The concept of staging sporting events – including boxing – without a live audience received conditional support from one of the nation’s top infectious disease authorities.
Dr. Anthony Fauci said on the Snapchat show “Good Luck America” that he can see the resumption of sports with no spectators and tight monitoring of the athletes, although he didn’t say when that might happen. Most areas of the country remain in lock down because of the coronavirus pandemic.
Fauci, who is among those leading the response to COVID-19, was speaking primarily about team sports but the powers that be in boxing were certainly listening.
“There’s a way of doing that,” Fauci said. “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.”
Fans evidently don’t want to attend sporting events at the moment anyway. Seton Hall’s Stillman School of Business conducted a poll earlier this month indicating that 72 percent people said they wouldn’t attend an event until a COVID-19 vaccine is available.
Fauci was asked about concerns that sports aren’t the same without spectators. He answered with a reference to baseball.
“I think you’ll probably get enough buy-in from people who are dying to see a baseball game, particularly me,” said Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. “I’m living in Washington, we have the world champion Washington Nationals. I want to see them play again.”