US infectious diseases expert Anthony Fauci has said repeatedly the NFL should implement a bubble if it wants to have a season. “Unless players are essentially in a bubble—insulated from the community and they are tested nearly every day—it would be very hard to see how football is able to be played this fall,” Fauci told CNN in June.

NFL teams are set to begin training camps this week to prepare for the regular season in early September. Each team has its own health and safety protocols. The Los Angeles Rams, for instance, will limit parking spaces and reduce the number of players allowed in the hot tubs at the same time.

So far, the NBA and NHL bubbles have held up relatively well. Out of 348 NBA tests last week, zero were positive for Covid-19. Just two of the NHL’s 800 players tested thus far have been positive. European soccer leagues have managed to safely resume play even without a bubble, because, unlike the US, the countries in which those take place have the virus under control.

The MLB season is a uniquely American blunder. And the NFL season, should the league learn nothing from baseball’s error, is doomed to be a catastrophe.

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