MLS: Don Garber is handling COVID-19 sensibly

Don Garber has again reiterated optimism regarding the resumption of the 2020 MLS season. The commissioner has handled the COVID-19 sensibly.

It is easy to criticise those in positions of power. While the COVID-19 global pandemic has been egregiously mismanaged by some countries and much more efficiently and effectively contained by others, the armchair analyst has no pressure on their shoulders, no lives at stake. To fire potshots at those on the front line of the decisions is easy.

This does not mean people should not be held to account, of course, and many of the decision that leaders around the world have made have been terribly misguided and unhelpful, but it does mean that when governors and leaders and those in charge make good decisions and manage extremely difficult situations well they should be praised and not just overlooked for the negative press that most of modern society gorges. And in Commissioner Don Garber, Major League Soccer has someone who has managed COVID-19 to the very best of his ability.

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This week, Garber revealed that he is ‘cautiously optimistic’ about the return of play. “We’re more optimistic about what a return to play plan could look like,” Garber told Nashville SC television analyst Jamie Watson on the club’s official YouTube channel. “I think a month ago we were very pessimistic.

“I think our country has done a pretty good job of flattening the curve, which is what the objective was. We need to be mindful of and focused on continuing to follow local guidelines because flattening the curve requires us all to be very focused and committed to all the guidelines local health authorities set out. So I would say we’re cautiously optimistic.”

Now, you could argue that the U.S. has not ‘done a pretty good job of flattening the curve,’ and that certainly throws MLS’ plans to return into serious jeopardy, but Garber and MLS specifically have managed the situation sensibly. They suspended play immediately. They then amended the length of the postponement as new information was gathered. This week’s return to training has come thanks to extensive research and investigation on how to do it safely, with Garber consistently stating that nothing would return before it was safe to do so.

And perhaps most importantly, throughout the entire ordeal, Garber has remained flexible, which is crucial in a current period of such wild and unruly uncertainty.

“I’d say yes, everything’s on the table,” Garber told Altitude Sports Social via mlssoccer.com when asked about if, when and how the 2020 season might resume. “And it should be, it’s one of the benefits of having time to take a step back and perhaps think about life going forward that might be a little different — and in positive ways. We’ll get back to playing and we’ll get back to having our fans and we’ll get back to MLS having the momentum that it had leading into its 25th season. But maybe we’ll be producing games differently.”

Quite how the campaign will look remains to be seen. It will almost certainly occur without fans, could involve games played at neutral venues, and may even see a training-camp like structure where all the matches are played at one or two campuses across the country. There have been suggestions of a shift to a knockout-style competition to reduce the number of games. The league could split into its conferences, thus reducing the number of games and travel. As Garber says, ‘everything’s on the table’.

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Garber, then, has remained calm, flexible, humble enough to know that he does not know what will happen, and has managed the impacts of a global crisis safely and sensibly. He does not get everything right, and he won’t get everything right here either, but on the whole, Garber has shown true leadership.

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