On eve of openers, Manfred hopes full capacity by midsummer

“I hope by midsummer that we have ballparks that are unrestricted and we have full fan access,” Manfred said Wednesday during an interview with The Associated Press.

Last year’s shortened regular season was played entirely without fans, who were allowed back only for the NL Championship Series and World Series, and then in limited numbers for games moved to a neutral site in Arlington, Texas.

“For most clubs, this will be another year of significant losses. It’s not going to be the $2.5 to $3 billion that we had last year, but there will be significant losses if we continue in the mode where we don’t have full fans,” Manfred said. “The clubs have done a great job of working with financial institutions they had relationships with in terms of assuring liquidity.”...

He thinks fans long to return to ballparks.

“I see this season as a huge opportunity for baseball,” he said. “We’re an outdoor sport. I think it’s safe or safer to go to outdoor activities. Everybody seems to agree on that. And I think that there’s pent-up demand for entertainment products, and we’re going to do everything we possibly can to take the best opportunity to take advantage of that.”