As a diehard fan of numerous sports and teams, I have found it extremely difficult to get excited about any sports-related announcement during the COVID-19 pandemic.
In large part, it’s because North America’s four major professional sports leagues (NFL, MLB, NBA and NHL) have been relatively silent — and for good reason — as the world deals with the health and economic fallout the novel coronavirus has brought.
Thursday marks exactly three months since the National Basketball Association became the first league on our continent to announce that it was suspending its season due to the pandemic.
The following day, the National Hockey League followed suit, and countless other sports leagues and events have pressed the pause button and are either plotting a strategy to resume sometime in 2020 or are already looking to next year.
The NBA announced plans to finish its season at Disney World in Florida and the NHL is moving slowly toward playing a 24-team playoff in a couple of hub-cities, while MLB and its players are still trying to come to an agreement on a 2020 campaign.
The National Football League remains steadfast that it will be playing games in the fall, although having fans in attendance remains a big question mark.
All of those ideas are exciting to think about, but my fandom meter isn’t exploding because we are all still on the bottom floor with many stairs to climb before any return-to-play plans can be executed.
Which brings me to Major League Soccer’s announcement of a World Cup-style tournament from July 8 to Aug. 11 at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex at Disney World in Florida.
That is the same venue the NBA is proposing to have its players stationed at.
All 26 teams, including Toronto FC, the Vancouver Whitecaps and Montreal Impact, will take part in the MLS is Back Tournament, which will be played before empty stands.
A draw to determine the tournament groups will be held Thursday, and TFC will be listed as a top-seed in one of the six tournament groups.
Again, it sounds exciting, but until a ball is kicked into a net in a meaningful game, I won’t allow my hopes to get too high.
Rick Zamperin is the assistant program, news and senior sports director at Global News Radio 900 CHML.
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