Bundesliga ‘ready to resume’ on May 9, pending government approval

All 36 teams of the top two Bundesliga divisions have signed off today on a plan to restart the 2019-20 season, perhaps as early as May 9. That date is pending government approval, with a decision expected to arrive next week.

Here’s Bundesliga CEO putting that into politically subordinate terms.

“The Bundesliga is ready to resume, no matter whether on May 9 or a later date. But it’s not up to us to find a date. The political decision makers decide.

“We have not defined an exact date today. The fact that we are even able to think about resuming games underlines the performance of the German authorities. It would be presumptuous for the DFL to name an exact date for the restart.

“It’s not in our hands if we return or when. We have several options. If the signal comes in the next week that it can be May 9, then it will be May 9.”

-Christian Seifert; source: Mail

As detailed before, in addition to the now-standard hygiene considerations (though obviously not the social distancing part), the BuLi’s plan involves limiting the total number of people involved to just around 300 per game, with everyone involved getting tested at least weekly.

As per the plan, one positive test wouldn’t necessarily put a halt to proceedings again either. These are measures that are enabled by the country’s abundant testing supply and resources.

“We have concluded a cooperation agreement with a total of five laboratory associations. All laboratories have assured us in writing that the current capacities are sufficient and that Covid-19 will not limit the test capacities.”

-Tim Meyer, DFB chief physician; source: RBB24

If the league can resume in two weeks, they will easily fit in the remaining 9-10 games before the original end of the season and the fiscal year on June 30, playing mostly on the weekends without the need to overload the players — though most players have been back in (socially-distanced) training for a couple weeks now.

It’s not quite clear how realistic this plan may be — plenty of voices on either side of the divide — but if they do receive approval to go ahead, they could be showing the way for the rest of the European leagues to slowly get back to business.

If not ... well, things could get dire.

“If the concept is rejected, it is clear that you will probably not be able to play in a few months. Then the Bundesliga would be a collateral damage to the corona crisis.”

-Christian Seifert; source: Sky