INDIANAPOLIS — Five weeks ago today, the sports world came to a screeching halt. That happened on March 11 when the announcement came that Utah Jazz center Rudy Gobert tested positive for the coronavirus. The NBA quickly then announced that the rest of their season would be suspended indefinitely. Over the next 48 hours, all the other sports leagues followed suit.

Now, 35 days later, we still don’t have the clarity on when the world will start turning normally again. What we do know is this, President Donald Trump wants America to reopen — sooner rather than later. While that can realistically happen at least sometime soon, getting back going to normal in the sports world may prove to be difficult.

Gathering in an office setting and/or at retails stores are far different than doing so with thousands of your closest friends at a ballgame. In terms of the racing world, most of the big league events are run in front of at least 20k fans and that’s on the low end of the spectrum. Some events, like the Indianapolis 500, will run in front of an excess of 300-400k spectators while most others average between 50-100k.

In this day and age during the novel virus, it’s unfortunately going to be extremely difficult to host an event with that many people for the foreseeable future There’s no vaccine made yet and from what the leading doctors are saying, there won’t be an effective one until at least 2021. With that mindset, think of the legal battles you could face if you open the gates of a race track and even one person tests positive from the virus later on and they were there in attendance.

Without a vaccine and without knowing how we can prevent this from spreading other than practicing social distancing, how can you just ignore CDC warnings and hold a race in front of thousands of fans anyways?

Will this virus wipe off the face of the Earth by late summer? Doubtful. Even if the curve slows and we start getting back to normal, what’s to say that that the curve doesn’t go back up yet again? There is absolutely no guarantee anywhere that this thing will fully go away and that the spread will become minimal and less deadly. The only way that we can mitigate this to the fullest is to keep social distancing and hope for a vaccine.

So, Dr. Anthony Fauci, the head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases said in a recent interview that there’s “no way of doing that” in terms of sports returning to action any time soon with fans in the stands.

There’s not going to be a recommendation to open the gates back up by him. Some governors though are okay with sports coming to their states, but they’re not okay with those sports being played in front of fans.

Florida’s Gov. Ron DeSantis, said that he’s in favor fan-free sporting events being held inside of his state and even singled out NASCAR as a possibility.

“Like if NASCAR does a race and can televise it without having large crowds, I think that’s a good thing,” DeSantis said in a recent interview. “I think people have been starved for content. We haven’t had a lot of new content since the middle of March.”

North Carolina’s governor, Roy Cooper, says the same thing, but also notes that don’t expect sporting events to have fans in the seats at them any time soon though either.

On the far opposite side of the country, California’s Gov. Gavin Newsom said that he’s not in favor with “mass gatherings” either and that it’s not in the cards for his state to host any big events until “a herd immunity and vaccine is made available.” He said that it’s “unlikely” to see any mass gathering taking place any sooner than late August.

So, where do things stand then?

Just one week ago, the NTT IndyCar Series revised their 2020 schedule, again. Their new tentative start date is set for June 6 at the Texas Motor Speedway. That weekend is also supposed to serve, at the moment, the resumption of the NHRA Drag Racing Series season in Gainesville, Fla (June 7) for the Gatornationals.

NASCAR though, is still supposed to start in less than a month at the Martinsville (VA) Speedway, but all signs are pointing to that not going to be able happen. Virginia, well they’re under a stay-at-home order through June 10. How can you conduct a race in that state a full month prior to that order ending? That would make the Coca-Cola 600 (May 24) as their new restart date, but with Monaco (cancelled) and Indianapolis (postponed until Aug. 23) already being affected by this, what makes us think the annual NASCAR stop at the Charlotte Motor Speedway won’t be affected by the COVID-19 pandemic? The governor made that statement on Wednesday and the ‘600 is just a mere 39 days away. No way fans can be there and back to normal in 39 days.

With the weekend in Belle Isle being cancelled for 2020, the soonest IMSA then could return is June 28 at Watkins Glen. Formula One has seen Montreal postponed and their new start date of June 28 in France is now in doubt too.

What’s all of this mean?

I don’t think we’re realistically racing anywhere until late June or even July at the earliest and even then, it would likely be without fans in the stands.

IndyCar’s Status

Texas Motor Speedway said that they’re not interested in racing in front of an empty house. If they want IndyCar to come on the first weekend in June, they may not have a choice. Their big problem is, the track doesn’t get any money from IndyCar in terms of the TV deal. So, if there aren’t any fans allowed in the stands at an IndyCar race at Texas, then their best bet is to pair up with NASCAR on the 1.5-mile track.

So, what incentive does Texas have to host IndyCar when they essentially won’t be making any money on IndyCar without fans in attendance? According to Dr. Fauci and what other governor’s are saying, I don’t see a race being held with fans in early June at Texas, unless NASCAR is a part of it.

That would shuffle IndyCar’s new season opener for Road America on June 21, but again, if fans can’t gather, how can the Wisconsin track make any money? The next race after that is in Richmond but if their stay-at-home order isn’t lifted until June 10, do you think they can realistically pull off hosting a race in front of fans two weeks later?

That pushes IndyCar’s start back to July 4 and that’s if the CDC allows for gatherings of folks again.

Formula One’s Status

We know in Europe they’re extending their stay-at-home orders there too. In France for example, they just extended their ban on mass gatherings until Mid-July. The 24 Hours of Le Mans has been rescheduled for September. The Tour de France was just moved off their original dates in hopes of a late August start. How can the French Grand Prix take place on June 28 then? After that, it’s to Austria on July 5. Now, they’re willing to host a race without fans, so maybe that race can end up working. But, the race in England set for July 19 could be in doubt too as track officials have said that they need by the end of April to know for sure one way or the other. On Wednesday, Belgium just issued a ban on mass gatherings through Aug. 31. The Belgium Grand Prix is as of now set for Aug. 30. That race according to reports has seen in excess of 250k over the course of the weekend the last four years. With a ban of mass gatherings in place through the race weekend, how can they race?

That means F1’s likely start date is also going to be the Fourth of July weekend now too but what comes after is really in question.

So far, the first nine races of the season have either been postponed or canceled all together (Australia, Bahrain, Vietnam, China, Netherlands, Spain, Monaco, Azerbaijan and Canada). Seven of those nine can still possibly resurface this season while Monaco and Australia have said that they’re canceled until 2021. The 10th round is likely to be postponed too.

We also know that the new regulations set for 2021 has been delayed to 2022 as well.

NASCAR’s Status

Lets call it how it is, Martinsville isn’t happening next month and Charlotte probably isn’t either since North Carolina has a stay-at-home order until April 28. That puts them at Kansas at the end of May, which could happen if NASCAR is okay to go on without fans in the stands.

See, NASCAR holds the best option of returning the soonest. They have a lucrative TV deal where tracks make a ton of money based off of that. They don’t need fans in the stands buying up tickets, souvenirs and concession stand items to make their profits. Kansas would be a good start without fans, but NASCAR has several versions of their schedule that they’re debating and all signs point to an overhaul on their end too, so there’s no way as of now of knowing what that final plan may look like.

They’ve had seven races postponed right now (Atlanta, Homestead, Texas, Bristol, Richmond, Talladega and Dover). Their plan is to run all 36 events, even doing some midweek races and doubleheaders. They also want to leave the 10 playoff races unaffected, so if any of those seven are to be rescheduled, it can’t be a doubleheader for Texas, Bristol, Richmond or Talladega.

Also, the Next Gen car has been delayed a year like F1 did, and will debut now in 2022. In terms of driver contracts, that too is up in the air. We’ve raced four times in 2020, so does this count towards a seasons work even if we don’t return? If we do return, and it’s without fans, does that change the plans for drivers like Jimmie Johnson who was supposed to retire at seasons end? There’s still a lot of unanswerable questions in their corner of the world too.

NHRA’s Plan

They’re set for early June, but again, with a ban of mass gatherings in most places, can they start in Florida? If they want to race without fans, they most certainly could there though according to what their governor said.

If the NHRA and Gainesville are willing then, their season can get back going in early June then for the Gatornationals. They then would go to Houston (TX), Bristol (Tenn) and Norwalk (OH) the next three weeks after. Could any of those races be held without fans? That’s up in the air next.

IMSA’s Plan

New York has been hit the hardest from the coronavirus, can they really stage a race inside of the Empire State by late June? I don’t see that happening. That takes them to Canada a week later, but most events are being pushed off through mid-July. I don’t see that being an option then either. Would Lime Rock in mid-July be the best option to resume? Again, can fans come back in July?