A bus drove south across the American Midwest Sunday night, headed to Chattanooga, Tennessee, filled with the players and staff of the Detroit City FC. They were on their way to begin their 2021 NISA season in an unprecedented professional soccer campaign. The lumbering coach left behind it a state that is frothing for the return of club soccer. A state with dozens of teams and leagues at the edge of seasons of new beginnings, and ready to make up for lost time.

This team bus also departed the state that now leads the country in new Covid-19 cases. Michigan has averaged 7,300 new cases and over 3,600 hospitalizations (NY Times) per day this week. In reaction to this frightening spike, Michigan High Schools were ordered to return to remote learning for two weeks, indoor sports were told to pause, in addition to other restrictions enacted over the weekend. There will surely be more measure to come if the current virus surge continues. At this intersection of time and circumstance, it must be asked: will 2021 be a big year of soccer or just a year of big soccer plans?

The combination of all the forces that want to return to playing soccer are immense. The passion for the sport, fandom, business interests and obligations, shared frustration, and so many more collective emotions may be a blinding cocktail. There are so many plans for 2021, and the general population is tired of pausing their lives. While we have a year of experience under our belts and a new vaccine being distributed, the pandemic’s numbers are much the same as in 2020. We have more tools and knowledge than last year, yet planning in 2021 is like navigating through the very same fog of uncertainty. Is this COVID spike another roadblock along the winding path to success, or are we on the edge of falling into another deep dark hole?

Many teams and leagues, have two years worth of pent-up planning and progression to display. New leagues, new teams, new divisions, all set up and roaring to go. The fledgling Midwest Premier League had to postpone their 2020 launch. Multiple teams were denied their debut seasons, others their debuts in new leagues. The first experience of professional outdoor soccer in Michigan didn’t happen as planned in 2020, either. The Michigan Stars, and the aforementioned Detroit City FC, are now kicking off the 2021 professional schedule, this week, after being denied their full-length professional season, in 2020. DCFC has teams in four divisions set to kickoff this spring, along with a new state-wide TV broadcast deal. Local teams, professional teams, and national teams alike, everybody has big reasons to play this summer.

There are, however, exceptions to the ‘all systems go’ outlook of spring 2021. AFC Ann Arbor, who were set to make their USL2 debut in 2020, and then in 2021, decided, in February, not to compete this year. The thought of a second consecutive year without playing, is stomach churning, but AFCAA took that step and may well be the club with the clearest conscience, come August. Even if this current COVID spike is the final dark moment, before the majority of the population is vaccinated, can every club really expect zero cases over the course of the season?

Hopefully, the new vaccines will provide a much needed end date to the COVID19 pandemic. That end date, however, seems further off than kickoff on April 13th, in Chattanooga Tennessee. Will the start of May, when the majority of the amateur leagues restart, be far enough out? As has been the case throughout the pandemic era, continued responsible behavior and lower case numbers, are the way we keep things open. Whether this year is a big soccer year or just a year of big soccer plans, is now again dependent on those numbers. Fingers crossed for clearing the fog of uncertainty, fingers crossed for soccer.

- Robert Kerr