When Will Sports Return? The Latest News…

Monday, April 27: ESPN MLB reporter Jeff Passan, who’s as plugged in as anyone to the thinking of baseball execs, wrote on Monday that “a number of people in decision-making positions” see the following scenario as realistic:

“Finalize a plan in May. Hash out an agreement with the players by the end of the month or early June. Give players a week to arrive at designated spring training locations. Prepare for three weeks. Start the season in July. Play around an 80- to 100-game season in July, August, September and October. Hold an expanded playoff at warm-weather, neutral sites in November.”

Passan added that all the decision-makers in and around the sport — “league officials, players, union leaders, owners, doctors, politicians, TV power brokers, team executives” — are aligned that MLB will start. When and where are much more up in the air, but generally, when all parties involved are motived to have something occur, the details get figured out.

Monday, April 27: According to the Sports Business Journal, the NFL is actively working on back-up plans should the league be unable to start on Sept. 10.

The NFL is set to reveal its regular schedule in May, and as part of that exercise it’s building in the potential that it might not be able to start until mid-October. SBJ reports that if the season can’t start until then, the NFL would still play a 16-game schedule, but there would be no bye weeks, the Super Bowl would move from Feb. 7 to Feb. 28 and the bye week between the conference championship games and the Super Bowl would be spiked.

ESPN’s Kevin Seifert had previously reported that multiple NFL execs plan to start the season on time. Per executive vice president/general counsel Jeff Pash said during a media briefing, “All of our focus, has been on a normal, traditional season, starting on time, playing in front of fans, in our regular stadiums, and going through a full 16-game regular season and a full set of playoffs.”

Monday, April 27: La Liga, the top soccer league in Spain, might not be returning any time soon. “It would be reckless for me to say now that professional football will be back before the summer,” Spain’s health minister Salvador Illa, who has the final say on when sports can return in the country, told media at a news conference on Wednesday.

Sunday, April 26: Italy’s prime minister Giuseppe Conte said Serie A teams could begin individual training on May 4 (social distancing mandated) and that teams could start training together on May 18.

Wednesday, April 22: A marquee golf event will be coming to a TV screen near you in May. Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson, Peyton Manning and Tom Brady are teaming up for a first-of-its-kind 2v2 golf match. The Action Network’s Darren Rovell, who broke the news, reports the event will be aired on TNT, with all proceeds going to COVID-19 relief. Sunday, May 24 is a potential date and the Medalist Golf Club in Florida is the rumored location, but neither of those aspects have been finalized yet.

Monday, April 20: We’re one step closer to getting an international soccer league back on the pitch. Germany’s Bundesliga is targeting a May 9 return. The New York Times had previously reported that the final nine games on each team’s schedule should be finished by the end of June.

The games will take place behind closed doors, with no fans in attendance. Germany’s ministry of health and the German Football League still need to approve the plan, but with clubs already back training, we appear to be well on our way to getting some top-flight football to bet on by May 9.

Estimated Return Dates for NFL, NBA, College Football, Golf & More

Current as of April 20 at 11 a.m. ET. Any dates below are estimates on when each sport could return, based on statements from each league and/or news reports. We’ll run through them one by one below in chronological order.

NFL Draft Date

The NFL Draft will go on as planned from April 23-25, but it will be a complete virtual draft, meaning team personnel will be in separate locations and communicating via phone or video conferencing.

Bundesliga Return Date

We’re one step closer to getting an international soccer league back on the pitch. Germany’s Bundesliga is targeting a May 9 return. The New York Times had previously reported that the final nine games on each team’s schedule should be finished by the end of June.

The games will take place behind closed doors, with no fans in attendance. Germany’s ministry of health and the German Football League still need to approve the plan, but with clubs already back training, we appear to be well on our way to getting some top-flight football to bet on by May 9.

UFC Return Date

According to ESPN’s Brett Okamoto, UFC president Dana White is “deep in the process” of building out the organization’s pay-per-view return on May 9.

The fights White and UFC are targeting, per ESPN, are as follows: Tony Ferguson vs. Justin Gaethje, Henry Cejudo vs. Dominick Cruz (latter has publicly accepted invite), Amanda Nunes vs. Felicia Spencer (both publicly accepted), Francis Ngannou vs. Jairzinho Rozenstruik, Jeremy Stephens vs. Calvin Kattar, Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone vs. Anthony Pettis (verbally agreed), and six more matchups.

This report comes five days after requests from “the highest levels” of ESPN and Disney requested White postpone UFC 249, which was scheduled to take place on tribal lands in California this upcoming Saturday. (The New York Times reported the California Gov. Gavin Newsom called Disney officials and set the cancelation in motion.)

White declined to comment on where a potential May 9 card would take place.

Tiger, Phil, Peyton & Brady Golf Match Date

A marquee golf event will be coming to a TV screen near you in May. Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson, Peyton Manning and Tom Brady are teaming up for a first-of-its-kind 2v2 golf match. The Action Network’s Darren Rovell, who broke the news, reports the event will be aired on TNT, with all proceeds going to COVID-19 relief. Sunday, May 24 is a potential date and the Medalist Golf Club in Florida is the rumored location, but neither of those aspects have been finalized yet.

NASCAR Return Date

NASCAR has officially canceled its May 9 event at Martinsville Speedway. A report from The Athletic stated that NASCAR is now eyeing the Coke 600 over Memorial Day weekend (May 24) as the earliest possible date the sport could return.

IndyCar Start Date

On April 6, IndyCar canceled its late-May race in Detroit, meaning the season is scheduled to begin on June 6 with a race at Texas Motor Speedway, which said that it would not host the race if fans could not safely be in attendance.

MLS Return Date

According to reports from ESPN, The Athletic and Sports Business Journal, Major League Soccer is targeting the second week of June to return to the pitch. On Tuesday, MLS called its initial plans to return by May 10 “extremely unlikely.” The league also acknowledged that it will be difficult to finish an entire season’s worth of games given the timeframe it is now working with.

MLS is not allowing its players to train until at least April 24, and according to ESPN, that’s likely to be extended to a later date.

PGA Tour Return Date

On April 16, PGA TOUR officially announced changes to its 2020 schedule, targeting June 11 as a return date at the Charles Schwab Invitational in Fort Worth, Tex.

The Charles Schwab (June 11-14) will be followed by RBC Heritage (June 18-21), Travelers Championship (June 25-28), Rocket Mortgage Classic (July 2-5), John Deere Classic (July 9-12), Memorial Tournament (July 16-19), 3M Open (July 23-26), WGC-FedEx St. Jude Invitational (July 30-Aug. 2).

From there, the schedule would pick up with what the TOUR announced last week: PGA Championship (Aug. 6-9), Wyndham Championship (Aug. 13-16), The Northern Trust (Aug. 20-23), BMW Championship (Aug. 27-30), Tour Championship (Sept. 3-7), U.S. Open (Sept. 17-20), Ryder Cup (Sept. 25-27), and the Masters (Nov. 12-15).

AFL Return Date

The Australian Football League, which captivated American audiences in its first few games before the season was postponed, has an estimated return date of June 11. AFL CEO Gillon McLachlan said he hopes to deliver an official date by the end of April.

LPGA Return Date

The LPGA has postponed events through June 14, making mid-June the earliest the Tour could return.

CFL Start Date

The Canadian Football League announced on April 7 that it would not start until at least July 1. The regular season was supposed to kickoff on June 11.

Indy 500 Date

The Indy 500 has officially been moved from Memorial Day Weekend (May 24) to Sunday, Aug. 23.

College Football Start Date

ESPN’s Adam Schefter, who’s certainly plugged into all levels of football, reported on April 9 that there’s “strong conviction” among college football decision-makers that we’ll have a 2020 season. The start time is uncertain, but, Schefter reported, “they sound certain there still will be college football this season.”

Tour de France Date

The Tour de France, which had been postponed from its original June 27 start date, will now take place from Aug. 29-Sept. 20.

US Open (Tennis) Date

The New York Times reports we can expect a decision from the USTA on the fate of the 2020 US Open some time in June.

The Telegraph had previously reported the USTA, which runs the US Open tennis tournament currently set for late August, is “absolutely desperate to stage the event,” adding that it makes approximately $400 million in revenue for the association.

ATP chairman Andrea Gaudenzi said, “The USTA is planning to push the US Open back if the situation doesn’t improve before the summer.” (Unlike Wimbledon, the US Open does not have pandemic insurance, so it will not outright cancel the event until the last possible moment.)

Kentucky Derby Date

The Kentucky Derby was originally slated for the first weekend in May, but it’s been rescheduled for Sept. 5, which is also currently expected to be the first full college football Saturday.

NFL Start Date

According to the Sports Business Journal, the NFL is actively working on back-up plans should the league be unable to start on Sept. 10.

The NFL is set to reveal its regular schedule in May, and as part of that exercise it’s building in the potential that it might not be able to start until mid-October. SBJ reports that if the season can’t start until then, the NFL would still play a 16-game schedule, but there would be no bye weeks, the Super Bowl would move from Feb. 7 to Feb. 28 and the bye week between the conference championship games and the Super Bowl would be spiked.

ESPN’s Kevin Seifert had previously reported that multiple NFL execs plan to start the season on time. Per executive vice president/general counsel Jeff Pash said during a media briefing, “All of our focus, has been on a normal, traditional season, starting on time, playing in front of fans, in our regular stadiums, and going through a full 16-game regular season and a full set of playoffs.”

Wilder-Fury III Date

The third heavyweight battle between Tyson Fury and Deontay Wilder will have to wait. Top Rank chairman Bob Arum told ESPN that the much-anticipated rematch, which was scheduled to take place on July 18 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, will likely be rescheduled for “early October.”

Postponed Events/Leagues With No Date Provided

NBA Return Date

Commissioner Adam Silver did a wide-ranging interview with Ernie Johnson on April 6, saying the league won’t provide estimates or a possible return or definitive return dates until at least the beginning of May. “I think it honestly is just too early, given what’s happened right now, to even be able to project or predict where we will be in a few weeks,” Silver said.

The league suspended play on March 12, and in his latest interview on the state of the league Silver said, “The fact is now, sitting here today, I know less than I did then, and I think in some ways, just as I listen to the public health experts and the people advising us, the virus is potentially moving faster than maybe we thought at that point, so maybe it will peak earlier. What that means, in terms of our ability to come back at some point, whether it be in late spring or early summer, is unknown to me.”

Previous reports from ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski shortly after the league shutdown had pegged mid-to-late June as the earliest date the NBA could return, but even that feels premature at this point, given Silver’s comments.

NHL Return Date

Commissioner Gary Bettman piggy-backed on Adam Silver’s comments, saying on Tuesday there’s “too much uncertainty” to estimate when the league will return. Bettman also mentioned that he’d like to finish the regular season before jumping into the playoffs, but the more this drags out, the less likely that seems.

MLB Opening Day Date

ESPN MLB reporter Jeff Passan, who’s as plugged in as anyone to the thinking of baseball execs, wrote on Monday that “a number of people in decision-making positions” see the following scenario as realistic:

“Finalize a plan in May. Hash out an agreement with the players by the end of the month or early June. Give players a week to arrive at designated spring training locations. Prepare for three weeks. Start the season in July. Play around an 80- to 100-game season in July, August, September and October. Hold an expanded playoff at warm-weather, neutral sites in November.”

Passan added that all the decision-makers in and around the sport — “league officials, players, union leaders, owners, doctors, politicians, TV power brokers, team executives” — are aligned that MLB will start. When and where are much more up in the air, but generally, when all parties involved are motived to have something occur, the details get figured out.

Champions League & Europa League Return Date

UEFA announced that it’s suspending the Champions League and Europa League indefinitely. UEFA also suspended Euro 2020 qualifying playoffs and international friendlies that were set to take place in June. Earlier this week, UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin warned that the entire season could be lost. “Nobody knows when the pandemic will end,” Ceferin told La Repubblica. “We have a Plan A, B or C: to restart in mid-May, in June or at the end of June.”

UEFA presidents also sent a letter to its leagues and clubs saying that canceling their respective seasons should be viewed as a “last resort.”

English Premier League Return Date

The EPL is expected to extend its suspension of play beyond April 30, which the league had previously floated as an option.

La Liga Return Date

La Liga, the top soccer league in Spain, might not be returning any time soon. “It would be reckless for me to say now that professional football will be back before the summer,” Spain’s health minister Salvador Illa, who has the final say on when sports can return in the country, told media at a news conference on April 27.

La Liga president Javier Tebas had previously said, “current scenarios being discussed are to restart the Spanish league on May 28, June 6 or or even up until June 28.” He also said the league isn’t “considering at all that we are not going to get back to playing matches.”

Serie A Return Date

Italy’s prime minister Giuseppe Conte said on April 26 that Serie A teams could begin individual training on May 4 (social distancing mandated) and that teams could start training together on May 18.

European Tour Return Date

One tidbit suspiciously absent from the big golf announcement that took place on April 6 was any sort of estimate for when the European Tour could return. “Due to the many complexities involved, the European Tour is currently working through various scenarios in relation to the rescheduling of our tournaments for the 2020 season.” The Tour has officially canceled or postponed all events up until BWM International Open, which is scheduled to take place June 25-28 in Germany.

ATP & WTA Return Date

The ATP & WTA technically could return by July 13, at the earliest, according to its latest statements, but given the global nature of the sport, that appears optimistic. As The Telegraph wrote, “Privately, both the ATP and WTA tours know that a complete wipeout of the 2020 season is probably a more realistic outcome than a late-summer restart.”

Preakness Date

The Preakness had been scheduled to take place on May 16, but it has officially been postponed, with no rescheduled date given. The Kentucky Derby had already been rescheduled to Sept. 5. The Belmont, the third of the triple crown races, has not been rescheduled yet. It still has June 6 as the date.

Belmont Stakes Date

The Belmont, which was set to take place on June 6, hasn’t set a new date yet. “NYRA will deliver an announcement only when that process has concluded to the satisfaction of state and local health departments,” NYRA said in a statement.

WNBA Start Date

The WNBA, which had been slated to start its 2020 season on May 15, announced that it will be postponing the start of training camp (and thus, its season) until further notice. The league did not give an estimate on when camp could begin.

Formula 1 Start Date

F1 postponed the Canadian Grand Prix, which was slated to take place on June 14. F1 is working on a larger revised schedule with all races now canceled or postponed through June 14.

Canceled Seasons/Events

Summer Olympics Reschedule Date

The 2020 Tokyo Olympics will no longer take place this summer. They might not even take place this year, as the International Olympic Committee and officials from Tokyo officially postponed the Games on Tuesday morning.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said that the IOC “100%” agreed to postponing the Games until the Summer of 2021, though a release from the IOC didn’t quite go that far, saying the latest the Games “must be rescheduled to a date beyond 2020 but not later than Summer 2021.”

British Open (Canceled)

The British Open has officially been canceled. The R&A reportedly has pandemic insurance, which meant the organization had to make a decision soon on whether to cancel if it wanted to collect on that insurance. Royal St. George, which was slated to host this year’s event, will now play host in 2021, The 2022 event, which will be the 150th playing of The Open, will take place at St. Andrews.

Wimbledon (Canceled)

The All England Lawn Tennis Club officially canceled 2020 Wimbledon on Wednesday, April 1, marking the first time since World War II that the event will not be held.

The AELTC had previously stated that it did not want to play the event without crowds, so it really had three options: 1) Play with crowds at the original date, June 29 to July 12; 2) Postpone to when crowds can be safely present; or 3) Cancel the event altogether. The AELTC chose Option 3.

The USTA — which runs the US Open (set to take place in New York from Aug. 31 to Sept. 13 — released a statement on Wednesday saying it still plans to host the US Open “at this time.”

Euro 2020 Rescheduled Date

UEFA has postponed Euro 2020 until the summer of 2021.

Copa America Rescheduled Date

Much like Euro 2020, Copa America has been postponed a full year until the summer of 2021.

XFL (Canceled)

The XFL officially canceled its season on March 20. A few weeks later, the upstart football league fired all of its employees and said it has no plans to return in 2021, a quick reversal to their March 20 statement saying that it was “looking forward to playing full seasons for you — and with you — in 2021 and beyond.”

Monaco Grand Prix (Canceled)

Formula 1 canceled the Monaco Grand Prix, which is probably the biggest motorsports event in the world each year. The race was supposed to take place over Memorial Day Weekend. It will mark the first time since 1954 that the Monaco Grand Prix does not take place.