FAQ: How coronavirus impacts Brewers, MLB

PHOENIX -- Major League Baseball suspended Spring Training on Thursday and announced that the start of the 2020 season will be delayed because of the national emergency created by the coronavirus pandemic.

A statement from the Brewers said, “The health and safety of our fans, players, employees and game day staff is our top priority. We fully support the measures taken today by Major League Baseball. We will have more information at a future date for our fans who have tickets to Spring Training or regular-season games.”

Here’s what we know following MLB’s action:

When will the season start?
There is no official start date for the season at this time. What we do know is that the start of the season will be delayed at least two weeks. Opening Day had been scheduled for Thursday, March 26.

MLB will continue to evaluate ongoing events leading up to the start of the season. Guidance related to daily operations and workouts will be relayed to all 30 clubs in the coming days.

How will the schedule change to accommodate the late start?
According to the release sent by MLB, the league and teams have been preparing a variety of contingency plans regarding the 2020 regular-season schedule. MLB will announce the effects on the schedule at an appropriate time and will remain flexible as events warrant, with the hope of resuming normal operations as soon as possible.

What’s going to happen with the rest of Spring Training?
Forthcoming Spring Training games were canceled as of 3 p.m. CT on Thursday, and 2020 World Baseball Classic qualifying games scheduled in Tucson, Ariz., were postponed indefinitely.

What about Minor League Baseball?
Minor League Baseball announced Thursday that the start of its regular season, originally scheduled for April 9, will be delayed indefinitely.

I have tickets for the opening homestand at Miller Park -- what does this mean for me?
That's to be determined. The Brewers indicated that they would make a separate announcement for fans who hold tickets to Opening Day and other impacted games. The original schedule began with a weeklong homestand against the Cubs (March 26, March 28-29) and the Cardinals (March 30-April 1), followed by a road trip to Philadelphia and Cincinnati.

On Friday, the club released an additional statement stating, “Understanding fans have many questions, we are working through all of the effects of this announcement on everything from ticketing to ballpark operations with Major League Baseball and other teams. For the time being, tickets may not be visible in the MLB Ballpark App. If this is the case for you, this is a temporary situation; rest assured, we do have record of your purchase. We expect to have more information next week to assist our fans and ticket purchasers regarding cancelled games. We will use our social media platforms and Brewers.com to communicate our policies and procedures as soon as we are able, updating as necessary along the way.”

What about other Miller Park events?
The impact goes beyond baseball. The Brewers on Thursday announced that country music star Kenny Chesney has postponed his April 25 concert at Miller Park, with the intention to reschedule at a later date. The show was to include Florida Georgia Line, Old Dominion, and Michael Franti and Spearhead.

Additional details related to rescheduling will be announced when they are available, the Brewers said. Fans are asked to hold on to their tickets for the original date.

What are they saying?
Brewers manager Craig Counsell: “Like I said [Wednesday] -- and I emphasize this -- there’s people having to make really challenging decisions: health officials, public officials, the top of Major League Baseball. And we do have to give these people time to make the right decisions. It’s easy to speculate, but I’ve found that any speculation really adds to another question. Anytime you make a decision, there’s a ton more questions that get asked. So it’s important that you take time in making the proper decisions.”

First baseman/outfielder Ryan Braun: “Baseball is obviously secondary to what's happening in the world. I think that the general health and safety and well-being of the American public is far more important and significant than baseball or baseball games or anything like that. Certainly, we defer to [the experts] and trust that they're leading us in the right direction. It's a really unique and unprecedented situation that none of us have been through before.”

Pitcher Brandon Woodruff: “The thing I think about are the families traveling. My wife back home; she’s pregnant. Is she going to be able to make it up to Milwaukee? You think about all of those things. I think that’s probably the first thing I thought about. I just thought, ‘Man, this must be getting pretty real if they’re going ahead and suspending the rest of the NBA season.’ I think it’s kind of a deal where you don’t really know what’s going to happen. You don’t know what’s going to come of the next couple of weeks.”