FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Tuesday, April 7th, 2020

GARY BETTMAN ON “THE BEST THING” FOR THE NHL SEASON, DENNY HAMLIN ON NASCAR’S POSSIBLE RETURN DATE & MORE — QUOTES FROM TODAY’S EPISODE OF LUNCH TALK LIVE WITH MIKE TIRICO ON NBCSN

 “The best thing and the easiest thing would be if at some point if we could complete the regular season and then go into the playoffs as we normally do. We understand that that may not be possible.” – Gary Bettman on NHL season

“Generally speaking, I think we would be one of the earliest sports back because there’s no contact within our sport…Going back without fans, I think it’s probably going to be part of the realistic future in my opinion.” – Denny Hamlin on a potential NASCAR return

“When you talk about dreams, Liverpool have been dreaming for 30 years…Hopefully for Liverpool’s fans sake, this season can be completed” – Rebecca Lowe on the Premier League season

“Sports that aren’t contact sports…those are the people who are going to get back sooner.” – NBC News’ Dr. John Torres

Tomorrow’s Lunch Talk Live Guests Include PGA TOUR Golfer Justin Thomas, NBC Sports’ Al Michaels and Mike “Doc” Emrick, and NBC Sports Motorsports Commentators Kyle Petty and Dale Jarrett

STAMFORD, Conn. – April 7, 2020 – Mike Tirico hosted today’s episode of Lunch Talk Live on NBCSN and was joined remotely by:

    • NHL commissioner Gary Bettman
    • NASCAR driver Denny Hamlin
    • NBC News Medical Correspondent John Torres
    • NBC Sports’ Mike Florio and Craig Calcaterra
    • NBC Sports’ Rebecca Lowe and Kathryn Tappen

NBC Sports’ new daily sports talk show Lunch Talk Live focuses on the current state of the sports world and the impact of the coronavirus pandemic, providing guests with a platform to discuss the state of sports, voice their personal stories, and detail how they are adapting their daily lives during this challenging time.

On tomorrow’s episode at Noon ET on NBCSN, Tirico will be joined by PGA TOUR golfer Justin Thomas, NBC Sports’ Al Michaels and Mike “Doc” Emrick, and NBC Sports motorsports commentators Kyle Petty and Dale Jarrett.

Following are highlights from Lunch Talk Live on NBCSN:

Gary Bettman on the state of sports: “All of us running sports are basically focused on the same things. First and foremost, people’s health and well-being and safety is the most important, and while we all miss sports, either putting it on or watching it, and we all want to come back as quickly as possible, we understand what the number one priority is.”

Bettman on the conference call with President Trump: “President Trump gave us a briefing and brought us up to date…Each of us had an opportunity to make a comment, ask a question, and I think it was a very cordial, constructive conversation. Although the uncertainty of the times weren’t clarified in that call, we’re all going to have to wait until we have a lot more information, maybe in the next few weeks, before we can make any decisions.”

Bettman on a potential timeline: “I think right now there’s too much uncertainty. Hopefully we’ll all know more by the end of April. From an NHL standpoint, we’re viewing all of our options. We want to be ready to go as soon as we get a green light…Nothing’s been ruled in, nothing’s been ruled out.”

Bettman on the need for equity in next steps: “Everything we do needs to be fair…The best thing and the easiest thing would be if at some point if we could complete the regular season and then go into the playoffs as we normally do. We understand that that may not be possible and that’s why we are considering every conceivable alternative to deal with whatever the eventuality is.”

Bettman on potentially playing in the summer: “I do believe we can play well into the summer…The days of when games had to be postponed because there was no air conditioning in a building are long behind us…We can handle making ice now in any condition…Ice won’t be a factor.”

Denny Hamlin on iRacing: “Out of all those people (who are watching), if we just get 10 people who have not been to a NASCAR race before get introduced by watching us virtually…and you get just few people to go to a real racetrack when we open back up, it’s definitely a win for our sport.”

Hamlin on a possible return to racing without fans: “Generally speaking, I think we would be one of the earliest sports back because there’s no contact within our sport…Going back without fans, I think it’s probably going to be part of the realistic future in my opinion. I don’t know that for sure. I think the preliminary date right now would be late May — May 24 or May 25 — when we plan on going back as of right now at Charlotte.”

Dr. John Torres the importance of testing for the return of sports: “I think testing is crucial, especially the antibody test they keep talking about that is going to show us who has, who’s had it, who’s immune to it at that point and can go ahead and play especially those contact sports.”

Dr. Torres on potential return timelines: “Sports that aren’t contact sports, that type of situation, those are the people who are going to get back sooner. I think there’s going to be a near-normal this summer where we can get fans in areas where there have been no coronavirus for a while and where we can get those sports back again. I think it’s going to be a year or so before we get back to normal.”

Mike Florio on the NFL’s upcoming virtual draft: “I don’t think anyone was surprised by this…The NFL did the right thing recognizing that the best way to do this, the only way to do this, is to have everyone stay at home. It sends the right message to the rest of the public.”

Florio on how it will impact the draft: “The draft is always a crapshoot. This makes it even more of a crapshoot than it usually is and we’re going to see some guys who are going to slide because they didn’t have an opportunity to prove themselves through private workouts…and teams are going to be taking risks.”

Tirico on the virtual draft: “The MVP might be the IT guy on each team.”

Craig Calcaterra on reports of MLB looking into playing games under quarantine in Arizona: “The general idea is a mass quarantine. I’m going to call it ‘The Arizona Bubble League’…It was a lot of ideas thrown against the wall and let’s be honest here, it was preliminary. You have to throw a lot of ideas against the wall.”

Calcaterra on potential roadblocks to the plan: “It’s a huge, huge ecosystem of people to put on 15 Major League Baseball games in normal circumstances, what would you do in this very compact circumstance?…Maybe you can do this in June, maybe you can do this in July. I think this compacted timeline that came out in a report overnight is a bit unrealistic.”

Tirico on the passing of Hall of Famer Al Kaline: “What you don’t see in his stats is what kind of person he was. Every time you went to the ballpark, every time you went to a charity event, a summertime golf event that Al Kaline was there, he was warm, he was gracious, he shared a story and a smile.”

Kathryn Tappen on how NHL players are handling the season’s postponement: “I think the overriding message that’s been conveyed by the players is just how important it is to stay home. I mean these are guys that their training has taken a huge step back…but they’re doing everything that we’re all supposed to be doing collectively right now, and that’s stay home, be safe.”

Tappen on living in New York City right now: “It’s a loud silence here in New York. The biggest sounds we here all day are the sirens and the helicopters overhead. At 7 o’clock every single night, I can hear it (citywide cheers for healthcare and essential workers)…You get overwhelmed because it’s the best of New York and we’re in the worst of New York right now. Being in New York right now, as hard as it is, it’s inspiring as well.”

Rebecca Lowe on Liverpool: “When you talk about dreams, Liverpool have been dreaming for 30 years…This community has been waiting three decades, an entire generation, for this moment. They are 25 points clear. Unheard of, never before have we seen a team that far ahead at any stage of the season…Hopefully for Liverpool’s fans sake, this season can be completed.”

–NBC SPORTS–