New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said on Wednesday that he is hopeful baseball can be played this summer even while the country continues to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic.

In an interview with CNN, Cuomo was asked if the Yankees would be playing this summer and to this the Governor responded, “We have no idea where we’re going to be. Let’s find out where we are, let’s find out the facts, then we’ll make a decision.”

But as the interview progressed. Cuomo mentioned he wants baseball to return if nothing more than as a distraction to the millions who are suffering “cabin fever”. He told CNN that he had a conversation with Mets COO Jeff Wilpon about starting the season without fans in attendance.

“I talked to Jeff Wilpon today, the owner of the Mets. Go Queens. Go New York,” Cuomo said. “I said, ‘Why can’t we talk about a baseball season with nobody in the stands? Why can’t you play the game with the players?’ I think it would be good for the country. I think it would be good for people to have something to watch and do to fight cabin fever. And it’s something I’m going to pursue.”

Apparently Wilpon did not share the same enthusiasm and instead expressed his concern about the economic feasibility, suggesting that players would need to take a dramatic pay cut to offset the lack of attendance. Wilpon is so predictable.

After the conversation, Cuomo agreed the season could start if certain caveats are met between baseball and the players’ union regarding the ‘new economics’ that would ensue by playing baseball without tickets sales, parking, concessions etc.

“Apparently Major League Baseball would have to make a deal with the players, because if you have no one in the stands, then the numbers are going to change, the economics are going to change,” Cuomo said. “But if Major League Baseball and the players could come to an agreement on how to adjust the economics for that reality, I think that would be a good thing.”

It would be a very good thing but the concern is the logistics.  If the plan is to play in Florida and/or Arizona for a long period of time, that means players would be uprooted and away from their families.

Add that to the fact that umpires, groundskeepers, locker room employees, bus drivers, and so many more, would also need their situations altered and the whole premise seems to become difficult. But not impossible according to Cuomo or Dr Anthony Fauci.

Dr. Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said the idea can work so long as fans weren’t involved.

“There’s a way of [resuming sports],” he said on “Good Luck America on Snapchat.”  “Nobody comes to the stadium. Put [the players] in big hotels, wherever you want to play, keep them very well surveilled … Have them tested every single week and make sure they don’t wind up infecting each other or their family, and just let them play the season out.”

Talks are underway about a variety of ways to get the MLB season started safely. Whatever the answer, it seems likely that Opening Day is still a long way away but the fact that both league are government officials are slowly getting behind the idea is certainly a positive.

Cuomo concluded his interview with some much needed positivity:

“We have to start to move to normalcy. People have to start to see some hope and light.”

Amen.