GOP Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is teeing up for sports teams to come to his state to play or practice during the coronavirus pandemic.
DeSantis said Wednesday that he would announce plans for sports in Florida “probably this week,” although they might not have live fans present given the state’s social distancing guidelines.
“That may not be the case in every other state in this country as we’ve seen, and so what I would tell commissioners of leagues is if you have a team in an area where they just won’t let them operate. We’ll find a place for you here in the state of Florida because we think it’s important, and we know that it can be done safely,” the governor said.
DeSantis said Florida is already slated to host two charity golf tournaments. He said he wants to have basketball teams practicing again and would love to have Major League Baseball.
The governor said he thinks “the message is that our people are starved to have some of this back in their lives, it’s [an] important part of people’s lives.”
Florida has begun to reopen as part of phase one of the governor’s plan. Restaurants reopened last week, with reduced seating capacity, and barbershops and salons opened on Monday.
Florida has had more than 42,000 coronavirus infections and at least 1,800 deaths.
