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Report: Coronavirus state of emergency could affect LA Galaxy games

Games still on this weekend, but possibility looms for future.

MLS: LA Galaxy at Houston Dynamo Troy Taormina-USA TODAY Sports

Los Angeles County has declared a state of emergency on Wednesday following the first death of a Californian due to the Coronavirus. While the growing spread of the virus is a concern to us all, depending on how things shake out this could have knock-on effects in many aspects of life we take for granted, like live sporting events.

The Los Angeles Times’ Kevin Baxter tweeted out on Wednesday afternoon that teams in the county have been advised by public health officials that games could be played behind closed doors or canceled altogether, all the way up to professional level:

At the same time, Baxter followed up that message with a note from the source that they are monitoring the situation and there’s no imminent plans to go to extreme situations like that, but it could happen.

So what does that mean? We’d have to see what happens, obviously, perhaps this scenario will never come to light because the ebb of the coronavirus fades and mass public health concerns recede.

But it could happen, with news abroad, including Italian authorities announcing on Wednesday that all games, including those of Serie A, will be played behind closed doors for a month in an effort to stem the Coronavirus tide in Italy, means we’re seeing a scenario like this elsewhere right now, not in the theoretical future.

In MLS, closed-door matches are pretty much unheard of. Occasionally MLS teams play continental games behind closed doors because their opponent is being punished for disruptive/violent/racist fans, but MLS itself hasn’t had to deal with that in recent years.

However, it could still happen, if coronavirus takes off locally. And if it’s really bad, LA Galaxy games could be postponed indefinitely or perhaps cancelled altogether, which would be pretty catastrophic, both for soccer reasons and because conditions in everyday life are pretty bad!

So let’s hope it doesn’t come to that. Practice good hygiene and be smart about illness around you, know this could affect Galaxy games, but don’t freak out, let’s conquer coronavirus and this shouldn’t affect soccer in Los Angeles.

And for now, Saturday’s home opener is still on at Dignity Health Sports Park.

What do you think? Leave a comment below!