White House Coronavirus Task Force, sports leaders discuss how testing expansion could help sports resume
Members of the White House Coronavirus Task Force, led by Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services’ Seema Verma, held a conference call with representatives and chief medical officers of 23 sports entities on Tuesday, according to a White House official who spoke to USA TODAY Sports on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly on the matter.
The call, according to the White House official, focused on President Donald Trump’s plan for opening up America again and updated the leagues on how expansion of coronavirus testing could assist with getting sports up and running.
Among the participants were all of the major professional sports leagues, the NCAA, the College Football Playoff, NASCAR, the National Women’s Soccer League, the U.S. Olympic Committee and entities that represent golf, tennis, horse racing and the Big 3 basketball league.
According to one person who participated in the call, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the specific contents were supposed to be private, the administration did not relay specific timetables but was generally optimistic about infrastructure being in place that would allow sports to resume this summer.