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I study work/play/space/place. I used to work in a stadium, & on its corporate-municipal relationship. I've talked about expansion joints, earthquakes, structural integrity, & staging areas on fields for natural disasters. I've read terrorism insurance policies for arenas/stadia.
But ice rinks as morgues... https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2020/04/07/coronavirus-dc-maryland-virginia-live-updates/
Concession stands as food banks... https://dc.eater.com/2020/4/7/21211857/nationals-park-community-kitchen-jose-andres-world-central-kitchen
Training complexes as medical facilities... https://nypost.com/2020/03/30/parts-of-us-open-stadium-complex-in-queens-to-be-turned-into-hospital-amid-coronavirus/
...were really never anything I imagined. I'm sure there are historical examples? Maybe? How will we try to forget this when we reopen these facilities for entertainment?
Despite how relieving it might be to think about sports as "escape," we really don't want sports-as-usual to happen any time soon. https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2020/04/07/sporting-events-should-be-among-final-parts-everyday-life-return-not-first/
Sports wouldn't be any less political in a pandemic than it ever is- which is to say it is always political and anyone who thinks otherwise has no awareness of their own politics.
The stuff that is happening in sports while players aren't playing is extremely political, and its about their labor. https://www.beyondtheboxscore.com/2020/4/6/21208646/mlbpa-labor-unrest-strike-lockout-owners-mlb?utm_campaign=beyondtheboxscore&utm_content=entry&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter
These arenas also employ thousands upon thousands of retail, food, and fan experience service workers who are likely unemployed. I knew folks who worked concessions or ushering at three stadia/arenas every week...
I hate to see them unemployed, but to blindly wish sports were back is to put those people's health at risk for the customer's enjoyment, and that's messed up. It's also messed up that players have been individually paying for these employees' lost wages.
Teams don't even pay concessions employees- the concessions companies do. Regardless, the structures that keep sports service workers precarious (a workforce that is largely nonwhite, and/or often older) are bad. They definitely don't have hazard pay.
Anyway, we're probably going to go through a fairly active community forgetting about this stuff, because otherwise fans won't buy tickets out of fear. I really hope I'm wrong, but want to be able to look back on these thoughts.
