First, even though England is a mess compared to much of western Europe, they have a much better handle on the pandemic than the United States does. Second, soccer players play all the time as it is. There are international competitions, domestic tournaments and club cup competions on top of the regular season, so a turnaround of just a couple of months, and a compacted schedule aren't challenging issues to overcome for soccer players.
Baseball and football won't really see their 2021 season affected. I think at this point, most leagues are comfortable with the efficacy of frequent testing and self imposed quarantining, especially when traveling. Most cynically, I think the low frequency of serious complications among athletes has rendered the disease an acceptable risk for most top brass. Expect MLB and the NFL to have games as scheduled in 2021, with or without fans.
The NBA and NHL could be a little bit hairier. First, these sports traditionally have offseasons that stretch from June to October, and those generally tend to be pretty hard breaks. They have long seasons that can be grueling, and the unions in those respective sports are going to demand that they receive the same leave they would in a typical year. I suspect there will be a compromise, particularly in the NBA, which will try to realign with the college game as much as possible. Even then, I don't see the Association back before the new year. February would give them the same break.
The NHL could be in a real pickle. Canada didn't want the Blue Jays crossing the International Border because of virus concerns, and the limited capacity for quarantining and testing in a baseball season. This has been circumvented by MLS with their three Canadian teams because of a longer lead between games. The NBA can have Toronto play in Buffalo, like the Blue Jays, and they might defuse the situation. The NHL has 7 teams that play in Canada, on an 82 game schedule. If they come back in January or February, it seems likely that the pandemic will be at it's worst worldwide, with the epicenter right here in the USA.
Getting hockey teams back and forth across a border closed to everyone else seems like a pretty unlikely scenario, given all the aforementioned limits to testing and quarantines. They can't play a full season in a bubble. It would probably be safest to move the other two dozen teams to Canada for the year, but that doesn't seem particularly likely. If I had to guess, the 2020-21 NHL season is in peril.
At least we will have soccer as a replacement game with a lot of international players, low scores and nets, right?
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