Has the coronavirus pandemic shut down sports for the rest of 2020? No, probably not, but some sports and leagues will have a much tougher time returning to business than others. It’s a rough time for all involved: players, coaches, executives, owners and perhaps most of all, fans.
It’s tough for all the businesses and industries directly connected to sports too, like media, merchandisers and casinos. The ripple effects of the global COVID-19 lockdown are being felt everywhere. Let’s take a quick spin through what sports could open, when and in what capacity.
We all miss watching, attending and betting on sports. Using the William Hill promo code 2020, you’ll have some kind of live sports to bet on sooner than later. The English Premier League, if everything goes well, is eyeing a potential return in June. Meanwhile UEFA is looking at playing the final matches of the Champions and Europa League competitions in late August. Yesterday, the PGA tour announced it would resume its season in mid-June with a tournament in Fort Worth, Texas. The PGA will not allow spectators at this tournament.
If the plan is executed, it would make golf the first major American sport to resume, and that’s largely due to its composition. It’s an individual sport, which can be played in some form while maintaining proper social distance guidelines, and that puts the Scottish born game at an advantageous position.
Meanwhile Major League Baseball is probably looking at a behind closed doors approach to returning as well, but no one knows when that could be. MLB is looking at various plans that would limit all the action to one single metropolitan area.
Meanwhile NASCAR, which has seen a major boost to its eSports wing, iRacing, during the pandemic, announced today their intention to still run all 36 races, “with a potential return to racing without fans in attendance in May at a date and location to be determined.”
The statement also said: “We will continue to consult with health experts and local, state and federal officials as we assess future scheduling options.” All in all, there is some encouraging news out there, providing some level of hope, against the what seems incessant waves of news pertaining to cancellations and postponements.
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net, which is partnered with News Now. Banks, the author of “No, I Can’t Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry,” regularly appears on WGN CLTV and co-hosts the “Let’s Get Weird, Sports” podcast on SB Nation.
You can follow Banks, a former writer for NBC Chicago.com and Chicago Tribune.com on Twitter here and his cat on Instagram at this link
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