The Timbers will face Orlando City in the finals of the MLS is Back TournamentGETTY IMAGES
The MLS is Back Tournament concludes tonight with Timbers-Orlando City from the Disney bubble, meaning the league has "all but pulled it off," according to Joshua Robinson of the WALL STREET JOURNAL. No player "has tested positive" for the coronavirus since July 10, and to the wider world of sports, this is "living proof that even a bubble that started with holes doesn't have to collapse." Now, MLS is taking the "success of the bubble to mean it might not need a bubble at all." The season is set to culminate in an 18-team playoff starting on Nov. 20 and the MLS Cup final on Dec. 12. By then, Commissioner Don Garber "hopes to welcome fans back into stadiums where local authorities allow it." Garber "insisted that a post-bubble MLS season was possible." He "pointed to the testing protocols MLS developed for its stay in Florida and the commitment he saw from players to respecting physical distancing rules away from the field." MLS said that teams would be "tested every other day during the regular season." But MLS still faces some "diverse" challenges in its return to home markets, such as the "question of what to do with MLS' three Canadian teams, who currently cannot hop back and forth across the border." Plus, the virus is in "different stages of containment around the U.S." (WALL STREET JOURNAL, 8/11).
