The Latest: Cuomo can envision baseball in NYC this summer

The Latest on the effects of the coronavirus outbreak on sports around the world:

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New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo says he can envision baseball games being played without fans this summer at Yankee Stadium and the Mets' Citi Field.

“Be creative. Try to figure it out,” the Democrat said during his briefing Sunday. “But if players could get paid more than staying home and owners would get some revenue versus total shutdown, why not? I’d love to watch.”

Cuomo says he has spoken with owners of professional sports teams, but he did not identify which ones. They would have to make the economics work without gate revenue but with broadcast revenue.

“It would have to be up to them, that they do an economic analysis that says, yeah, some revenue is better than no revenue, and my players are willing to negotiate a contract reduction,” Cuomo said. “Everybody has to think outside the box, right? Because there is no box.”

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The Cleveland Indians will pay regular salaries to full-time employees through June 30, but the club has had to furlough others due to the COVID-19 outbreak.

The team said senior executives took “voluntary salary reductions” to ensure the team could continue to pay staffers. The Indians confirmed they have furloughed “many of our part-time employees and interns.” Those will take effect on May 1.

The Indians are one of the few teams to guarantee full-time workers their salaries through June.

MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred told teams last week he was suspending non-player personnel contracts on May 1. Many teams agreed to pay employees through May.

Baseball has been shut down since March 12 and the start of the season remains unclear.

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For the first time, the Arkansas Derby will be run in two divisions next weekend. Both will carry...

source https://www.chron.com/sports/article/The-Latest-Italy-sets-May-18-return-for-soccer-15227380.php