THE RETURN IS NEAR

Soon sports will return to the world. Sports have been gone for what feels like forever for the avid Daily Fantasy Sports fan. Many have filled that void by finding new sports to build lineups for such as Korean baseball or soccer. Others decided that the next best thing to real sports was virtual sports and jumped into the world of “sim bets”. Finally, some removed sports from the equation completely and doubled down on fantasy with events in League of Legends.

Good news has arrived however, there is now a target date for the return of basketball and hockey. Football is scheduled to be played as normal with a slight delay. The only straggler of the major sports is the MLB where there is much debate left to be had about the dispersal of income.

 

NHL RETURN PLANS

The NHL has been very active with making plans throughout the entirety of the shutdown. The most recent plan doesn’t give us an actual playing date, but does let us know how the return is expected to go as well as a rough start date for training camps.

Training camps are expected to start July 1st, 2020. This would put an estimated return of NHL Hockey sometime towards the end of July or beginning of August. When returning the National Hockey League intends on jumping directly into the playoffs. 

The regular season will be over, and the playoffs will consist of the top twelve teams from each conference. The teams ranked five through twelve from each conference will play for a spot in the final sixteen team bracket. While this may not be a specific date to return, it is definitely a step in the right direction and a clear plan of action once the sport does return.

 

NBA ON THE HORIZON

The NBA on the other hand has given us a date of July 22, 2020 for the return. One other date of importance is June 1st, 2020 which will mark the return to training facilities. The July date is a bit later than many expected, at this point however, any concrete date is appreciated. 

What isn’t so concrete for the NBA return is the format in which it will do so. There are many rumors circulating, but nothing that is confirmed as of yet. One of the more popular theories from the rumor mill, is that there will be a direct jump into the playoffs with the 16 teams that would make it as of right now. 

This rumor is not extremely popular with players on teams that were within striking distance of a playoff spot. Another popular theory is that they will allow a small five game window to finish up the regular season prior to seeding for the playoffs. They should probably streamline the process much the same way the NHL did and allow an expanded playoff to include the teams that had a statistical chance of making them. 

 

MLB HAS JOCKS IN HAND

While other sports are making the tough decisions, Major League Baseball is still arguing over a dollar. No return date has been set, even tentatively, and no plan on what to do to make up for the disruption. 

The entire hold up is due to billionaire owners attempting to ensure they don’t have to eat any losses. Let that sink in for a moment. The rich people that have increased their wealth exponentially from fan dollars are willing to deprive those same fans the sports they desire so they don’t have to shoulder any of the financial burden that most business owners in the world are dealing with right now. 

What would you like to see happen with these sports? Let us know in the comments. Make sure to follow on Twitter @SimpleSlates and like us on FaceBook @SimpleSlates. You won’t want to miss the promotions we have planned for both platforms when sports return!