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JSF said they were currently considering how they could hold the competition, and also said they would announce the detail around September. It is not like they've already decided to sell tickets as usual, and I don't think their announcement today was anything well thought out since their office has been closed since July 27th due to the spread of the virus in Tokyo.

 

Osaka was supposed to host NHK this year, but it is currently experiencing another surge in the number of cases. With our government still putting their priority in the economy, although being quite dumb in that regard as well, the situation in Osaka won't get better to hold an event having a large audience in the venue anytime soon. I think JSF is also aware of the situation since Mao has canceled her show that was supposed to take place in their national training center in Osaka in late September.

Sad to say, but in these few months, we've already seen clusters of patients formed in in-door events, the infection spread by lifting the travel restrictions prematurely, and how responsible parties received severe (and sometimes nasty) criticism. I imagine planning this strange NHK Trophy is super tricky and not a fun job.

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Old school - I like it.  Thinking outside the box.  There used to be an outside rink at Oberstdorf iirc - any in the other areas or would they need to set up a temporary rink?  Put it somewhere winter sportsy  like Sapporo or idk Vermont? and you might have a local amenity for the winter.

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Do what the skiers do and wait for it to clear.  Whatever this turns out to be it’s not the GP or even ISU competition as we know it - time to break the mould, be more relaxed about time etc in order to stay safe

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Don't forget that up until now, Japan hasn't even issued lockdown orders, only requests for cooperation from the public. They aren't taking the same approach to this pandemic as other places have. 

 

That being said, i hope they forgo the ticket sales and just stream or live broadcast instead. 

 

Anyway, I got curious about the actual situation in all of the GP cities and looked up some data. I couldn't find the same data for all of the cities - for example, Las Vegas, Grenoble, Chongqing and Beijing don't report the number of active cases - but I did get some useful stuff. 

 

All info current as of today except for the Chinese cities. All totals cumulative except where otherwise noted 

 

Las Vegas (SkAm starts oct 23):

population: 2 million in the greater Las Vegas area, 650,00 in the city proper

total cases: 44,997

total hospitalizations: 2841

total deaths: 716

infection ratio: 2.25 out of 100 people

 

Ottawa (SCI starts oct 30):

population: 1 million

total cases: 2560

currently active cases: 196

total deaths: 264 

infection ratio: 0. 25 out of 100 people, or 1 person in every 400. 

 

Chongqing (CoC starts nov 6):

population: 15.9 million in Chongqing proper, 30.48 in the greater Chongqing area

total cases: 583

total recovered: 577

total deaths: 6

infection ratio: infinitesimal but this is older data and things could be different now

 

Grenoble (IdF starts nov 13):

it was strangely difficult to find data for Grenoble but here is the data for the region where Grenoble is situated:

population: 161, 000

total cases: 2093

current hospitalizations: 23

total deaths: 153

infection ratio: 1.3 out of 100 people

 

Moscow (CoR starts nov 20):

population: 12.5 million in Moscow proper

total cases: 241, 359

currently active cases: 57,731

total deaths: 4460

infection ratio: 1.93 out of 100 people

 

Osaka (NHK starts nov 27):

population: 2.7 million

total cases: 4720

currently active cases: 1615

total deaths: 92

infection ratio: 0.175 out of 100 people, or roughly 1 in every 600

 

Beijing (GPF scheduled for dec 10)

population: 21.54 million in Beijing proper

total cases: 933

currently confirmed: 13 (ie. new infections)

total deaths: 9

please note that Beijing reported a cluster of 236 new cases in June but implemented strict measures to get control of the outbreak

infection ratio: also infinitesimal, but again this data may be old and things could be different now

 

It was difficult to tell how accurate some of this data is, as different countries have different policies in place for collecting and reporting. However it's safe to say that all these numbers are probably a LOT lower than the actual number of infected people. 

 

The risk of infection spreading is definitely going to be higher in some places than others. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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22 minutes ago, yuzuangel said:

What if they hold it on outdoor rinks :think:

Wrong time of year...even with refrigeration, I think you still need some cold weather to make an outdoor rink work. And the ice quality would be questionable. 

 

Still though, it would be a very pretty idea. Imagine Yuzu skating against a backdrop of beautiful Japanese gardens.

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33 minutes ago, yuzuangel said:

What if they hold it on outdoor rinks :think:


Hmm wouldn’t it be dangerous though? Like if the ice cracks and someone falls in or something... 
 

ETA: wait nevermind did you mean a man-made outdoor rink? Idk why I was thinking of natural frozen lakes haha

 

And iirc, did JSF say they are banning their skaters from September and October events? Which means Yuzu can’t go to SkAm and SC...

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They may need to shift the whole thing forward into winter and compress it - maybe 2 /3 competitions a week as the football league had to do here in order to get finished in time for the new season.  Everyone will only be doing one gp each.  And outdoor rinks might actually be quite a draw - novelty, blast from the past, get Dick Button to put in his 5cents worth over zoom or whatever from his armchair.....

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2 minutes ago, FlyingCamel said:


Hmm wouldn’t it be dangerous though? Like if the ice cracks and someone falls in or something...

 

And iirc, did JSF say they are banning their skaters from September and October events? Which means Yuzu can’t go to SkAm and SC...

That was the Challengers. They didn't say anything about senior GP at that time. And since yesterdays announcement by the ISU, the only two GP Yuzu is eligible for this year are NHK or SCI, depending on which country he's in at the time. 

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I know - there’s no chance that they’re thinking of doing any of this revolutionary stuff but it’s fun to imagine.   As @rockstaryuzu says imagine Yuzuru on an outside rink, somewhere picturesque - or Sui/Han, or the ice dancers/ lady of your choice.  People would probably tune in just out of curiosity.

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8 minutes ago, Veveco said:

 

You lost the ISU right there.

on the other hand, if they can be convinced to ape the NHL by holding a basically bogus awards show no one wants, maybe we could sell them on a figure skating version of this idea.

 

I could totally get behind an ISU_Figure Winter Classic. Hold it in Nathan Philips Square in January every year. or somewhere like that. Prize is a Canada Goose parka and a lifetime supply of hot chocolate (sponsored by Ghana perhaps :snonegai:)

 

Better yet, get this rink back up and running and let the boys (and girls) quad away at Parliament. 

 

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