What does uncertainty of 2020 season mean for Kansas City Royals?

It is anyone’s guess as to what will happen with the 2020 MLB season. The 2020 MLB season could be lost entirely or played without fan attendance. This unfathomable reality in 2020 and the subsequent fallout likely to carryover into the 2021 season is something Kansas City Royals fans should be prepared for.

First before we begin with this piece, I hope I’m wrong about all of this. I do not enjoy pessimism toward baseball. I attempt to create articles to give you optimism and hope for brighter days for the Kansas City Royals.

Writing and reading about the Royals allows for a welcomed escape from everyday reality. Sometimes the outlook on reality can be unpleasant and sometimes it needs to be discussed with historical background. I hope I’m wrong about all of this and we get back to our normal every day lives as quickly as possible. I wish each of you the best until that day comes.

The likely possibility of a shortened 2020 season with no fan attendance or altogether lost 2020 season could distress the Kansas City Royals franchise for the foreseeable future. The last time MLB franchises were faced with this type of financial hardship was during the Great Depression, what can we learn from history of how franchises behaved when the world stood still?

The financial timing for the Kansas City Royals new ownership group could not be any worse. The John Sherman led ownership group officially purchased the Kansas City Royals franchise for $1 billion in November 2019.

John Sherman and his partners had the potential to bring a more willing spending mentally to a Royals franchise that in the past was seen as “tight pocketed”. The possibility of building a new ballpark in the downtown area was also being explored to expand these bright outlooks on the franchise.

The offseason hope and momentum of a new ownership group was halted with the coronavirus shutdown baseball operations on March 12th, 2020. Flash forward to today and we are no closer to resuming baseball than we were in late March.

In fact, the MLBPA and MLB front office may be so far apart in terms of finances the 2020 may not happen at all. Negotiations are about to get exceptionally difficult to watch this week between the MLBPA and MLB.

Even if the MLBPA and MLB can find a path to acceptable financial terms, they are still stuck addressing safety concerns. Sean Doolittle a reliever for the world champion Washington Nationals outlined all of his concerns for a resuming baseball proposal in a thread on twitter, his concerns are an outstanding roadmap to address before resuming baseball.

The path to restarting baseball activities in a safe environment is daunting. The logistical nightmare alone will take some heavy negotiation between owners and players. Professional baseball in the United States during 2020 will be dramatically different from anything we’ve seen before with the sport.

If professional baseball takes place in 2020, it will likely be without a core ingredient; the fans. Outside of insuring player safety, fan safety is huge priority for the MLB. Allowing droves of fans into a ballpark to watch a baseball game at the current time appears impossible. Ownership is looking at the likely potential of a year of lost ticket revenues.