According to the Associated Press, Major League Baseball and the MLB Players Association have been discussing the idea of playing the 2020 season entirely in Arizona.
Arizona has 10 spring training parks as well as Chase Field, home to the Arizona Diamondbacks. Half of the MLB clubs hold spring training in Arizona, the other half in Florida.
Players, coaching staffs and other essential personnel would be sequestered at local hotels, where they would live in relative isolation and travel only to and from the stadium, sources told ESPN. Federal officials at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as well as the National Institutes of Health have been supportive of a plan that would adhere to strict isolation, promote social distancing and allow MLB to become the first professional sport to return.
Ideas are still in the early stage, and the Arizona option would have many obstacles to overcome, sources told the Associated Press.
MLB suspended the 2020 season last month as the U.S. began to deal with the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.
