Coronavirus: Trump wants quick return of 'big crowds'

NEW YORK • In a telephone appearance during a televised charity golf exhibition on Sunday, United States President Donald Trump enthusiastically supported the return of live sports events during the coronavirus pandemic.

"We want to get sports back, we miss sports," he said. "We need sports in terms of the psyche of our country. And that's what we're doing."

On Sunday, at roughly the halfway point of a skins game involving three of the PGA Tour's top golfers - Rory McIlroy, Dustin Johnson, Rickie Fowler - and newcomer Matthew Wolff, he praised NBC for carrying the event, then called for a more robust resumption of activities in all sports.

While Sunday's golf exhibition was contested without spectators, the President said he hoped that events would soon be teeming with fans.

Nascar's The Real Heroes 400 also provided sport-starved fans in America some action after most events were halted in mid-March by the coronavirus pandemic that has claimed over 88,000 American lives. Sunday's events followed an Ultimate Fighting Championship card aired live from an empty arena in Jacksonville, Florida on Saturday.

"We want to get it back to where it was, we want big, big stadiums loaded with people," Mr Trump said. "We want to get back to normal where you have the big crowds where they're practically standing on top of each other, not where they're worried."

In an interview late last month, Dr Anthony Fauci, the leading public health expert on Mr Trump's coronavirus task force, said he would not feel comfortable returning to a stadium until the infection rate was lower.

The PGA Tour is planning to become one of the first major American sports to return to competition with the Charles Schwab Classic on June 11 in Fort Worth, Texas.

A lengthy, almost weekly schedule of men's golf tournaments is set to follow, including the PGA Championship in San Francisco in early August, the US Open in mid-September outside New York City and the Masters in November in Augusta, Georgia.

"When you have the Masters, we want to have big crowds," Mr Trump told NBC. "And now, right now, that's not what they're planning, but you never know what happens. Things can happen very quickly."

NYTIMES