Major League Soccer decided to pull FC Dallas out of the MLS is Back Tournament after 10 players and a coach tested positive.
FC Dallas owner Dan Hunt said the team was notified Monday around midday by the league that the club was not going to be allowed to participate in the tournament in Orlando, Fla.
A source has confirmed to me and @SportsDayDFW that FC Dallas will in fact not be participating in the MLS is Back Tournament.
— Angel Madison Franco (@angelmadison_) July 6, 2020
“Last Wednesday I began to have conversations with the league office about where our spread was,” Hunt said. “The league made the ultimate call; they notified us today. I don’t think we were expecting it so soon, but it was reasonably in play given where we were.”
Hunt said he hopes that after the tournament the league will announce the resumption of the regular season, in whatever capacity it may be, and FCD will be able to participate and also get to make up the three games it is missing in the tournament.
Hunt said that the club was proactive, following every protocol and was tested three times before traveling to Orlando and all results came back negative. The final test was conducted by MLS’s mandated lab in New Jersey, which gave the club the green light to travel to Orlando and begin preparations.
“This is uncharted territory for professional sports in this country. Unfortunately, we don’t know a lot about COVID,” Hunt said. “I think we had some cases that were dormant and didn’t show up in the testing and upon arrival in Orlando after traveling together on a team charter, team bus and adhering to all the protocols. It popped up on us in Orlando and spread.”
Official announcement: FC Dallas has been pulled from the #MLSisBack tournament. It was Major League Soccer's call. pic.twitter.com/sMEpLZYetD
— Scott Bell (@ScottBellDMN) July 6, 2020
Hunt said the team had reached a point where officials felt that it was “unreasonable” to ask players to play after being isolated and away from drills for almost a week.
Players continued to do Zoom workouts in their rooms while in isolation, but team staff didn’t think it was worth risking the players to other potential injuries due to time lost from training had the team been given the clearance to play.
“It’s almost impossible to ask professional athletes who have now been quarantined in their rooms with no social interaction for almost seven days with no ability to train to go out and play a tournament,” Hunt said. “That was a reasonable decision for Major League Soccer.”
— FC Dallas (@FCDallas) July 6, 2020
He said several players were asymptomatic and others were experiencing minor symptoms, including “dull headaches, minor cough, to a little bit of fever.”
The state of Texas and North Texas have seen a spike in cases in the last few weeks, and Hunt said that also could have also contributed to the positive results despite the club’s best efforts to limit contact with others.
“It’s pretty obvious that Texas has been wide open with their rules. It was early for people to return to work, go to gatherings,” Hunt said. “We were in a market that was wide open. Our guys tried to follow the rules as strictly as they could.”
With other major sports leagues also starting back up, Hunt believes that FCD’s situation proves there are a lot of hurdles leagues will have to clear to safely return.
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