As Major League Baseball struggles to begin the 2020 season, stadiums remain empty.
But their parking lots aren’t.
Throughout the U.S., rental car companies have parked hundreds of thousands of unused cars as COVID-19 runs its methodical course, sickening Americans and grinding the economy to a halt. Particularly decimated is the travel industry. People aren’t traveling through airports, so no one is renting cars.
Seen from above, places such as Dodger Stadium and Santa Anita racetrack look as if it’s a big day at the yard, when, in fact, the stands are empty.
New cars sales are down too, creating a glut of vehicles that Americans suddenly have little desire to purchase as they confront the coronavirus crisis.
That excess has led to choked L.A.-area ports. For example, Toyota Logistics Services at the Port of Long Beach is normally a beehive of activity as new cars are off-loaded from ships, parked and prepped at the yard, and sent off quickly to dealerships throughout the Southland. Now, Toyota Motor Corp. has leased additional storage space at a sports venue in California.
Here are some views of vehicle-packed parking lots across Southern California, an illustration of the economic toll wrought by the coronavirus on the automobile industry.
Dodger Stadium
Santa Anita Park
Angel Stadium of Anaheim
Port of Long Beach
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