What is essential and what isn't: Is going for a jog necessary for health and wellness, mowing the lawn, family dinners, buying a new car, going to the office to collect a paycheck? It's a debate everyone has every day during the coronavirus pandemic.
Are professional sports essential? Many say no, but the state of Florida disagrees.
The Florida Division of Emergency Management ruled this week that essential services include "employees at a professional sports and media production with a national audience – including any athletes, entertainers, production team, executive team, media team and any others necessary to facilitate including services supporting such production – only if the location is closed to the general public."
That order immediately opened the door for the WWE to resume operations. Why the sudden change? The Guardian, among others, noted that Florida's Gov. Ron DeSantis is pals with WWE chairman Vince McMahon, and both are big supporters of President Donald Trump.
While it also clears the path for other sports to follow suit, organizations like the NFL have ruled that no games can resume until all teams are allowed to return to work.
According to ESPN a spokesperson from DeSantis' office said on Monday that such services were characterized as essential "because they are critical to Florida's economy."
ESPN also noted, "It does show that pro sports may be able to return sooner than some are expecting, at least in Florida and any other states willing to let them. For the NFL, the start of the season is still far enough away that no one really knows what the situation is going to be by then, but other pro sports may look to Florida as a place where they can get games going soon."
