President Trump held a conference call with NHL commissioner Gary Bettman and other professional sports executives on Wednesday afternoon, with the goal of reaching a consensus on the resumption of the sports seasons.
According to TSN’s Darren Dreger, NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman, NBA Commissioner Adam Silver, MLB Commissioner Ron Manfred and NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell were all on the call today, as well as owners Mark Cuban, Robert Kraft and Jerry Jones.
The call focused on 1) restarting sports with no fans, 2) the availability of testing and 3) travel concerns.
President Trump’s call today with several sports leaders, including NHL commissioner Gary Bettman is believed to have focused in number of issues/possibilities. 1) restarting with no fans. 2) availability of testing. 3) travel concerns. 1/2
— Darren Dreger (@DarrenDreger) April 15, 2020
According to Dreger, participants agreed that safety was the first priority. No timelines were discussed.
Obviously, everyone agreed they want to bring sports back as soon as possible and as soon as it’s safe to do so. No timelines , yet. https://t.co/rqVp4SSiU8
— Darren Dreger (@DarrenDreger) April 15, 2020
Tuesday evening President Trump once again mentioned the importance of getting sports back. He also announced that commissioners of many sports leagues are now part of a new committee working to get sports and the U.S. economy back after the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We have to get our sports back. I’m tired of watching baseball games that are 14 years old. I haven’t had much time to watch. I would say maybe I watch one batter and then I get back to work,” Trump said Tuesday evening.
President Donald Trump first held a conference call with all major-league sports commissioners on April 4, to discuss the all-of-America response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Commissioner Gary Bettman was on the call for the NHL. President Trump recognized the “good work” done teams and players in their communities, the workforce, and the fanbase.
Bettman was also on Fox Business News this morning.
Gary Bettman on Fox Business Network this morning: “My guess at this point is we’re probably going to be playing into the summer, which is something that we can certainly do.”
— Emily Kaplan (@emilymkaplan) April 15, 2020
lets go caps fans can I get a high five for the caps fans