Nashville SC’s planned charter flight from BNA to Orlando was canceled this afternoon, and per The Athletic‘s Sam Stejskal, the reason is… not encouraging:
There has been a small number of false positives (or positives later contradicted by a negative test, at least) among pro sports teams pushing to return to the field of play, including a few with the Orlando Pride – which pulled out of the NWSL’s tournament after a number of those initial positive tests.
Regardless, the reasonable expectation here is that Nashville SC has a genuine positive test for the novel coronavirus disease on its roster. What does that mean? Nobody really knows for sure: FC Dallas has had six players test positive since arriving in Orlando. Those individuals are in on-site quarantine protocols.
Per Sam’s reporting, Nashville still intends to travel to the Sunshine State tomorrow, though no word on whether the individual in question would quarantine here or upon arriving in Orlando.
I’m as excited as anyone else to have sports back, but at the same time… this certainly serves to underscore how frivolous it all seems during a pandemic, doesn’t it?
UPDATE: The club has declined comment on Sam’s report. We’ll get an official update from MLS Friday at the latest, per league policy on COVID reporting.