President Donald Trump announced Tuesday that he is putting together an advisory group that will work to reopen the country economically. Included in the large collection of advisors is an entire section dedicated to sports, which features commissioners of the country's four major sports leagues and some other notable sports executives. The group is reportedly scheduled to take part in a call on Wednesday to discuss the effort, according to Shams Charania of The Athletic.
The Great American Economic Revival Industry Group, as the White House is calling it, features 16 sports figures:
- NBA - Adam Silver
- MLB - Rob Manfred
- NFL - Roger Goodell
- UFC - Dana White
- PGA - Jay Monahan
- LPGA - Mike Whan
- USTA - Patrick Galbraith
- MLS - Don Garber
- WWE - Vince McMahon
- NASCAR - Lesa Kennedy
- NHL - Gary Bettman
- New England Patriots - Bob Kraft
- Dallas Cowboys - Jerry Jones
- Dallas Mavericks - Mark Cuban
- WNBA - Cathy Engelbert
- NWSL - Lisa Baird
The NFL team owners in that group, Kraft and Jones, each donated $1 million to Trump's inaugural committee in 2017, according to PublicIntegrity.org.
"We have to get our sports back," Trump says. "I'm tired of watching baseball games that are 14 years old."
— Josh Dawsey (@jdawsey1) April 14, 2020
Three of the four major professional sports leagues in the United States -- MLB, the NHL and the NBA -- have suspended their seasons as a result of the rapid spread of the coronavirus. The NBA was the first to announce its suspension after center Rudy Gobert tested positive for the respiratory disease that has become a global pandemic. Each league has expressed different expectations for when they'll return.
The NFL, the country's fourth major professional sports league and the most popular among Americans, has only needed to adjust its plan for this year's draft, to this point, with it being done virtually. Golf majors have been postponed or canceled, and the 2020 Tokyo Olympics has been postponed until next year.
