homes in order to prevent the spread of the virus.

With the number of cases and deaths now falling in Italy and across Europe, the league has now given teams preliminary guidelines about their returns to the pitch.

Teams will begin to be able to work with players on an individual, non-team basis for training on May 4th. However, teams will not be allowed to congregate and practice in a group setting at team facilities until May 18th, over two months after the last time that teams were together.

Italy plans to resume play for its league sometime in June, however, the plans do not include games played with fans in the stands.

Juventus currently holds a one-point lead for the Scudetto in front of upstart Lazio. This race, as well as the race for the final two Champions League spots, are worth keeping an eye on once the league resumes play.

The post Serie A Teams to Return to Training on May 18th appeared first on SportzBonanza.

The United States’ leading infectious disease expert and the public face of the country’s response to the COVID-19 crisis has weighed in on how sports might be able to return this summer.

His path for the return of sports, however, might leave some fans disappointed and upset.

Fauci’s position on the return of American sports leagues this summer is that they must be done with lots of protocols in place in order to keep players, their families, and the population as a whole safe.

That includes the lack of spectators at games, something that would be completely unprecedented on a large scale.

In an interview with Snapchat’s Peter Hamby, Fauci stated that the way to return to sports this summer is to ensure that “Nobody comes to the stadium. Put [the players] in big hotels, wherever you want to play, keep them very well surveilled. … Have them tested every single week and make sure they don’t wind up infecting each other or their family, and just let them play the season out.”

The National Basketball Association, the National Hockey League, and Major League Baseball are the three major American pro sports leagues which are currently awaiting to return after experts decide on a path for a safe way back during the ongoing crisis.

Fans, unfortunately, might have to sit out until 2021 runs around.

The post Dr. Anthony Fauci Advocates For a Return to Sports Without Fans appeared first on SportzBonanza.

The ongoing COVID-19 outbreak has forced nearly all of the world’s sporting leagues to be put on hold as governments and societies at large attempt to slow the spread of this global health pandemic.

Major League Baseball, whose Opening Day was scheduled for March 26th, was forced to postpone the beginning of its season after calling off all activities in mid-March.

In recent days, an audacious and unprecedented idea has been proposed by forces inside the league. This plan would have all thirty teams congregate in Arizona, undergo a “mini Spring Training,” and then switch to regular season action at the eleven baseball parks in the Phoenix metro area.

Despite the temptation to return to baseball as soon as possible, this plan presents a number of problems. From the brutal Arizona summer heat to logistical problems to the health risks associated with gathering so many athletes in one place, MLB’s Arizona plan is flawed and simply would not be a good plan of action.

Arizona has long been a late winter and early spring refuge for many teams, as its warm and dry climate allows for a great place to get prepared for the season. Ten Spring Training parks are located near Phoenix, and the regular season home of the Diamondbacks, Chase Field, would presumably be the parks where games would be held in this scenario.

However, this plan ignores one key problem: while late winter and early spring weather is nice, once the calendar turns to June, all bets are off. Average summer highs in Arizona regularly top 100 degrees, and only Chase Field features a roof and an air conditioning system. This brutal heat, which often persists into the night, would be a real health risk for players and umpires.

Even if the league planned to hold the games late at night in order to avoid brutal heat, the three-hour time difference between Arizona and the East Coast of the United States, where many teams are based, would make it exceedingly difficult for fans to follow the games on television.

In addition, with eleven parks only being enough for eleven games to be held simultaneously, it would be extremely difficult to maintain a normal competition rhythm in a sport in which teams are used to playing nearly every day.

Finally, let’s not ignore the real and persistent risk that the coronavirus still poses in the United States. Maricopa County, Arizona, where all eleven parks are hosted, currently has over 1,500 active cases of the virus. How could Major League Baseball expect to keep its players safe here in just a month’s time? Gathering so many athletes in such a small area, relatively speaking, could lead to an outbreak and potentially disastrous outcomes.

While temptation might lead us to want our sports to be back as soon as possible, the Arizona proposal suggested by Major League Baseball is simply not how the game should return.

The post MLB’s Arizona Proposal is the Wrong Way to Return to Baseball appeared first on SportzBonanza.

The National Basketball Association, currently in a game stoppage due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic that has ravaged the sports world and society as a whole, is looking to put together an event that will bring together some of the game’s biggest stars.

H-O-R-S-E, a traditional playground game, is set to be the competition that various basketball stars will take part in. The event is set to be broadcast on television and done live, with players using their homes as the setting for the contest.

Three names, Hawks guard Trae Young, Wolves guard Zach LaVine, and Thunder guard Chris Paul, have been confirmed as players that will take part in the event.

H-O-R-S-E consists of a competition in which players take a shot from somewhere on the court, often with astounding levels of difficulty. If they make the shot, the rest of the players must attempt to make the same basket. If they are unsuccessful, they receive one of the five letters of the word “horse.”

After spelling out the entire word, amounting to five missed shots, the player is eliminated.

Details for the broadcast and format of the competition, including the number of players that will participate, are set to be announced later this week.

The post NBA Planning to Hold H-O-R-S-E Shooting Competition appeared first on SportzBonanza.