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On Sunday, New York State Governor Andrew Cuomo has given teams the go-ahead to resume training at team facilities as long as they adhere to public health guidelines.
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo announces effective today that all professional sports teams in the state can begin training camps while following the appropriate health protocols.
— Field Yates (@FieldYates) May 24, 2020
“I believe that sports that can come back without having people in the stadium, without having people in the arena.” Cuomo said
The NHL and NBA seasons remain on pause with some questions as to whether they will even complete their respected seasons. Today’s announcement brings the likelihood of a return to sports one step closer. It also signifies the NFL is a little closer to holding activities with players at their facilities, a key component to starting the season on time.
New York state has been one of the hardest hit areas in the country with over 360,000 confirmed cases and 23,000 deaths, so the announcement to open training camp is significant.
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo says teams in his state can return to their facilities for training after a pause of more than two months. https://t.co/b4lX8WVvn0
— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) May 24, 2020
The Steelers announced on June 12 of last year their training camp dates in 2019. While fans will have to wait to see if the same announcement comes out around a similar date this year, the ability to hold training camps from one of the most hard-hit states has definitely set things in the right direction.
The NFL has held firm that the NFL season will go ahead as scheduled but the Steelers are taking a cautious approach by only selling half of their individual game tickets this past week.
While we all want to attended sporting events in person, actually getting to watch sports on television would be a much better outcome than no sports being available to anyone. As sports fans, I think we can all agree the return to some level of professional sports activity in New York is good news for all of us.