Since the coronavirus pandemic shut down sports in America, leagues, teams, coaches, players, fans, television executives, media, sports talk show callers, internet message board geniuses and so on have been racking their brains for how to get them to return … safely.
Ideas have been plentiful. Implementation nonexistent. Even attempting to stage an event under heavy restrictions, the way UFC president Dana White tried using a casino on isolated tribal land in California, with no fans and significant precautions, has been met with resistance, criticism and eventual cancellation.
White is a very successful and fearless — to a fault sometimes — businessman, but he didn’t have the credibility to sway opinion and make UFC 249 a reality this weekend.