Bubble Boy (2020)

Written by Madison York
November 9th 2020

In case you’ve been living under a rock, Patrick Star style, the world is amidst a crisis. The Coronavirus pandemic has ravaged our way of living, but life must go on, and for many Americans—life involves sports.
After postponing the end of the NBA and NHL seasons, as well as the start of MLB games, spring was a busy time for league planners. By early summer, there was no congruent consensus on how to move forward with professional sports in COVID times.
The NBA opted for a strict “bubble” in which players were sequestered at Disney World Resort in Orlando, Florida; and every game for the end of the season was played at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex. That meant that 22 teams (including the Celtics, have to rep Boston) worth of players, coaching staff, and other essential workers lived together for months in one area. When they first arrived, players and staff had to self-isolate and test negative for COVID-19. By the end of their extended season, the NBA reported that only two players tested positive in the bubble. This was a wildly successful approach to containing the coronavirus in the resumed regular and postseason for the NBA.
Similar to the NBA’s anti-Coronavirus strategy, the NHL decided on a modified bubble. With two hub cities, Toronto and Edmonton, where teams were limited to bringing only 52 people (31 players included), the NHL bubble was another method of returning to play without sacrificing the health of personnel. They reported even better results than the NBA—zero cases. However, team members and staff had to give up the ability to see their families until conference finals in order to play, which was a high metal and emotional price to pay for teams that made it that far. The successes of NHL and NBA return-to-play in the bubble should stand as a city on a hill for other leagues to look towards.
Stepping out of the realm of bubbles was Major League Baseball. With a shortened season and delayed start date, the MLB tried to get games going as soon as they could. They decided to stick to mostly divisional games, with the National League playing the National League and the American League vs. American League, and geographically playing East vs. East and so on to limit travel. Like the NBA and NHL, the MLB instructed teams to limit their active rosters to 30 players. While their initial rulebook did not leave instructions on what to do if a team had an outbreak, this was a reality the MLB quickly had to face. Even before the restart of spring training, many clubs, like the Reds and Yankees, encountered coronavirus cases within their systems. Then, within the first few days of return-to-play, the Miami Marlins experienced an outbreak. They were removed from playing as over half of the Marlins roster had tested positive. Instead of learning from their mistakes, the MLB did not immediately transition to a bubble, and simply removed infected teams from playing until players tested negative. By the end of the regular season, the MLB had 91 positive tests, and 57 of them were from players. They altered their approach for the postseason, in which teams were put into the bubble, and played at neutral parks, proving yet again that a bubble was the optimal method for preventing the coronavirus in return-to-play.
Before the return of their season, the NFL had plenty of time to learn from the successes and failures of the leagues before them. What they should have noticed, was that bubbles really worked and limited or completely ended cases of coronavirus among teams. What they did was the opposite. The NFL did not go for the bubble, and is suffering the consequences. Right now, half of the league's teams are experiencing problems with coronavirus, the Patriots among the growing list. Even knowing the merits of a bubble, it is also important to note that it would have been very difficult for the NFL to institute one. Football rosters are huge; with offense, defense, special teams, and a practice squad, it would have been hard to find a location to host all 53 players on each active roster, plus coaches and other staff. On top of the massive number of people, the NFL would also have to be in the bubble for an exorbitant amount of time, playing only once a week for 16 games in the regular season. For the postseason, a bubble could be set in place, similar to the MLB, and this would be the optimal system for keeping teams to their regular rosters for the most important games of the season.
While leagues have chosen to follow different methods of return-to-play, they all have the same message at the forefront of their strategies: protect their players’ health. With frequent testing, mask mandates, and limited travel, leagues are all doing the best they can to protect the wellbeing of their players and staff, which is the best one could hope for in these trying times.