California Gov. Newsom not anticipating NFL starting on time with fans in stands in his state
President Donald Trump said the NFL season should start on time, and wants sporting events with fans in the stands by August and September.
Not long after that report, California Gov. Gavin Newsom said he doesn’t anticipate that happening, at least not in his state due to the coronavirus outbreak.
Newsom offered a much more sobering outlook on the beginning of the NFL regular season, which is set to start Sept. 10.
Gavin Newsom ‘not anticipating’ games with fans in September
In a daily media briefing Saturday, Newsom expressed doubt that there would be NFL games in California with fans attending. There are three NFL teams in California: the Los Angeles Rams, Los Angeles Chargers and San Francisco 49ers.
California governor Gavin Newsom pushes back on Trump's reported comments from today's call that he believes the NFL season should start on time in September with fans in the stands: "I'm not anticipating that happening in this state." pic.twitter.com/QQ6QxapZ9Z
— Bryan Armen Graham (@BryanAGraham) April 4, 2020
“I’m not anticipating that happening, in this state,” Newsom said. “We’ve all seen the headlines over the last couple days, in Asia, where they were opening up certain businesses and now they’re starting to roll back those openings because they’re starting to see some spread. There’s a boomerang. One has to be very cautious here, one has to be careful not to over-promise.”
Newsom said he had a “well-known football player” ask him recently when he can expect games to be played.
“I said, I would move very cautiously in that expectation,” Newsom said.
Playing NFL games in California will be ‘determined by facts’
Newsom said he wasn’t trying to second-guess anyone, without naming Trump, but his response to Trump’s optimistic timeline was clear.
“Our decision on that basis, at least here in the state of California, will be determined by the facts, it will be determined by the health experts, it will be determined by our capacity to meet this moment, bend the curve and have the appropriate community surveillance and testing to confidently determine whether that is appropriate,” Newsom said.
Perhaps some state politicians will have different ideas, and maybe there will be games in states that have different views than Newsom does now. And the NFL season isn’t expected to start for five months. A lot can change. There’s a lot of time to figure out plans for an NFL season.
But it didn’t take long for Trump’s optimism about the start of the NFL season to have an opposing voice.
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