Saints fans couldn't wait to watch Drew Brees — in what could be his last season as quarterback — steer the NFL team to a second Super Bowl win.

And Pelicans fans were banking on rookie sensation Zion Williamson emerging from his preseason knee injury to propel his squad to the playoffs. 

But last month, the coronavirus pandemic stopped professional sports — like most everything else — dead in its tracks.

Now, weeks into the crisis, there is a growing consensus among health experts and government leaders: if and when the economy begins reopening, pro sports games should be held in empty stadiums, if they are held at all.  

The concept seems simple enough: Organizers stage games in much the same way, minus the crowds, something Mexico’s professional soccer and baseball leagues were able to do in 2009 as the swine flu epidemic raged there. 

COVID-19, however, is far more contagious and deadly than swine flu. That means the logistical challenges organizers must solve to safely stage "ghost games" are massive, including providing fast and accurate coronavirus testing that government officials at all levels have struggled to secure.  

Germany, which is ahead of most of the world in battling its virus outbreak, was hoping to restart its interrupted professional soccer league by the end of this month.

But league officials are still trying to get their hands on thousands of tests for their athletes, coaches and support staffers. They're also grappling with the fact that hundreds of people are still needed to put on crowdless matches, at a time when gatherings of more than 10 are considered health risks. 

“It is a concept that is in its nascent stages, at best,” said Dr. Fred Lopez, a professor and infectious diseases expert at LSU Health Sciences Center. “There just would be so many details that would have to be worked out if you were going to reintroduce sports, particularly those that bring (participants) within six feet of one another.”

There have been more than 630,000 cases and more than 31,000 deaths in the U.S. from COVID-19, a respiratory illness. South Louisiana has been a hotspot for the contagion, with nearly 600 deaths alone in Orleans and Jefferson parishes.

There's no vaccine to prevent infection — and no telling when one may be available. Doctors haven't yet found a drug that universally helps infected patients. 

Nonetheless, the commissioners of the country's various pro sports leagues spoke with President Donald Trump on Wednesday to explore how to avoid a total, prolonged stoppage — something even world wars didn't manage to inflict on the American sports universe.

Trump came out of that conversation saying that he envisioned sports contests would be staged first without spectators, whenever they came back.

New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell later appeared on CNN and said she didn't think Saints games should be played with fans packed in the Mercedes-Benz Superdome this fall. Gov. John Bel Edwards didn't go that far, but said sports fans should expect a radically different experience if they are allowed to attend games.

NBA Commissioner Adam Silver told reporters Friday, "We are not in a position to make any decisions, and it's unclear when we will be." 

Saints and Pelicans officials have yet to weigh in on what their upcoming seasons might look like.

The teams' top spokesman, Greg Bensel, said the organization's priorities are the "health and safety" of fans, staff, players and coaches. He also said the clubs "are working to do everything in our power to make it work," given their cultural significance in New Orleans. 

It is not surprising that pro sports are trying to restart, even under these circumstances, said Arnie Fielkow, a former Saints executive and president of the National Basketball Retired Players Association.

The teams' various television deals generate astronomical revenue, measured in billions of dollars. Those deals are lucrative even without capacity crowds, Fielkow said.

And with so many people home because of social distancing restrictions meant to curb the spread of the virus, viewership will almost certainly be high enough to justify the effort for the leagues and their broadcast partners.

Leagues also want to stage live games to build up goodwill among fans hungry for distractions during a time of widespread sickness and economic misery.

When the New Orleans area was rebuilding in the years after Hurricane Katrina, Fielkow noted, fans were riveted as the Saints charged to their first two NFC title game appearances and their first Super Bowl championship.

Vaccine news in your inbox

Once a week we'll update you on the progress of COVID-19 vaccinations. Sign up today.

But most agree no season can be held without acquiring an unprecedented capacity to test for the virus and ensure the safety of the ghost games.

Athletes, coaches, officials and support personnel, down to workers who prepare food for sports organizations, must be tested regularly before symptoms develop, Lopez said.

That's because symptoms can take up to two weeks to manifest, and about one-quarter of those stricken with the coronavirus are asymptomatic but capable of infecting others.

So leagues need results in minutes, not days, or even hours. And they need to define what it means to test “regularly" — a decision that could significantly drive up the number of tests required, Lopez said.

“Would we do it once a week? Would we do it every day?” Lopez said. “The availability of testing to do things like that really hasn’t been available.”

Americans can look to Germany, further along in handling its outbreak, for a case study in the complications of pulling off closed-door games. Its paused professional soccer league appears as if it won’t be able to restart with crowdless games until May at the earliest.

For one, the German Bundesliga estimates it will require about 10,000 tests for its 18 first-division teams alone, squads whose rosters are less than half the size than those of NFL teams. That figure has triggered intense political debate — and some backlash — over whether those resources might unnecessarily strain Germany’s health care system, according to media reports.

And that's not the only challenge. The Bundesliga admits that putting on ghost games would defy the small gathering recommendations that have been staples of this pandemic.

League officials estimate that staging crowdless games would require 240 people, after accounting for players, teams’ support staffers, officials and broadcast crews.

For their part, the NBA and Major League Baseball have both given thought to holding all games at central locations, where players and essential staff would eat, sleep, play and train.

That would minimize the risks from less-restricted contact with the outside world. It would also eliminate complications that could arise from any communities whose governments don't want games played there.  

One idea floated in NBA circles was finishing the season at a casino in Las Vegas. MLB has mulled beginning its season in the Phoenix area, where it would play games at Chase Field and 10 other spring-training facilities.

However, players’ reactions to such plans have been mixed. LeBron James, whose Los Angeles Lakers are NBA title contenders, initially opposed the idea before softening his opinion and saying he is receptive to playing at a central location as long as it is safe. Los Angeles Angels outfielder Mike Trout, the reigning American League MVP, was skeptical, acknowledging there were “a lot of red flags.”

“I think the mentality is we want to get back as soon as we can, but obviously it's gotta be realistic,” Trout said in an interview with NBC Sports Network. “We can't be sitting in a hotel room, just going from the field to the hotel room and not being able to do anything. I think that's pretty crazy."

In an interview Thursday night, Saints punter Thomas Morstead said he would miss playing in front of New Orleans’ famously raucous fans. But he said he would be open to playing under a “bubble” plan like the one MLB and the NBA have pondered, if that were the safest option the NFL could identify.

“It’s hard to fathom the level of legitimate organization that (it) will require to police that everyone is doing everything right,” Morstead added.

For now, those starved for live sports are being directed to broadcasts of baseball games in Taiwan.

Taiwan, a country of 24 million people, has reported only six deaths and fewer than 400 cases of COVID-19. The country's baseball league recently started playing games again with mannequins and cardboard cutouts of people in the stands serving as substitutes for fans.

The dystopian props serve as a stark reminder that it could be a long wait before local fans sit shoulder-to-shoulder again in packed stadiums.

“We’re all going to be living in a very different world,” Fielkow said. “But I am confident that Americans and New Orleanians will be able to successfully adjust to those changes.”

View comments