Pro sports teams in Florida join forces to send one message to fans: wear a mask
The past four months have been rough for sports fans.
There’s only so many times that you can watch Ray Allen’s three-pointer in Game 6 or the 2006 Rose Bowl before the brain begins to melt. But with the NBA, WNBA and MLB all inching closer to a return, some people believe that a pre-COVID normalcy might be on the horizon.
That’s why Florida’s professional sports united for a campaign that urges fans to wear masks. Announced Friday afternoon, the initiative was supported by every team in the five major North American sports leagues that call the Sunshine State home.
This message comes on the heels of Florida reporting 11,433 new cases of COVID-19 on Friday, the state’s second-highest single day total. Florida currently has more than 240,000 confirmed cases and 4,100 deaths. As of Thursday, Florida’s case total was the fourth highest in the country, according to a New York Times database.
The sports world came to a screeching halt on March 11 when the NBA elected to suspend their season. Several leagues, inside and outside of the U.S., soon followed suit.
Despite the state’s surge in COVID-19 cases, the WNBA and NBA still plan on resuming play in Florida. The NBA will restart on July 30 while the WNBA has yet to finalize a date but aims to be ready by late July as well.
Opening Day in the MLB will be held on July 23 and the MLS began a tournament on Wednesday.
This story was originally published July 10, 2020 at 1:54 PM.
