Everybody wants to know when sports will come back. Fans want to know, athletes want to know, and coaches want to know. The president of the United States held a conference call with the commissioners of America’s major sports leagues over the weekend because he wants to know. (He said in a press conference that he’s tired of watching sports reruns.) All of the television networks that make millions by broadcasting sports would like to know. I, a professional sportswriter, would sure as hell like to know.

However, the answer to when sports will come back depends entirely on a different question: How will sports come back? Will we wait until after the COVID-19 pandemic is contained on an international level? If so, we may have to cancel the rest of the 2020 sports calendar. Will we simply pick a starting date—July 1 sounds nice!—and hope the virus adjusts to our demands? If so, we may cause a spike in diagnoses and undo much of the work we’ve done to mitigate the virus.

It seems like sports organizations around the globe are exploring a third option: They’re contemplating a concept that we’ll call Biodome Sports. While we regular humans hole up in our homes and wait for this to end, sports leagues are attempting to procure coronavirus testing kits and medical supplies to which the rest of us lack access, and then hold games in secure locations under quarantine. By eliminating travel, removing fans, and enacting measures to ensure that athletes can’t easily transmit the virus to one another, Biodome Sports proposals are designed to allow sports to carry on without worsening the pandemic.