Yankee Stadium remains closed and the Major League Baseball season is on hold due to the coronavirus pandemic. New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo says he could see games being played without fans this summer. John Woike/Samara Media via AP

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo says he can envision baseball games being played without fans this summer at Yankee Stadium and the Mets’ Citi Field.

“Be creative. Try to figure it out,” the Democrat said during his briefing Sunday. “But if players could get paid more than staying home and owners would get some revenue versus total shutdown, why not? I’d love to watch.”

Cuomo says he has spoken with owners of professional sports teams, but he did not identify which ones. They would have to make the economics work without gate revenue but with broadcast revenue.

“It would have to be up to them, that they do an economic analysis that says, yeah, some revenue is better than no revenue, and my players are willing to negotiate a contract reduction,” Cuomo said. “Everybody has to think outside the box, right? Because there is no box.”

THE CLEVELAND INDIANS will pay regular salaries to full-time employees through June 30, but the club has had to furlough others due to the COVID-19 outbreak.

The team said senior executives took “voluntary salary reductions” to ensure the team could continue to pay staffers. The Indians confirmed they have furloughed “many of our part-time employees and interns.” Those will take effect on May 1.

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The Indians are one of the few teams to guarantee full-time workers their salaries through June.

MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred told teams last week he was suspending non-player personnel contracts on May 1. Many teams agreed to pay employees through May.

Baseball has been shut down since March 12 and the start of the season remains unclear.

THE PROFESSIONAL BULL RIDERS returned from a 41-day break Saturday night in Guthrie, Oklahoma, for an Unleash The Beast event scheduled for Las Vegas.

The competition at Lazy E Arena was closed to fans to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.

Taylor Toves of Stephenville, Texas, topped the 41 cowboys in the first round of the two-day event, scoring 89.5 points on Biker Bob. He joined Chandler Bownds as the only right-handed riders to reach the 8-second whistle atop Biker Bob in the bull’s 45 outings.

Ezekiel Mitchell of Rockdale, Texas, was second with an 89 on Soup In a Group.

Points leader Jose VItor Leme of Brazil, also returning from broken ribs, had an 86.5-point ride.

The PBR also plans to stage two-day events at the Lazy E on May 9-10 and 16-17.


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