Apr 15, 2020 4 min read

The expanded Frontier League’s plan to start its season with 14 teams, including two based in Canada, the result of a merger in the offseason with the now-defunct Can-Am League, appears to have dodged a crippling piece of legislation.

Last weekend, several government departments in Quebec issued a joint statement calling for all public festivals and sporting events in the province to be canceled until Aug. 31.

That seemed to create a problem for the Frontier League, which picked up two Canadian franchises, each located in Quebec province, during the recent merger. That would have left the Frontier League to decide what to do with the Quebec Capitales and Trois-Rivieres Aigles. Would they become travel teams that play only road games if the Frontier League were to start its season this summer? Or would the league simply go with a 12-team format minus Quebec and Trois-Rivieres?

The Rogers Cup professional tennis tournament that is held every August in Montreal was canceled Saturday because of the government’s request. But the door for pro sports teams operating in Quebec has been left open, which could be good news for the Frontier League.

The Montreal Impact of Major League Soccer issued a statement saying that “the Ministry of Tourism specified that this request is not addressed to professional sports leagues.”

The Frontier League has delayed the start of its 2020 season because of the coronavirus pandemic. The league was to open its 28th season May 14. Who knows when, or if, the league will play in 2020. The other three teams the Frontier League absorbed in the merger are located in and around areas considered COVID-19 hot spots – New Jersey and New York City.

The Pittsburgh Steelers enter the NFL Draft later this month without a first-round

• draft pick, having traded what would have been the No. 18 selection last fall to Miami in exchange for safety Minkah Fitzpatrick. Steelers general manager Kevin Colbert recently said it’s unlikely that Pittsburgh will be able to move back into the first round via trade. That means the Steelers are looking at being without a first-round draft pick for the first time since 1967, when a year earlier they sent the ninth overall pick to Green Bay in exchange for tight end Tony Jeter and defensive lineman Lloyd Voss.

Voss played six seasons for mostly forgettable Steelers teams and Jeter caught three passes over three seasons in the NFL. At least the Steelers received a first-round talent for the pick this time.

• Alright, I’ll admit it. I have watched some iRacing on television the past two weekends.

iRacing?

That’s a video simulation – aka video game – that pits NASCAR or IndyCar drivers against one another in a virtual race. In other words, it’s people playing video games on your television screen.

That I’ve stopped channel surfing long enough to watch some of these races, and found them to be somewhat entertaining, shows just how desperate I’ve become to view anything resembling a live sporting event.

• September has always been the best month for sports. It’s the start of the NFL and college football seasons, pennant races in baseball, the U.S. Open tennis tournament and the Ryder Cup, which is played every two years in September. And the NHL and NBA seasons are just around the corner.

If the current health crisis subsides and the sports world returns to normal, then this fall could be the most interesting period ever for a sports fan.

It would start Aug. 23 with the Indianapolis 500, followed by the Kentucky Derby Sept. 5, the U.S. Open is scheduled to end Sept. 13, the Boston Marathon would be held the next day, the French Open starts Sept. 20, postseason baseball would be played in October and the Masters has been rescheduled for mid-November.

If all of that happens, in addition to college and pro football and possibly the Preakness Stakes, then that might be enough to ease some of the disappointment of not seeing baseball and playoff hockey in April.

There is, of course, no guarantee any of those events will happen this year. Until sports return, we’ll have to make do with whatever resembles competition.

• There are two ants currently crawling across my kitchen floor. I am rooting for the one on the right.

Sports editor Chris Dugan can be reached at dugan@observer-reporter.com.