(Newswire.net — May 23, 2020) —
Sport has been one of the biggest industries impacted as leagues and franchises face substantial financial losses during this period.
Here are how the major US sports league are handling the current circumstances:
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NFL
American Football is the most popular sport in the states and the NFL has a huge following worldwide. They have already taken off their four London games from the 2020 schedule whilst their annual draft was done via video conference with players live streaming from their homes.
The 2020 schedule was released as normal earlier this month with no concrete plans yet in place for how the games will go ahead. The NFL are well aware that games may have to be played in front of empty stadiums, though the Miami Dolphins have proposed limiting capacity to 15,000 in their 80,120-seater stadium.
Potential revenue losses are almost unimaginable. Last year, each of the 32 teams received $255 million from TV deals alone. With no fans in the stadium a number of advertising and matchday revenue will also be lost.
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NBA
The 2019-20 NBA season was suspended on 11 March, whilst both the Draft Lottery and Draft Combine were postponed, having been scheduled to take place this month. Players from 10 of the 30 teams are now back in individual training and players have agreed to a 25 per cent pay cut should the regular season be cancelled.
The playoffs were originally due to take place from mid-April and the finals in June, but that won’t happen now. The league has not yet come to a conclusion on whether the season will continue or be voided.
If this season resumes they will be in front of empty arenas and you can expect fans to flock to sports streaming sites to watch their favourite teams and players in action.
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NHL
The 2020 NHL season was also suspended in mid-March and remains that way. There is no set date for a return yet but the league is aware that any return would be in front of empty arenas.
Whilst players are self-isolating it’s difficult for them to practice given very few, if any, would have access to ice. The next stage of the restart process it to get players back into clubs’ facilities and training again.
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MLS
Major League Soccer was held up only two games into the new season and shortly after some of its clubs were in continental action. No doubt league officials will be keeping a close eye with what’s going on in Europe – the German Bundesliga returning this past weekend, whilst England, Spain and Italy are all aiming to get their leagues restarted in June.
It should be possible for the soccer season to restart at some point in the United States, but nothing has been made official yet. There had even been reported of a World Cup-style resumption to get the league finished in reasonable time after such a lengthy lay-off.
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MLB
The 2020 Major League Baseball season was due to start on 26 March, but it never went ahead due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Officials are now contemplating a half-season with expanded playoffs consisting of more than 1,200 games if they can get the season started. MLB franchises have had problems getting hold of sufficient testing kits for their players.
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UFC
One sport that has already resumed is the Ultimate Fighting Championship. On Sunday 9 May they had a pay-per-view event at an empty VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena in Jacksonville, Florida and have their next pay-per-view scheduled for 30 May in Las Vegas, Nevada. They have also held Fight Night and UFC on ESPN shows this month.
UFC even managed to pull off a pay-per-view in Brazil back on 14 March in front of an empty stadium before cancelling events in England and the USA between 21 March and 2 May, before their recent resumption.