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SBJ Unpacks: Coronavirus -- Fox Playing Up Tom Brady With Ad Buyers

This would have been Final Four weekend. Perhaps you debated who would have been in it during today’s Zoom happy hour, or maybe you can argue about who would have won it all at Monday’s GoToMeeting session.

Some suggest that it’s time to stop thinking so much about what would have been, instead focusing on what is.

Here’s what is, was and wasn’t this week:

  • Wimbledon was canceled for 2020 -- not simply postponed, as so many major events have been thus far. Canceled.
  • MLB canceled the reprise of its London series, which was to pit the Chicago Cubs against the St. Louis Cardinals in June.
  • The Charter-owned Spectrum SportsNet LA, which carries the Dodgers, finally negotiated distribution with AT&T, just in time for ... nothing.
  • China postponed the scheduled resumption of its pro basketball season, dreadful news for anyone looking east for a bellwether.
  • Layoffs and furloughs. Lots of them.

 

There also were examples of people and companies across sports doing good and helpful things, like the Kraft family sending the Patriots' team plane to China to bring back 1 million N95 masks.

You didn’t come here for self-help, so we’ll spare you any advice about appreciating what you have, mourning what you’ve lost or coping with our shared fears -- other than to point out that they are shared, if that’s any consolation. But sports, in all its forms, and all its aspects, is fair game here. There are no games to take your mind off this week’s pain and perils. But there are old games to remember. And never-to-be-played games to debate.

So go ahead and recall and dissect them. Share them with those who weren’t around for them. Simulate them on a computer or with dice, if that’s your thing. And, most of all, argue to hell and back over them -- particularly the ones with outcomes that we’ll never know.

Just do it safely, at home, please.

-- Bill King

  

 

FOX SPORTS PUSHES TOM BRADY IN VIRTUAL ROAD SHOW

  • Tom Brady was one of Fox Sports’ selling points as it conducted a video conference “road show” to six ad buying agencies this week. “We’re just talking about what we know and what we think could be different contingencies,” Fox Sports Exec VP/Sports Sales Seth Winter told SBJ’s John Ourand. “We’re talking about what type of approaches we have in terms of our scheduling. Obviously, Tom Brady is in Tampa Bay and in the NFC. What does that do to inform our schedule? What are the possibilities based on what might happen? It’s all very speculative.”

  • Fox Sports’ first video call was with GroupM execs Matt Sweeney, Marty Blich and Matt Dennerstein. On Wednesday, Winter, Eric Shanks and Mike Mulvihill met via video conference with execs from Horizon Media (Adam Schwartz and Dave Campanelli), IPG (Kevin Collins, Allie Kallish, Jon Stimmel and Tim Hill) and Optimum Sports (Tom McGovern, Jeremy Carey, Chris Geraci, Catherine Sullivan and Harry Keeshan). Dentsu was on Thursday (Mike Law, Dave Sederbaum, Cara Lewis and Kara Lazarus) and PMX was today (John Muszynski).

  • Winter: “All of these people were extremely interested in what Fox Sports is doing in the third and fourth quarters because when we come back, we have an extraordinary amount of programming and GRPs that they’re going to want to invest in.”

 

WORKING FROM HOME WITH TULANE AD TROY DANNEN

  • Tulane faculty and staff have had some experience working remotely during hurricane protocols throughout the years, so Troy Dannen and his athletic department were ready when those same precautions were implemented in full once the university closed its campus after classes finished on March 13. Dannen tells SBD's David Rumsey he has been working out of his home about 30 minutes from Tulane’s campus in the heart of New Orleans.

  • For some, working from home might mean a lot of down time, but not for Dannen. Conference calls can take up 6-7 hours of the AD’s day, whether it be with the school, AACNCAA or donors. “Time, believe it or not, has become maybe even a more precious commodity because we just don't get those quick, brief interactions anymore,” he said. Dannen thinks since the switch to remote working and chats primarily on Zoom, communication among Tulane staff, coaches and student-athletes may be better than ever -- even to the point of "over-communicating." That doesn’t mean everything has been easy, though. “I underappreciated how easy it is to walk across the building to go see the football coach and run down and pull some information from my CFO and student-athletes or people dropping into your office for five-minute conversation. Those are the things that you miss.”

  • Bi-weekly all-staff Zoom meetings are not mandatory, but 110-120 staffers from the 130-member athletic department are usually on the call, Dannen says. And if you are on, so is your webcam. “We mandate everybody have their video on. It feels more like work. Nobody’s sitting around in pajamas or in their shorts out by the pool. Everybody's on, looking at one another. We’re all accountable to one another.”

  • Work-from-home tips? It’s obvious a lot of things are out of Dannen’s control at the moment, but he still wants to do his part for those that depend on him. “We can't fix all the uncertainty, but we can make sure that we're addressing things … to reduce the uncertainty in people's lives,” he said. Finally, Dannen is focused on not forgetting about local sponsors and donors who are also dealing with less-than-favorable conditions. “Trying to make sure we touch base with all the people that are engaged in supporting our program,” he said.

 

Troy Dannen has tele-worked since Tulane closed on March 13, with the aid of an "assistant" from time to time

 

DAKTRONICS PLANS TO RESUME IRELAND/MINNESOTA PRODUCTION BY APRIL 13 
  • Daktronics plans to reopen its scoreboard and digital display manufacturing facilities in Ireland and Minnesota by April 13, SBJ's Karn Dhingra reports. The company voluntarily complied with regional orders to temporarily suspend production at those facilities, but five of the company’s seven global factories remain open and are fulfilling orders. Daktronics' four largest factories, located in South Dakota, where the company has its HQ, continue to operate because the state has not issued a mandatory suspension order of its factory operations.

  • At its open factories, the company said it is meeting or exceeding hygiene, safety and health guidelines from the CDC and WHO. Some of the new protocols include not accepting visitors, limiting the amount of workers from gathering in the factories’ zones and limiting their movement to minimize in-person contact, in parking areas, entrances, break areas and restrooms. The company is also deep cleaning zones frequently so people can continue to work and has contingency plans for cleaning and work stoppage within zones if an employee tests positive for COVID-19. Daktronics has also placed hand washing stations throughout its campus and disinfectants in break areas.

 

WRESTLEMANIA SET FOR DEBUT OF TWO-NIGHT EVENT

  • While much of the sports and entertainment industry sits idle, WWE rolls into the weekend having transformed its biggest event of the year, WrestleMania, from a one-night stadium extravaganza into a two-night show that will go on without fans, SBJ's David Bourne writes. It was a quick flip between the mid-March decision to abandon plans at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa and shift to the WWE Performance Center in Orlando. “Tampa Stadium would have been a spectacle, so we had to ask, 'What can you pull apart and put in the Performance Center and make it work? How is the best way we can do this?,'" said WWE Exec VP/Global Talent Strategy & Development Paul Triple H” Levesque.

  • WrestleMania will be a test case for the appetite consumers have for fresh content, even with most of the event having been pre-taped at the Performance Center and other areas. For an event that has been criticized for running too long in its standard one-night format, WWE will be watching the results to determine if this two-day approach may be worth re-examining in normal times. “One of the cool things about this is sometimes the inspiration to change comes from things like this,” Levesque said. WrestleMania will air on Saturday and Sunday, starting at 7pm ET each evening, on WWE Network and PPV across a variety of providers, including the Fox Sports and Fox Now apps.

 

AECOM REMAINS LIQUID, BUT EXECS, BOARD TAKING SALARY CUTS

  • Construction giant AECOM has $1.7 billion in cash on hand and access to an undrawn $1.35 billion revolving credit facility to weather the fallout from the pandemic, SBJ's Karn Dhingra notes. Among the measures the infrastructure firm is taking during the pandemic is cutting the salaries of its board of directors, executive leadership team and other senior leaders by 20%. making 90% of its design team work remotely, leveraging its experience in dealing with the coronavirus outbreak in Asia and enhanced project site safety and cleaning procedures.

  • The L.A.-based company is currently constructing SoFi Stadium in Inglewood and credited the recent $2.4 billion sale of its management services business as helping it maintain its financial liquidity during the global pandemic. AECOM noted it has $2.2 billion in debt leveraged at 0.5x. AECOM noted it also has been selected by federal and state government agencies to support the construction of emergency triage hospitals on the East Coast during the pandemic.

 

  

ATLANTA HOTELS MISS OUT ON BIG FINAL FOUR SPIKE

  • This weekend was supposed to be a nice bookend for Atlanta’s hoteliers, SBJ's David Broughton writes, as Mercedes-Benz Stadium, which hosted a CFP semifinal three months ago, was scheduled to welcome the men’s Final Four until the event was canceled due to COVID-19. Some 88% of the hotel rooms in Minneapolis were occupied when the city hosted last year’s Final Four weekend (Friday-Monday), according to data provided to SBJ by STR, an industry group that monitors the financial metrics of 67,000 hotels and 9.0 million hotel rooms around the globe.

  • Atlanta, however, will not see a similar spike this year. The market usually boasts an ADR of more than 70% this time of year, and a year ago -- the same weekend as the 2019 Final Four -- 75% of the rooms were full, with an ADR of $116.15. The Final Four weekend rate in Minneapolis in 2019 was up from 64% the year before in San Antonio. Additionally, their average daily room rate (ADR) surged to $211.69 in 2019, an increase of 88% over the same weekend in 2018. San Antonio saw a similar surge when they hosted in 2018.

 

SPARTAN RACE PIVOTS TO MERCH, NUTRITION, DIGITAL DURING PANDEMIC

  • Joe De Sena, the founder & CEO of endurance race organizer Spartan, tells SBJ’s Chris Smith that the company has been hit hard, but should be able to get by thanks to a quick pivot and reduced spending. Spartan typically hosts 325 events across 45 countries, but bans on mass gatherings effectively halted the company’s main stream of income.

  • “Revenue went to zero overnight,” said De Sena, but he notes that the company almost immediately pivoted to pushing its merchandise, nutrition and digital content. “Sales for merchandise and nutrition are up 300-400%,” said De Sena, who estimates that Spartan is back to 25-30% of its pre-crisis revenues. Thanks to expense cuts like furloughs, salary reductions and cost savings from canceled events, Spartan is currently operating around break-even.

  • Just prior to the pandemic, Spartan closed on three separate acquisitions for Tough Mudder’s endurance race business in the U.S., U.K. and Canada.

 

SOFTWARE OFFERS INSIGHTS ON POTENTIAL WEATHER FOR DELAYED EVENTS

  • With many spring events postponed with the hope of being rescheduled in the fall, a Boston-based weather software company is offering a glimpse of what at least one of those events could look like in the different weather conditions found later in the year, SBJ's Karn Dhingra reports. Imagine golfers walking Augusta National, not surrounded by blooming dogwoods and azaleas, but flanked instead by the color of leaves changing on the oak trees. That could be the scene if The Masters moves to a November date as speculated.

  • Boston-based ClimaCell, a weather software company, provides minute-by-minute and street-by-street weather forecasting data and insights to the likes of tennis’ U.S. Open and the Patriots. Clients use the data to better manage the events and the fan experience. In golf, the data could be used to see how competitors might need to adjust their playing styles in different weather conditions, or how tournaments could adjust their operations. "If there's a significantly less chance of rain, they might not need to staff up or down as much,” said ClimaCell Senior VP/Marketing Dan Slagen. “If there's less daylight, they might need to adjust the tee-off times or prepare a little bit more for playing at dusk or darker times, and if there is an increase in fog, what do they do about potentially helping the camera crews or the turf?”

 

 

SPEED READS

  • The San Jose Mercury News’ Dieter Kurtenbach on S.F.-based KNBR-AM cautioned that fan-less sports are inevitable when the shutdown ends, and it may last longer than some might think. “It’s definitely going to happen, and leagues would be foolish not to be taking that as the first step back. … Even when we’ve been given the all-clear … I don’t know if you’re going to be able to convince people that they’re going to want to go to a big arena with 20,000 people or a 49ers game in Santa Clara with 75,000. There’s going to be a very seriousness jadedness about all of this.” 
  • Texas A&M AD Ross Bjork is confident in his staff’s ability to work remotely, but he admitted to “The Audible” podcast that the athletic department is missing out on the comradery typically found on campus.  “The biggest thing for us is the detachment piece, because it can get lonely. It can be scary. … That’s been the hardest part. We’re so used to human interaction in college sports, and we just don’t have that right now.” Bjork said the A&M academic staff has been “hosting about 150 Zoom meetings per day with student athletes around classwork” in an effort to stay connected and on schedule. 
  • SBJ's Ben Fischer & Terry Lefton report the NFLPA has canceled the Rookie Premiere in light of the pandemic, a blow to the annual event that has grown out of its core B-to-B roots into a marketing extravaganza for young NFL players. The event had been scheduled for May 14-17 in L.A.. Panini America VP Jason Horwath, whos company sponsors the event, said the cancellation hasn’t stopped work. "We’re connecting with the players for content and [autographs] elsewhere," he said. See more on this story in today's SBJ Football newsletter.
  • West Virginia AD Shane Lyons was blunt in his assessment of a potential missed college football season. “It would be catastrophic," he said. "You’re talking about $38 million that is TV revenue you get from the networks to air games. The conference gets anywhere from $350-400 million to distribute to the 10 schools in the Big 12. … If the games are not played, and therefore you don’t have the TV revenue, then you’re looking at approximately $30 million. Then from a season ticket standpoint, about $16 million. So you’re looking at over a $50 million hit from a financial standpoint if football isn’t played.” And as the West Virginia MetroNews’ Alex Hickey wrote: “That’s just the known money. Logic would dictate that some program donors would also have less money to donate with more important financial matters to tend to, such as ravaged retirement accounts.” 



NEWS YOU NEED FROM SPORTS BUSINESS DAILY

  • During this crisis impacting the sports business, we want everyone to be up-to-date on the latest news and information. SBD's "Coronavirus & Sports" section is free, outside the paywall, for the foreseeable future. Below are today's headlines:

    • NFL Doctor: Broad Testing Needed For League To Reopen
    • WNBA Postpones Start Of Season From Scheduled May 15 Tip
    • Sources: NBA Explores Postseason In Las Vegas, But Still Faces Many Hurdles
    • Players-Only "NBA 2K" Tournament Offers Distraction For Fans
    • Golf Schedule Could See At Least Three Majors, Ryder Cup In '20
    • U.S. Women's Open Moving To December For First Time
    • Kraft, Patriots Lauded For Delivery Of Masks From China
    • Ducks Owners Extend Arena Workers' Payment To End Of June
    • Matt Patricia, Lions Empowering Detroit-Area Nonprofit

 


SBJ UNPACKS -- WEATHERING COVID-19

 

 

 

Something related to coronavirus and sports business catch your eye? Tell us about it. Reach out to Austin Karp (akarp@sportsbusinessjournal.com) and we'll share the best of it.

 

 

 

SBJ Unpacks: Coronavirus -- Whitecaps CEO Talks Working Remotely

Those of us in sports rely on statistics to tell a story. A couple of stats that came out today drove home just how damaging the pandemic has been to Americans’ health and their way of living.

The global number of people infected by COVID-19 topped one million and, on the economic side of the ledger, a record 6.65 million people filed jobless claims in the week that ended March 28.

Those stats reinforce a somber story that’s not going away. Americans are hurting and these numbers say so quite convincingly.

Still, as our interview with Mark Pannes shows, sports business execs are finding ways to get work done.

-- Michael Smth

  

 

WORKING FROM HOME WITH WHITECAPS CEO MARK PANNES

  • Mark Pannes has sequestered himself in downtown Vancouver since the Whitecaps began practicing sheltering in place on March 11, leading the team’s business operations from an Airbnb he’s been staying at since he was hired as CEO in early January (Pannes was scheduled to begin moving into his new house today). Like many organizations, the transition to working remotely wasn’t seamless. The team's first full staff meeting was a conference call, and the second one was a video chat that featured a few internet connection issues. Things weren't really nailed down until the third attempt, but Pannes believes the experience was beneficial. “If we had waited to get it right, we would have missed the first two opportunities to communicate with our staff and get better,” he said.

  • The Whitecaps are using Zoom to communicate with the soccer operations staff and first team players, as well as external partners and media. Microsoft Teams is used for all internal comms, and WhatsApp has been helpful for any international conversations. The club has also developed a sound schedule to stay in touch: daily 8:45am medical updates from Chief Medical Officer Jim Bovard, 9am all-staff meetings on Tuesdays and Fridays and daily updates to fans on social/digital at 11am and 5pm. There also is a daily senior management call at 4:30pm. On Thursday afternoons, staff are encouraged to reach out to friends and family to touch base. “We’re trying to keep people as connected as we can,” Pannes said.

  • Pannes is realizing a big challenge from a management standpoint is spontaneity. “There's just less time to -- if you've got an idea -- go grab two or three people or pop into a room with two or three people and have spontaneous conversations and address stuff on the fly," he said. "It blunts the creativity a little bit."

  • Work-from-home tips from Pannes: Be flexible and open-minded right now. “Don't be afraid to make mistakes in this period. Don't let the fear of not getting something perfect the first time keep you from you doing it,” he said. “There's nothing wrong in this environment of trying stuff out.” Pannes: “Go ahead and do it and you'll be surprised how effective it can be and how appreciative people can be that you're making the effort.”

 

Whitecaps CEO Mark Pannes has a makeshift chat setup at his Vancouver Airbnb

 

 NFL COULD ALLOW TEAMS BACK INTO HQs FOR DRAFT
  • The NFL today said it’s considering allowing teams back into their shuttered facilities to pick during the April 23-25 draft, SBJ’s Ben Fischer reports. If teams are allowed back to HQs, they will also be permitted to use other facilities as long as they follow local laws and the CDC’s social distancing procedures. The memo comes one day after the Saints announced plans to draft from a brewery controlled by owner Gayle Benson, which raised eyebrows in some corners.

  • No final decisions have been made, but the NFL is considering two scenarios based on CDC guidance, input from NFL Chief Medical Officer Dr. Allen Sills and local laws:

    • Teams cannot gather together at all, and officials must run their drafts from their personal residences
    • A limited number of officials will be permitted into the team facilities, subject to mandatory health and safety guidelines.

  • Plans to shift to off-site locations, like the Saints are doing, will only be permitted if it’s option No. 2. In other words, if anyone has to pick from home, they all do.

  

CARDS, ROCKIES HOST VIRTUAL MLB HOME OPENERS

  • Some MLB teams are staging virtual home openers as they look to engage fans while also encouraging them to stay at home during the pandemic, SBJ's Eric Prisbell reports. The Cardinals' "Stay Home Opener," by all accounts, was a success today. As of 3pm ET, seven tweets had generated some 850,000 impressions and included messages from notable alumni such as Ozzie Smith. A Facebook post launching the campaign had a 17% engagement rate. The team encouraged fans to show their spirit by wearing team gear and by sharing their Busch Stadium home opener memories on social media using #STLStayHomeOpener. The hashtag started trending in the St. Louis area early this afternoon.

  • Digital and printable signs stating "I Stay Home for _____" were available for download from the team's website, providing people the opportunity to show support for medical professionals, emergency personnel and others. The team also engaged with fans and influencers throughout the day across its social platforms, and highlighted exclusive Opening Day videos and photo collections from previous years.  "Opening Day at Busch Stadium is like no other -- pretty much a holiday in this city," Cards Director of Multimedia Communications Jill Falk told SBJ. "We wanted a way to mark the day for our fans with hope, by also sharing a community message that there's a reason we can't be together today, but we still love our team and this city."

  • On radio, KMOX hosted a two-hour special broadcast late in the afternoon featuring interviews with current and former Cardinals, including Willie McGee, Adam Wainwright and Tony LaRussa. In addition, the club's community resource page includes comprehensive information on ways to support community partners. It also incorporates a number of baseball-themed educational activities for children.

  • Elsewhere, the Colorado Rockies Foundation will air a special "Stay at Home Opener" Feed the Rockies event on Friday, the original date of the team's home opener. The virtual game broadcast, which will include the best and most memorable innings from home openers, will be aired on AT&T SportsNet Rocky Mountain and also be shown on the team website. Rockies' social media accounts will be providing second-screen content throughout. The team foundation will also be hosting an online fundraiser to benefit food banks in Colorado and Wyoming called "Feed the Rockies."

 

MSG will now put up a message each night at 7pm local time to recognize frontline workers

  

SCHOOLS ENCOURAGED TO INNOVATE ON FOOTBALL TICKETING

  • The pressure is mounting on colleges to get even more creative in their approach to football ticket sales, one industry expert tells SBJ's Michael Smith. It’s time to consider two-for-one specials, ticket sales without the required donation or complementary bowl tickets with a renewal. That’s the recommendation from Patrick Ryan, co-founder of Eventellect, which works with college and pro teams on pricing, analytics and strategies. “Some of the college partners are underestimating the severity of what’s going to happen to the economy,” Ryan said. “Some schools have reacted by pushing back deadlines (for renewals). That’s going to be like a bucket of water in a drought.”

  • If the pandemic subsides and football season is saved, the rush to buy tickets will slam athletic departments, which is even more reason to provide incentives for sales now. One thought to encourage ticket buyers, Ryan said, is to tie a donation to an academic department to tickets. If an alum donates $3,000 to the business school, it would count the same as a donation to athletics for one year.

  • Schools are under pressure to innovate, and ticketing is fertile territory these days.

 

MSG LIGHTING UP TO RECOGNIZE FRONTLINE WORKERS

  • Madison Square Garden will light up each night for about 15 minutes beginning at 7pm local time as the organization recognizes healthcare workers, grocery store clerks, first responders and other local officials on the frontlines, SBJ's Mark J. Burns reports. MSG Exec VP/Sports Operations Kristin Bernert tells SBJ that the new initiative, led by Senior VP & Executive Producer Jonny Greco, was designed to “amplify the spirit of New Yorkers."

  • Bernert: “We have the honor and opportunity to represent this great city in moments like this. … This was created to lift people up.” The design for MSG's exterior lighting was done by Melissa Markowich from the technical operations team, while the video for social media was created by Kermit Mercado from the MSG productions group.

 

 

SPEED READS

  • D-backs President & CEO Derrick Hall told Phoenix-based KTAR-AM that the past couple weeks have affirmed his confidence in tele-working, with plenty of help from Microsoft Teams. “We’ve always wondered if we could work remotely from time to time. It’s good for everybody and it certainly helps people with their families.” Hall said when the sports industry eventually gets back to some form of normalcy, he’d like to create a week in the offseason for all team employees to work remote if they so choose.
  • To play or not to play is becoming a big question in some circles. Spectrum News Charlotte Sports Director Mike Solarte feels the time has come for the NHL and NBA to throw in the towel on the 2019-20 season to preserve some sense of normalcy moving forward. Solarte told ESPN Radio Charlotte, “We continue to get governmental stay-at-home orders that continue to get extended out … All these things just make me think maybe we just need to shut these down. The leagues still have other business to handle. They still have their offseasons that they have to address and the upcoming drafts, free agency. … I can’t imagine playing Stanley Cup Playoff games in August.”
  • The American Cornhole League on Friday will debut ACL Virtual, a new platform that enables players to compete remotely through the league’s app. ACL Commissioner & Founder Stacey Moore told SBJ’s Thomas Leary the platform represents a chance for renewed optimism on the circuit after it was forced to cancel last month’s sold-out event in Cleveland that was also set to air on ESPN airwaves. Moore said the platform took a couple weeks to develop after the coronavirus began to impact the schedule, and players have reacted favorably to the ability to track their virtual stats through the app.
  • Bettors in Nevada will soon be able to place mobile wagers around select pro competitions for the game "Counter-Strike: Global Offensive," Esports Observer's Graham Ashton notes. William Hill U.S. has "already informed Nevada regulators of its intent to take bets."

  • Snapchat on its company blog noted some big increases as people around the world are staying at home. Time spent playing Snap Lenses was up more than 25% during late March compared to late February. While major sporting events are on hold, Snap also is seeing “sustained engagement with sports related content.” Some pro athletes are using the platform to stay in touch with teammates. Predators D Roman Josi told the Nashville Post: “We have a Snapchat group too, so there's a lot of videos, a lot of pictures and a ton of pictures and videos of kids, kids doing fun stuff.”

  • Golden Gate Fields, a thoroughbred horse racing track in the San Francisco area, announced today it was closing live racing, effective immediately, SBJ's Liz Mullen notes. The move is "in accordance with instructions received this morning from the Alameda County Public Health Officer" in response to the pandemic.

 

 


NEWS YOU NEED FROM SPORTS BUSINESS DAILY

  • During this crisis impacting the sports business, we want everyone to be up-to-date on the latest news and information. SBD's "Coronavirus & Sports" section is free, outside the paywall, for the foreseeable future. Below are today's headlines:

    • Kraft Family, Patriots Work To Deliver Crucial Masks From China
    • Canada PM's Outlook Could Mean Mid-Summer Return For NHL
    • Nets GM: NBA Leaving No Stone Unturned On Season Restart
    • With MLB London Nixed, Cardinals Chair Eyes Future Appearance
    • Japan's Nippon Professional Baseball Seen As Cautionary Tale For MLB
    • Endeavor The Latest To Implement Companywide Pay Cuts
    • Top MLSE Execs Taking Pay Cuts To Minimize COVID-19 Impact
    • Rangers' Shin-Soo Choo Donating $1,000 Each To Club's 190 MiLBers
    • NASCAR R&D Shifts Gears To Offer Coronavirus Aid To Hospitals

 


SBJ UNPACKS -- WEATHERING COVID-19

 

 

 

Something related to coronavirus and sports business catch your eye? Tell us about it. Reach out to Austin Karp (akarp@sportsbusinessjournal.com) and we'll share the best of it.

 

 

 

SBJ Unpacks: Coronavirus -- Tennis Stakeholders Show Solidarity

A couple of news items today showed how much the global pandemic already has affected the sports business – both on personal and corporate levels.

Like most of the people who contract COVID-19, John Skipper recovered. But when I first heard that the DAZN Group executive chairman had tested positive for the virus, my heart sank. Skipper spent two weeks in bed recovering. By all accounts, he’s on the mend and taking phone calls now.

Earlier today, Fox showed how much it believes the coronavirus pandemic will likely impact its business. In an SEC filing, Fox said the outbreak “could have a material adverse effect on the Company’s business, financial condition or results of operations over the near to medium term.” While Fox News’ ratings are strong, “sports events for which the company has broadcast rights have been cancelled or postponed” and production has been suspended, the company said.

Stay safe, everyone. 

-- John Ourand

  

 

WIMBLEDON CANCELLATION DIFFERS FROM FRENCH OPEN APPROACH

  • There was a show of solidarity today from many of the major stakeholders in tennis, writes SBJ’s Bret McCormickas Wimbledon was canceled at the same time that the ATPWTA and ITF put out statements extending the suspension of play. The choreographed statements contrasted with the French Open’s unilateral and widely condemned decision two weeks ago to move its Grand Slam tournament to the fall without consulting other tennis bodies (the key stakeholders found out through a tweet).

  • The All England Lawn Tennis Club's move to cancel Wimbledon marks the first time since a six-year stoppage during World War II that the Grand Slam tournament won’t be contested. Multiple outlets reported earlier this week that Wimbledon in fact had an insurance policy that included global pandemic coverage, which should mitigate most of the cancellation’s financial damage, including ticket refunds.

  • After today, nearly the entire clay and grass court swings for the ATP and WTA have been wiped out by coronavirus. Three of the 11 tournaments impacted by today’s suspensions are studying dates later in the year in an attempt to hold their events. The July 12 cutoff also butts up to the start of the U.S. Open Series, beginning with the Hall of Fame Open in NewportR.I., on July 13. Tournament director Todd Martin told McCormick on Tuesday that a decision should be made before the end of May about whether to hold the Hall of Fame Open, and that it does not have an event cancelation policy.

 

 

 

COLLEGE PROGRAM MAKES COACHING HIRE SIGHT UNSEEN

  • Georgia Southern’s new AD, Jared Benko, hired a basketball coach last weekend without meeting him face-to-face. In fact, Benko and his hire, Brian Burg, met in person for the first time this afternoon, three days after announcing the deal, SBJ’s Michael Smith reports. That would have been unheard of just a few weeks ago, but not during a pandemic.

  • Like most interactions these days, Benko interviewed Burg via video conferencing. They sealed the deal with an old-fashioned two-hour phone call. “That conversation is one you’d typically have over a long dinner,” Benko said. “But meeting just wasn’t an option.”

  • Benko, who left the Deputy AD post at Mississippi State earlier this month, wasn’t even on the job at Georgia Southern yet when Eagles’ basketball coach Mark Byington left for James Madison. Within just a few days of his introductory press conference, Benko had a major search on his hands.
  • Over an eight-day span, Burg interviewed three times over video conference with Benko, the university president and a select group of donors. Parker Executive Search aided GSU with the coaching hire, which was announced Sunday. “I’ve always felt like it was invaluable to sit across from someone and look them in the eye,” said Benko, whose first official day as AD was today. “We just had to improvise so that we could both get to a point where we were comfortable. I feel really good about where we wound up.”

 

  

  

SPORTS MARKETERS LOOK FOR ANSWERS

  • Absent games, visible fans and televised events, along with a clear answer to exactly when sports will take the field again, sports marketers are slowly finding a new way to operate, writes SBJ's Terry Lefton. Still, for a business normally as transaction-oriented as sports, it's been a difficult transition.
  • “It's hard to be really focused on the commercial aspects of our business right now, so we’re focusing on  the community aspects,” said Jaguars President Mark Lamping. The team has bought more than $30,000 in gift cards from restaurants with which it has business relationships. The Jaguars then turn those gift cards over to local hospitals for use by their medical staff. 
  • Season tickets and sponsorships are still being sold, but gently. “We’re trying to maintain the same call frequency,” Lamping said, “but the conversations (have) changed drastically, of course. As an industry, we always talked about having ‘business partners’ -- now is the time to actually show that across sports. The reality is that we’re all going to take a hit this year, so we don’t want to make matters worse in the short term.”
  • Sports business is now an industry in search of that new norm, with few clues as to what that will be.“The first time you are lined up to go into a stadium and somebody coughs, what’s going to happen?” asked Genesco Sports head John Tatum. “Three phrases I'm hearing from everybody,” said Peter Stern, who heads marketing firm The Strategic Agency. “They are: Wait and see, I don’t know and how do you strike the right tone so you don’t look opportunistic. We’re all looking for those answers.”

 

 

TONY PONTURO BELIEVES CRISIS WILL FORCE DIFFERENT THINKING

  • Driving back to his Manhattan apartment after a brief respite in the Carolinas earlier this week, Tony Ponturo had lots of time to think about ways in which the sports marketing world might turn in the coming weeks, months -- and maybe even years. Now consulting after a lengthy stint heading up sports and entertainment marketing at Anheuser-Busch, he pondered what faces brands that sponsor sports and entertainment properties as they navigate this period, and what should they be thinking about next.

  • “We all get somehow smarter coming out of (crises) ,and I think this will happen again as we go through this,” Ponturo said on the most recent SBJ Unpacks podcast. “It makes people think past the routine of the everyday management of their business, whether that’s a league or a team or an athlete. And certainly the corporations. ... It makes you open up and think differently and positive things can come out of that.”

  • For Terry Lefton’s complete conversation with Ponturo, check out the SBJ Unpacks podcast.

 

DAKTRONICS REOPENS PRODUCTION FACILITY IN CHINA

  • As the impact of the pandemic has shifted to Europe and the U.S., Daktronics, the world’s largest supplier of electronic scoreboards and video displays, has resumed production at its China factory, while suspending production temporarily at its Ireland and Minnesota facilities, SBJ’s Karn Dhingra reports. Some Daktronics customers continue to place orders, while others are choosing to delay purchases. The company is monitoring potential disruptions to its supply chain and shipping operations. Daktronics has identified alternative sources and shipping methods if the pandemic takes a toll on the company’s primary sourcing and distribution channels.
  • The South Dakota-based company, which continues to be fully operational in Brookings and Sioux Falls, is also taking a number of other measures to reduce the financial impact during the pandemic, including furloughing workers, drawing down its existing line of credit, pursuing other sources of financing, reducing investments in capital assets and reducing exec pay and board member compensation.
  • Daktronics CEO Reece Kurtenbach and CFO Sheila Anderson elected to reduce their base salaries by 15%. Other high-level execs will have their pay cut by 10%. The board of directors will take a 15% reduction on their annual cash retainer fees. The BOD also voted to suspend stock repurchases under the company’s share repurchase program and to suspend dividends for the foreseeable future. 

 

GEN.G PARTNERS WITH KENTUCKY FOR “NBA 2K” TOURNEY

  • Esports outfit Gen.G is taking advantage of the uptick in online tournaments and has partnered with the University of Kentucky for an “NBA 2K20” event on Twitch, SBJ’s Austin Karp reports. The deal was done across all levels of the school, including the athletic department, and will look to include UK students, alum and fans. The deal marks Gen.G’s first university-focused tournament event at the fan level.

  • Gen.G Head of Revenue Operations Jordan Sherman tells SBJ the outfit is actively working on bringing in UK sports alums to either participate in the tournament in the "Big Blue Nation" division or to come on as hosts during the event. A bracket of 64 members, ages 13+, will compete for a championship (PS4 consoles only). Fans who enter to compete will find out on April 6 during a special “Selection Show” if they were randomly selected based on all skill levels.

 

     

    SPEED READS

    • Long-term planning -- think 2-3 years out -- is usually how Mike Whan spends his time as LPGA commissioner. But like many top execs, that has changed with the pandemic. “Now I’m working on the season 2-3 months from now,” Whan told the No Laying Up” podcast. “I’m spending virtually every minute of every day working with different sponsors and tournaments for how we can get them in a date that can work. We obviously have more events than we have dates -- so it’s been a busy, stressful time. Every conversation starts with, ‘So when will you guys start playing?’ There’s the question nobody can answer.” 
    • Georgia Southern wasn't the only college hoops program whose coaching search was impacted by the sports shutdown. Western Michigan promoted assistant coach Clayton Bates to lead the men’s program, and AD Kathy Beauregard told the Detroit News that the coronavirus “forced the scrapping of a national search, and that Bates, on a two-year deal, was best suited to keep the program stable.” Bates’ salary is the lowest in the MAC, and the “cost savings is no small thing” for WMU, which “currently is in a hiring freeze, and not allowed to hire from outside the university.”
    • The Leaders Digest newsletter today had some interesting stats in response to a question we may all have right now: “How many people can I get on a virtual chat?” The numbers: WhatsApp – 4; Instagram – 6; Houseparty – 8; Snapchat – 16; FaceTime – 32; Facebook Messenger and Skype – 50; Google Hangouts and Zoom - 100 (more can be acquired); Skype for Business – 250; and MS Teams 250 (10,000 for a live event).

    • Barstool Sports’ “Pardon My Take” asked Canadian IOC member Dick Pound if he agreed with the reports that he had to “pressure” Tokyo Games organizers into a delay. “Not so much pressure as saying, ‘Look, we’re delighted that you seem to have a reasonable handle on things in Japan. But if you look around the world, the risk is if you persist with a July 24, 2020 date, you throw this big party -- and nobody can come to it. … That would be a worst alternative for you than a postponement.’ Postponement was the right answer.”

    • A UEFA Champions League match in Milan in February has shown to be part of ground zero for the coronavirus outbreak in Italy. The Wall Street Journal goes deep on that Atalanta-Valencia match, which proved to be a “contagion disaster” with around 40,000 “hugging” fans at San Siro Stadium. The virus was so present that night that once Valencia returned to Spain, 35% of its traveling squad “eventually tested positive."

     

    NEWS YOU NEED FROM SPORTS BUSINESS DAILY

    • During this crisis impacting the sports business, we want everyone to be up-to-date on the latest news and information. SBD's "Coronavirus & Sports" section is free, outside the paywall, for the foreseeable future. Below are today's headlines:

      • Wimbledon The Latest Event Canceled Due To Coronavirus
      • NFL Continues Unabated With Plans To Start Season On Time
      • NFL, Like All Sports, Adapting To A New Form Of Normal
      • MLB Officially Scraps Cubs-Cardinals Series In London
      • Damian Lillard Not In Favor Of Permanently Shifting NBA Calendar
      • NHLers Likely Face Uphill Battle In Getting Back In Game Shape
      • Pac-12 Discusses Salary Adjustments Amid Sports Stoppage
      • Padres Split $1M Between Gameday Staff, Third-Party Contractors
      • Execs Talk Leadership Amid Virus At Women In Sports Summit
      • Arizona Organizations Donating, Giving Support To Relief Efforts

     

    SBJ UNPACKS -- WEATHERING COVID-19

     

     

     

    Something related to coronavirus and sports business catch your eye? Tell us about it. Reach out to Austin Karp (akarp@sportsbusinessjournal.com) and we'll share the best of it.

     

     

     

    SBJ Unpacks: Coronavirus -- NFL Planning For Full Season

    The NFL is vigorously moving forward with alternate plans for the April 23-25 draft, providing fans with something to look forward to in the absence of any actual live sporting events.

    SBJ’s Ben Fischer has a report on how the NFL intends to structure the picks so that they can be held without gathering too many people in one spot. Large gatherings might not be as commonplace after the pandemic, based on a survey cited in tonight’s newsletter that shows 44% of fans will be less likely to go to a game.

    By the time the draft actually arrives, more than three weeks will have passed and we’ll know if the shelter-at-home restrictions are helping to successfully flatten the coronavirus curve.

    The draft and its lead-up might serve as a diversion, but it’s the last thing on the mind of L.A. Mayor Eric Garcetti, who said today that his city is on track to be the next New York. That’s not a distinction any Southern Californian wants in this pandemic.

    March is finally over. It was a long month. Here’s to better days in April, and the next mock draft.

    -- Michael Smith

      

     

    NFL "PLANNING" FOR NORMAL SEASON BASED ON MEDICAL INPUT

    • The NFL’s optimistic view of its regular season is based on input from medical experts watching virus trends overseas and domestically, SBJ’s Ben Fischer reports. Today, word came from China that a return to sports normalcy is further off than hoped, but senior NFL execs said they are planning for a normal season starting Sept. 10 -- with fans in the stadiums, international games and no postponements.

    • When asked why the league is optimistic, NFL Exec VP & General Counsel Jeff Pash said: "What the doctors are looking at are models that address the effectiveness of different kinds of interventions, on how the curve has trended down and tailed off in other countries, and what they believe will be the result based on the modeling that’s done in this country.” In short, they believe the current U.S. efforts to stop the virus by closing businesses and banning gatherings will work quickly enough to allow for the NFL to return -- and for the crucial new stadiums in L.A. and Las Vegas to be completed. Owners heard a presentation from NFL Chief Medical Officer Dr. Allen Sills today.

    • League execs gave no deadline for having to decide about the regular season. In the meantime, the NFL is considering plans for virtual offseason programs for players, and has delayed the schedule release from mid-April to early May, though that was already in the works, as SBJ reported in February. “Our expectation is fully directed at playing a full season and starting on schedule. ... Just as we did in 2019,” said Pash. “Am I certain? I’m not certain I’ll be here tomorrow, but I’m planning on it. That’s what we talked about."

     

    FANATICS HAS NO PLANS TO LAY OFF ANY WORKERS

    • At a time when layoffs are roiling an already beleaguered sports licensing industry, Fanatics, by far the biggest force in that market, says it has no plans to furlough any of its 2,500 full-time office employees, including corporate warehouses, manufacturing and fulfillment centers, SBJ's Terry Lefton reports. Large sports-licensing concerns including Wincraft, New Era, '47 Brand, Outerstuff and Lids have furloughed hundreds of employees.

    • “You’ve got the worst case imaginable, with this double negative of sports completely stopped and retail shut down, so we’re hurting like everyone,” said Fanatics Exec Chair Michael Rubin. “There’s nothing to drive sales. ... We’ve maintained our corporate work force and we don’t plan on make any changes there. We have no plans to furlough any employees in the corporate work force.”

     

    SOURCES: DAZN LIKELY NOT SETTING A RIGHTS FEE TREND IN THE U.S.

    • It is not expected that DAZN’s decision to withhold rights fees from leagues that have suspended games will have any immediate repercussions among bigger media companies in the U.S., several sources told SBJ’s John Ourand. Several execs describe negotiations with leagues over contract language around the pandemic as ongoing with all sides trying to reach agreements that benefit everyone.

    • The streaming service has told leagues that it will not pay for suspended games and defer payments for future games until leagues get specific about when seasons will start. DAZN’s move was a surprise. Though it came after some other European broadcasters have said that they would not pay for suspended games, DAZN is the first media company with U.S. ties to make such a move. It’s not known how leagues will react. Some could sue DAZN and demand they adhere to the letter of the contract. Others could work with DAZN in the hopes that it will continue to be a healthy bidder for sports rights when the outbreak settles.

    • In an internal email this morning, DAZN Group CEO Simon Denyer said the streaming company would furlough an unspecified number of employees in the coming weeks. “We committed to do everything we can to survive this crisis and then revive the business later this year,” Denyer wrote. “However, with revenues dropping and investment not available, we can only survive by making some hard decisions. ... If we can implement this plan and if live sport returns later this year, we can revive this business and we can all make DAZN what we want it to be -- the home and future of live sports. However, we will only get there if we survive the next few months.” 

     

     

    PAC-12 CONSIDERING PAY REDUCTIONS FOR TOP EXECS

    • Pac-12 Commissioner Larry Scott tells SBJ's Michael Smith that the conference HQ is discussing executive salary adjustments while competition is at a halt. Temporary pay reductions have been more common among corporate and pro league execs than in college sports. The NCAA’s top leadership, including President Mark Emmert, is taking a 20% cut in salary, while others at the VP level will see a 10% reduction. Those cuts are intended to relieve some financial pressure after the NCAA distributed $225 million to its D-I membership, or just 37.5% of the $600 million that was budgeted after March Madness was canceled. Emmert’s salary was listed at $2.1 million in 2017.

    • The Pac-12 is considering temporary pay reductions even though Scott said the conference’s revenue for the 2019-20 school year is secure. On total annual revenue of roughly $500 million, the Pac-12 will take a hit of around 3-5%. Scott: “We've got several ways to mitigate some of that, that we're going to be working on. We'll be talking to our members about business-interruption insurance that we have and what kind of expense savings we can capture. We're fortunate we've got reserves, we've got other cash-flow cushions if we want to use them.” The conference lost about $4 million after ticket refunds were applied to the Pac-12 Basketball Tournament. Scott received $5.3 million in 2017 salary for his role as commissioner and head of the Pac-12 Networks.

    • With the conference’s wholly-owned networks not producing live events and studio shows, it will look for savings. Scott: “We are trying to tell stories, do PSAs that show what student-athletes and coaches are doing in their communities, things like that.” Without spring championships to put on, Scott said: “We're not going to have some of the same operational expenses in the office. We're looking at everything, top to bottom, to mitigate any shortfall our members might see from this year's revenue.”

     

    BERNIE MULLIN DISCUSSES WHY ENGAGEMENT WITH FANS REMAINS PARAMOUNT

    • What happens to the sales force at a pro team or college athletic department when the games stop, and there’s no way of knowing when they’ll start again? Does it keep dialing and emailing and texting? Bernie Mullin, founder & chair of the Atlanta-based Aspire Group, points back to the Great Depression, when Kellogg’s rose from the No. 3 breakfast cereal brand to No. 1 because it continued to market when others stopped, as an example of why sales and fund-raising staffs must remain engaged with customers and donors.

    • “There is an amazing opportunity to come through these terribly tough times if you keep on engaging with your fans, but engaging in a different way,” Mullin tells SBJ’s Bill King on the most recent episode of the SBJ Unpacks podcast.

    • Mullin said about one-third of his firm’s 47 clients in college athletics have maintained sales processes as usual during the outbreak, while another third has pushed back renewal deadlines and shifted to maintenance check-ins rather than traditional sales calls. The remainder have stopped communicating with customers entirely, which he called “really scary and frightening.” “None of our kids are going out there pushing sales hard, whether its premium tickets or season tickets ... or donations,” Mullin said. “But they are having the conversations (saying), ‘How are you, how is your family, where are you, what’s going on?' ... “One of our phrases is ‘Fans for Life,’ and that’s how you build fans for life. When tough times come around you show your compassion, concern and appreciation.”

    • For much more from Mullin, including lessons learned enduring a season-long NHL lockout while CEO of the Thrashers and helping teams open their seasons after 9/11 while at the NBA, check out the latest episode of SBJ Unpacks here.

     

    NFL DRAFT MOVING FORWARD; TEAMS COULD GET MORE PICK TIME

    • The NFL Draft from April 23-25 will operate with a "hub and spoke” system of remote connections to allow the event to occur under coronavirus mitigation rules, with Commissioner Roger Goodell or other announcers at the center and 32 teams and likely draftees plugged in from home, SBJ’s Ben Fischer reports. Current players, retirees and fans may also join the show from home, but the primary focus will be on guaranteeing the integrity of the core business at hand, said NFL Exec VP/Club Business & League Events Peter O’Reilly.

    • Two league execs -- Chief Medical Officer Dr. Allen Sills and Exec VP/Health & Safety Jeff Miller -- will ensure that all draft activities are compliant with CDC guidelines and social distancing procedures. That means no more than 10 people in any one place, all six feet from each other. Hand-washing rules will be strictly enforced, and nobody who’s sick is allowed. More broadcast details are still being worked out with ESPN and NFL Network.

    • There is at least one substantive change to draft rules under consideration: The competition committee will debate a possible 1-2 minute extension to allow teams to execute trades remotely, Exec VP/Football Operations Troy Vincent said. Also today, the NFL said it is working with officials from Las Vegas and the Raiders to give that city hosting rights to a future draft. Vegas had been slated as the 2020 host before public gatherings were banned. The 2022 event is still without a host, but 2021 has been awarded to Cleveland and 2023 is going to Kansas City.

     

    SURVEY: SPORTS FANS MAY NOT FLOCK BACK TO VENUES

    • Nearly half of sports fans surveyed say they are likely to attend fewer events after the pandemic passes, according to Rhode Island-based Performance Research. Those results suggest tough days are ahead for event operators and ticket sellers. Not surprisingly, fans view health safety as a higher concern than years past, SBJ's Karn Dhingra writes.

    • A majority of fans of various sports -- 66% in pro, 68% in college and 64% in Olympics -- believe the move to postpone or cancel games has been “about right.”

    • Performance Research’s survey found that fans expect more of corporate sponsors of sports and live events. Only 30% of fans agreed that sponsors should “conduct business as usual,” while 56% said they expect brands and corporations should to be “socially good.” The survey shows that sports and entertainment properties have an opportunity to take a leadership role in setting new standards for protecting public health, said Performance Research VP Bill Doyle.

        

      NASCAR iRACING VIEWERSHIP JUMPS 47% FROM FIRST RACE

      • Fresh sports content remains hard to come by during the pandemic, and Fox and FS1 took full advantage on Sunday, combining to average 1.34 million viewers for the second NASCAR iRacing telecast. That marks the most-watched esports event yet on linear TV in the U.S., SBJ’s Austin Karp reports. FS1 accounted for 823,000 of those viewers. The telecast from 1:00-2:51pm ET, which was set around Texas Motor Speedway, tops the previous record set by the first NASCAR Pro Invitational Series telecast last weekend by 47%. That telecast averaged 903,000 viewers on FS1 alone around a race from Homestead-Miami Speedway.

      • Some comps on Sunday? In the same window, CBS was airing the 1985 NCAA Basketball Championship (Villanova-Georgetown), which drew 750,000 viewers. NBC was carrying the 2018 Women’s Hockey Gold Medal Game from the PyeongChang Olympics, and that drew 722,000 viewers. Cable news still dominated the window. Fox News averaged 2.47 million viewers from 1:00-3:00pm, while CNN averaged 1.96 million.

      • Looking at some recent sports events prior to the pandemic shutdown in the U.S., the 1.34 million viewers is identical to what NBC drew for the Manchester City-Manchester United match on March 8. The iRacing telecast is just below what FS1 drew for the XFL St. Louis BattleHawks-Houston Roughnecks game on Feb 16 (1.36 million), and above what ESPN drew for a Kentucky-LSU college hoops game on Feb. 18 (1.31 million).

       

      Veteran driver Timmy Hill on Sunday claimed the O'Reilly Auto Parts 125 at a virtual Texas Motor Speedway

       

      DECISION ON WTT SEASON LIKELY DECIDED BY JUNE 15

      • The World TeamTennis season is set to begin July 12, but the league’s annual three-week run is far from a certainty due to the pandemic. WTT CEO Carlos Silva tells SBJ’s Bret McCormick that the league has a deadline for deciding whether to play or not. “Right around June 15 you have to make those final decisions,” Silva said. “That’s probably the drop-dead so we can have everything in place.” Silva said the league’s next status update will most likely be released the first week of May. If WTT does go forward, it should be able to benefit from the Olympics’ postponement. Silva said that WTT Head of Player Operations Matt Elefant has fielded numerous calls during the last week from agents whose players were headed to Tokyo, but now have a gap in their competitive calendars. 

      • WTT’s mostly impermanent stadiums -- which have an average capacity of around 3,000 fans -- lend the nine-team league more flexibility compared to other tennis events. Most WTT venues are rented and built out a week before play begins. The intimate nature has been a strength for the WTT. That begs the question: would the league play without fans? “The fans, the kind of feeling you get on the court, the music, the cheering, all goes into the entire package of what makes World TeamTennis great,” said Silva. “Having said that, I have to look at it. It’s probably down the list quite a ways. Right now the main decision is do we play on July 12 or do we not play on July 12?”

      • League sponsors also need clarity. Barefoot Hard Seltzer and jeweler John Hardy are new this season, while GEICO is among those returning. But the economic reality makes it hard to predict how sponsors’ individual businesses will look by mid-June. “All those sponsors are going to need to kick start their lives and their businesses and live sports is the greatest way to do it,” said Silva.

      • WTT also has some fresh TV content coming this weekend. The league held an all-star exhibition on March 1 that was taped and edited into a one-hour broadcast that will air on CBS on Saturday at 1:30pm ET. The dearth of new sports could mean a boost for WTT ratings. “Our partners at CBS, they need content, everyone needs some fresh content,” said Silva.

       

      TWO TOP COYOTES EXECS DONATING 20% OF SALARIES

      • Two top Coyotes execs -- President of Hockey Operations & GM John Chayka and President & CEO Ahron Cohen -- will each donate 20% of their salaries over the next few months, reports SBJ’s Mark J. Burns. The money will be directed toward supporting the Arizona Coronavirus Relief Fund and other state non-profits. Cohen, an SBJ "Forty Under 40" honoree this year, said that two weeks ago, he and Chayka received a phone call from Gov. Doug Ducey to assist in volunteering at a Phoenix food bank. Cohen said it was an “eye-opening” experience to see both financial and food demand increasing while donations were heading in the opposite direction.

      • The Coyotes execs had a short phone conversation this past Saturday evening around additional ways that they could support local efforts. “It was important to step up as leaders in the sports community in Arizona but also as leaders in the business community to help serve this state," Cohen said. "Quite frankly, we don’t exist as a hockey team if we don’t have the support of our fans here in Arizona. It’s incumbent on us to return the support."

         

        OPENDORSE SEES UPTICK IN ATHLETE USE DURING SPORTS HIATUS

        • Teams across U.S. pro sports have leaned into using social media marketing platform Opendorse as athletes reside more at home during the coronavirus, Founder & CEO Blake Lawrence tells SBJ's Mark J. Burns. Lawrence pointed toward the Sharks in particular as one club whose players -- like Logan CoutureKevin Labanc and Stefan Noesen -- have been issued content directly via Opendorse to post on Twitter. “It’s been cool to see partners leverage the platform to keep players active on social media as a way to keep the fans connected and humanize the athlete-fan relationship,” Lawrence said.

        • A few notable stats that Lawrence shared: in the week before March 12 when the sports world seemed to stop, athletes from various leagues, including the NBAWNBAMLBNASCARNFLNHLMLS and PGA Tour, among others, shared 23,000 tweets. During the following week, that number increased to 30,000 while the number of engagements with athletes’ tweets spiked from 15 million to 23 million.

         

         

        SPEED READS

        • USA Wrestling has announced that the Olympic Trials will be postponed until 2021, SBJ's Chris Smith notes. The event was initially scheduled for April 4-5 on Penn State's campus. Tickets for the event will be rolled over for the 2021 trials, with refunds available by request through June 1.

        • The “NBA 2K Players Tournament” is coming to ESPN airwaves. Kevin Durant and Trae Young headline a group of 16 current players who will compete in a single-elimination tournament on Xbox One. Coverage begins this Friday night, with the eventual semifinals and finals airing on April 11. The eventual winner will select a charity beneficiary to receive a $100,000 donation from 2K Sports, the NBA and NBPA in support of ongoing coronavirus relief efforts.

        • Golf Channel’s Rex Hoggard reports that should next month’s Charles Schwab Challenge take place in Ft. Worth, the PGA Tour field “will be expanded from 120 players to 144.” The plan represents the tour’s effort to “make up for lost playing opportunities” amid the shutdown. Hoggard also cites sources as saying that the tour is “considering expanding field sizes in other events,” and also “plans to play as many opposite-field tournaments as possible” should the season resume.

        • Esports Observer’s Graham Rushton writes the esports industry will “inevitably take a hit from COVID-19 in terms of lost event revenue and momentum, but the medium of live gaming entertainment could emerge from this blackout brighter than ever.” Even once the entertainment industry “goes live again, it will have felt the power of digital, of OTT media, and reaching an audience directly.” 

        • The Colorado Sun’s Jason Blevins reports the ski resort industry is “already slashing capital spending for next year by half as the nation's 460 ski hills in 37 states line up for small business assistance.” This comes a week after the National Ski Areas Association estimated those ski hills “could suffer $2 billion in losses stemming from the shutdown.” Beyond the lost retail, lessons, dining and lift ticket revenue, the industry “typically launches next season’s season pass sales in March and many in the industry fear the pandemic could weaken demand.” 

        • Brooks Running CEO Jim Weber told Footwear News his company has to be “very careful with our brand and our voice right now.” Weber: “Running has become an important part of people’s day because of this environment we’re in. They’re finding us and we’re finding them -- but it’s not a megaphone right now.” Weber’s entire interview is worth a click

        • ESPN’s Andrea Adelson checked in with several Division I spring-sport athletes to gauge their reaction to receiving an extra year of eligibility. “A lot of them didn’t know what they were going to do. A lot of them are set to graduate and were ready to move on and find jobs. Some even had jobs in place, but maybe those don’t even exist anymore. … I don’t necessarily think this means that every single player who played a spring sport is going to come back, but the fact that they now have this option -- that it won’t count against the scholarship limit -- it gives them another opportunity to play if they want it.”

         

        NEWS YOU NEED FROM SPORTS BUSINESS DAILY

        • During this crisis impacting the sports business, we want everyone to be up-to-date on the latest news and information. SBD's "Coronavirus & Sports" section is free, outside the paywall, for the foreseeable future. Below are today's headlines:

          • Sources: NBA Execs Still Bullish On One-Site, Fan-Less Playoff Event
          • China Delays Restart Of Pro Hoops; NBA Likely Keeping Watch
          • AAC Preps Contingencies To Address College Football Unknowns
          • FlamesOilers Temporarily Cutting Some Employees Amid COVID-19
          • Florida's New Stay-At-Home Orders Could Complicate MLB Start Date
          • WTA Looking To Extend Season To Help Tourneys, Players
          • NFLPA Medical Official Talks Virus Impact On NFL, Season Outlook
          • NHL Kings Among Several Teams Staging Video Game Simulations
          • Athletes, Other Personalities Launch Fund To Combat Coronavirus
          • 76ers' Ben Simmons Pledges To Help Out Local Nonprofits

         

        SBJ UNPACKS -- WEATHERING COVID-19

         

         

         

        Something related to coronavirus and sports business catch your eye? Tell us about it. Reach out to Austin Karp (akarp@sportsbusinessjournal.com) and we'll share the best of it.

         

         

         

        SBJ Unpacks: Coronavirus -- USA Rugby To File For Bankruptcy

        The entire Washington, D.C., region -- D.C., Maryland and Virginia -- has been told to shelter in place. Sports Illustrated is laying off 6% of its edit department. ESPN execs have to take significant pay cuts -- 30% for Exec VPs, 25% for Senior VPs and 20% for VPs. News continues to be grim, making it impossible to predict when sports leagues can start to play again.

        That’s why I want to point you to Brian Windhorst’s story about the Chinese Basketball Association that posted on ESPN.com over the weekend, which shows a scenario that U.S. leagues are monitoring.

        Windhorst cited sources that say the CBA is considering “clustering teams in one or two cities and playing one another in a round-robin format in empty arenas over several weeks.” Windhorst: “Teams would live and play in a constantly monitored environment, with players’ temperatures checked several times a day. If the plan were to unfold without incident, it could be a strategy the NBA considers among other options.” 

        The plan is not normal in the way that we all defined normal just a few weeks ago. But it presents a potential solution that puts “normalcy” closer than today’s headlines suggest.


        -- John Ourand
          

         

        WORLD RUGBY EXPECTED TO BAIL OUT USA RUGBY

        • USA Rugby announced today it will seek Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, citing “compounded and insurmountable financial constraints,” SBJ’s Ben Fischer reports. The governing body mentioned the loss of revenue due to the pandemic, but USA Rugby has been struggling for years in part due to a disastrous attempt to spin off its commercial rights into a for-profit company, Rugby Int’l Marketing.

        • World Rugby has agreed to bail out USA Rugby, officials said. They hope that support, along with the reorganization plan that will be submitted to a court, will allow it to emerge from bankruptcy under its own control. That will be subject to court supervision and input from all creditors.

        • USA Rugby ended 2018 nearly $5.4 million in debt after losing $1.95 million on a total budget of $23.6 million, according to tax forms. World Rugby already stepped in as part of a recovery plan engineered late that year, but the pandemic has stopped spring and summer membership dues, leaving the organization with no other choice, officials said. Elite men’s and women’s teams will continue to compete internationally during the bankruptcy proceedings once rugby returns.

         

        PLANNING CONTINUES AS SPORTS SPONSORSHIP DEALS ARE PAUSED

        • Sports marketing is normally a transaction-powered business, but, of course, all sales efforts are now in the deep freeze, SBJ's Terry Lefton writes. “Even if one of my guys brought me a sale, I’d tell them to put it on hold. It's just not the right time,” Ravens Senior/VP Corporate Sales Kevin Rochlitz told SBJ. Prospecting and planning for future sponsorship sales pitches is ongoing. As SponsorUnited Founder & CEO Bob Lynch puts it: “There’s general industry nervousness, so it's all on pause."

        • SponsorUnited’s database of brands and sponsorship data has seen a 20% jump in usage among its 3,000 active users over the last week or so. The top sponsor categories being searched by SponsorUnited’s customer base of more than 3,000 properties offers a snapshot of what the industry is looking at when everything else is on hold. For this past week, the top 10 categories were:

          • Cloud data/CRM
          • Consumer products/household supplies
          • Banking
          • Transportation services
            • (60% prompted by the Helbiz jersey sponsorship with USL club Miami FC).
          • Health care (clinics/labs/specialty services)
          • On-demand delivery services (Instacart, et al)
          • Snacks/food products
          • Telecom equipment/services
          • Insurance
          • Technology/general software

        • Other categories to watch, Lynch said, are fitness tech and wearables, cable/internet/connectivity and products/apps for meditation and stress relief. “Most interesting to me was that airlines were No. 14,” said Lynch. “Maybe a lot of people are thinking they’ll need to relaunch.”

         

        ALL IDEAS ON THE TABLE FOR COLLEGE FOOTBALL SEASON

        • The upcoming college football season remains shrouded in uncertainty and that breeds a lot of alternative ideas, SBJ’s Michael Smith writes. Sun Belt Commissioner Keith Gill told the Acadiana Advocate that his conference has begun exploring the ramifications of a shortened season or playing with a limited number of fans. Gill: “Everything is on the table.” USA Today’s Dan Wolken described a “break glass” scenario -- a season that starts after the new year and runs into the spring.

        • The possibility of moving the college football calendar up a month, a scenario introduced in this newsletter on Friday, was met with a vigorous thumbs down. The Athletic’s Bruce Feldman cited a “power broker” as saying, “There isn’t a sensible way it can happen.” SI’s Pat Forde heard from a Power Five source who said games over the summer “isn’t a serious option at all.”

        • College football’s offseason also must be scheduled once there’s some clarity on when campuses will reopen. An NFL-style mini-camp for May, June or July is one option, Texas A&M AD Ross Bjork said, followed by training camps that start in early August. So much of it depends on when the virus can be contained, and how long athletes would need to prepare for the season. As Big 12 Commissioner Bob Bowlsby said, “I don’t think there’s a crystal ball on earth that can tell us.”

         

         

        SOME QUESTIONS REMAIN ON VISA'S ENDORSEMENT EXTENSION PLAN

        • While Visa has informed its Olympic athletes that they have the option to extend their endorsement deal for an additional year, some agents say that it’s unclear at this point exactly how Visa plans to handle the extensions, SBJ's Chris Smith reports. “You’d imagine that all they’ve done here is extend the base salary for everybody,” said one agent, who added: “That’s what my assumption is right now, I haven’t got anything more than this memo.” A source said that Visa’s endorsement deals typically pay a $15,000 base salary, plus a five-figure qualification bonus for competing at the Games and performance bonuses for reaching the medal podium. A Visa spokesperson declined to elaborate on details, but confirmed that athlete contracts will remain unchanged for 2020.

        • In a letter to athletes, Visa Chief Marketing & Communications Officer Lynne Biggar wrote: “Visa is committing to continuing to support you and all of the 90-plus Team Visa athletes who have been training to compete in the Tokyo 2020 Games. … We want to continue to support you as you prepare for the Games next year. We will be inviting each of you on our Tokyo 2020 roster the opportunity to extend your relationship with Visa until the end of 2021. Our team will be in touch soon to discuss more details and next steps.” Visa’s Olympic roster includes gymnast Simone Biles, swimmer Katie Ledecky and soccer star Megan Rapinoe.

        • One athlete rep noted that Toyota was actually the first brand to reach out, though the Japanese automaker has yet to formally announce anything. “Toyota had reached out to all the agents and basically said, ‘We will help your athletes do what they need to do,’” said the source. “Toyota is definitely not leaving any of these athletes behind. … We had a phone call with Toyota’s leadership, and they were very genuine, they were very human. They really brought it.”

         

        RESCHEDULED OLYMPICS PRESENTS "UNPRECEDENTED" MARKETING OPPORTUNITY

        • Making the most of Olympic sponsorship rights that you’ve already paid for is one thing, writes SBJ's Bill King, but spending as planned to draw attention to it in the midst of economic turmoil is another. In today’s SBJ Unpacks podcast, Olympics consultant Terrence Burns acknowledges that some brands will have to re-think their level of spending around next year’s rescheduled Games. But he also anticipates that an unprecedented opportunity may emerge.

        • “You’re not going to get any return on that sponsorship if you don’t activate it,” Burns tells King. “Every sponsor knows that. Will the economy affect the activation budgets? Yes, it has to. Will they be depressed? Likely, in some categories. But you can’t underestimate the power of the Olympics next year, (if) we’re through this or it’s been blunted or it’s livable. The power of the Olympic Games to celebrate ... humanity’s triumph over this thing adds a whole other level of marketing and messaging and hope and optimism to the already excellent Olympic message."

        • Burns: “It could be the biggest opportunity in living memory to celebrate our collective humanity in a new way. I think those types of intangible benefits and values are real. Smart sponsors will understand that and I think you’re going to see some very exciting and epic messaging around these games next year.”

        • For much more from Burns on the many facets of moving the world’s largest sporting event back a year, check out the latest SBJ Unpacks podcast.

           

        WTA EXPLORING CALENDAR OPTIONS TO POSSIBLY EXTEND SEASON

        • The WTA is wading through the complicated mess left by coronavirus, but beginning to find some clarity, SBJ's Bret McCormick writes. The women’s tennis tour is currently suspended until June 8, but CEO Steve Simon indicated to SBJ that the WTA is looking to extend its season beyond the traditional 44 weeks in an effort to help tournaments and players. Simon said the tour is exploring several different revised calendar models in hopes of rescheduling interested events such as the Volvo Car Open in CharlestonS.C., which was one of 12 WTA tournaments that were canceled or postponed because of a suspension of play that started April 6.

        • Simon in an email wrote the WTA “started having such conversations" with tournaments in January when "we first started to see the rapid spread of the virus." Simon: "Tournaments are advising us to the potential dates they could reschedule, if they can reschedule, factors including when their venue would be available, to name a few. ... It’s a puzzle and we’re currently gathering all the information to put those pieces together to see what our new calendar could look like for the remaining 2020.”

        • Delivering for sponsors is another puzzle that the WTA has tried to proactively approach. Each deal is unique, but Simon wrote the WTA is trying to work with its stakeholders consistently during the stoppage by quickly turning around creative content and activating every resource available. For global premier partner Porsche, that meant a “Race Ready” player content series profiling how players are staying in shape and focused on their position in the Porsche Race to Shenzhen, where the WTA Finals are held each November. The tour has also arranged Instagram live chats between players for fans and provided media partners with immediate access to archival footage.

        • “Our team has worked tirelessly to not only develop bespoke partner solutions, but has already begun implementation,” Simon wrote. “You can see various companies across the globe, like we have experienced in tennis, are coming together, adapting in real-time and as a result, seeing a new value in their partnerships, despite the unexpected circumstances.”

         

        CLOTHING LICENSEES SHIFT FOCUS TO HEALTH WORKERS

        • Outerstuff and Refried Apparel, two clothing companies licensed by the four major sports leagues, are teaming up to help healthcare workers and first responders on the frontlines of the response to the pandemic, SBJ's Karn Dhingra reports. Last week, Outerstuff sent 10,000 white T-shirts to Refried Apparel to be re-purposed for masks to be sent to hospitals, police and fire departments in their communities and around the country.

        • When Refried Apparel, a New BedfordMass.-based apparel company shut down operations because of the pandemic, co-founder Mark Litos asked employees if they would be open to using a combination of their time and payment to the sew masks. “They’re non surgical-grade masks, but they're appreciated by all of the hospitals and communities and front-line workers that we're offering them to,” Litos added. “It's a washable, dryable mask, they're all sanitized before they're used and if they have N95 masks, they can preserve them by wearing this one over it."
           
        • Refried has sent 500 masks to the New Bedford police and fire departments and emergency services and made 300 masks for the DartmouthMass., police department. “We got 5,000 going next week to a hospital in Long Island,” Litos added. “We have a high volume going to the Spurs in Texas, to be distributed to hospitals and front-line workers in their area.” Litos said Refried is also working with New Era'47 Brand and MV Sport/The Game to re-purpose materials for masks for hospitals and agencies in those companies‘ communities.

         

         

        SPEED READS

        • AT DEADLINE: The NCAA Division I Council approved a blanket waiver for all spring-sport athletes to get an extra year of eligibility, The Athletic’s Nicole Auerbach tweeted, citing sources. “Schools will be able to offer less (or zero) aid or match what they provided this year.” Schools will be able to carry more scholarship players. Winter sports were not included in the decision.

        • Russell Wright’s Atlanta-based firm, Collegiate Consultingtweeted that conversations with two schools today covered cutbacks in staff and potentially cutting sports to save money.

        • Trevor Bauer feels last week’s MLB-MLBPA deal did little to slow concerns over the next bargaining cycle coming in 2021. The Reds pitcher, appearing on the “ESPN Daily” podcast, said, “There’s a very real possibility that we don’t play this year. … Next year, you’d assume there would be a normal regular season. But owners are not going to be doling out a bunch of money in free agency. … You’ll see more service time manipulation, you’ll see more guys sitting out halfway through a season until a team knows exactly what they need. … That’s going to cause angst between the players and the league going into a bargaining cycle.”

        • Professional Bull Riders and Legends are teaming for a T-shirt to benefit out-of-work PBR riders, SBJ’s Terry Lefton reports. The $25 “Buck the Virus” Ts are available on PBRshop.com, with proceeds benefiting “Protect the Ride” -- a charitable fund set up within the Western Sports Foundation to help cowboys and their families who may be in need during the pandemic. “Our riders only get paid when we have events, so we’re trying to do something for them,” said PBR VP/Consumer Products John Sohigian.

        • Division II revenue from the NCAA will come up $30 million less than budgeted because of the cancellation of winter and spring championships. The NCAA Constitution guarantees D-II 4.37% of the total revenue, and this year’s share is projected to be $13.9 million, compared to last year when D-II received more than $44 million.

        • Diehard baseball fans know FanGraphs well. Many of those who play fantasy baseball migrate to the site every March to get prepped for drafts. But without baseball right now, FanGraphs Founder & CEO David Appelman told The Ringer's Bryan Curtis that traffic has fallen 60-70% from usual levels. Appleman is “cutting his roster to keep the site in business," with 10 full-time staffers, including Appelman, seeing their salaries cut. FanGraphs also has “laid off more than 20 freelancers.” 

        • Denzel Washington is no stranger to sports films. "Remember the Titans." "He Got Game." "The Hurricane." Over the weekend, Spike Lee teased cinephiles with a sports role that didn't happen for Washington -- Jackie Robinson. The director on his on Instagram feed shared a 159-page screenplay for a Robinson biopic. Written in 1996, the film never got off the ground as Washington felt he was too old at the time to play Robinson. Lee: "We've all had a lot of time to think about stuff. About life. What happened, what didn't happen. And I began to think about one of my dream projects."

        • TVG's Scott Hazelton over the weekend on "Trackside Live" said Kentucky Derby organizers chose Sept. 5 as the race's new date because it allows the city of Louisville to "be able to game plan as they normally do.” Hazelton: “There are a lot of festivals that go on. There are various parties that go on. The city really comes to life, so they wanted to give the city of Louisville the best opportunity to be able to reassemble themselves."

         

        SBJ UNPACKS -- WEATHERING COVID-19

         

         

         

        Something related to coronavirus and sports business catch your eye? Tell us about it. Reach out to Austin Karp (akarp@sportsbusinessjournal.com) and we'll share the best of it.

         

         

         

        SBJ Unpacks: Coronavirus -- Summer Semester For College Football?

        As we come to the end of the week, LPGA Commissioner Michael Whan summed it up well when he told me: “Right now, two days in coronavirus time seems like two weeks.”

        Consider just how much has changed over the dizzying course of the past five days. In a week that began with the not-unexpected, but nonetheless jarring delay of the Olympics until 2021 and included Thursday's missed Opening Day for MLB, there was a steady stream of other postponements and cancellations, along with layoffs and salary cuts as the impact of the coronavirus cut deep.

        The outlook continues to be grim as the virus spreads across the U.S., which now leads the world in confirmed cases. As the numbers and casualties mount, President Trump this afternoon signed into law a $2 trillion relief package.

        One news nugget of note that came during all the turmoil of the week is Clippers owner Steve Ballmer’s deal to buy the Forum from MSG for a reported $400 million, a move that helps clears the way for Ballmer to build his planned $1 billion self-funded arena in Inglewood, Calif.

        It’s not the price that the billionaire Ballmer paid that is striking or that the agreement itself is all that earth-shattering. Instead, the deal stands as a reminder that at some point -- and no really knows when -- the sports industry eventually will bounce back and games will resume.


        -- John Lombardo
          

         

        COLLEGE FOOTBALL LOOKING AT ALTERNATIVES FOR 2020

        • Amid a growing concern that the college football season could be pushed back, or even canceled, an alternative could come into play -- moving the season up to July, August and September, writes SBJ’s Michael Smith. Every other scenario has the season starting later in the fall, at a time when the coronavirus could be returning for another round of infections as the cool weather returns and a vaccine most likely unavailable until 2021. But staging an abbreviated college football season in the summer presents an opportunity to play games when the warm weather could help prevent the spread of the virus.

        • Such a drastic move would depend on a number of factors, according to sources Smith talked to this week:

          • Would campuses be open and able to properly staff games?
          • Would media partners be receptive to such a radical idea? Given the pent-up demand for live events by then, perhaps so?
          • Would fans turn out for football in the summer, especially with temperatures in the 90s? Would they even be permitted inside the stadium?
          • Could athletic departments recoup some of the revenue they’ve lost by staging a summer season?
          • How would a season work? It would almost have to be conference games only. Teams could start with a June mini-camp, July training camp and eight or nine games in August and September with no postseason.

        • These are questions that take time to answer, but alternative scenarios like summer football will be discussed by commissioners and athletic directors who will be desperate to play this season. There’s no guarantee that a fall season would succeed, and it might be more likely to fail if the virus returns. A summer season could be the only way to play college football in 2020.

         

        JOE BUCK STAYING SHARP WITH TWITTER VIDEO VOICEOVERS

        • While texting with Joe Buck last week, Fox Sports Chair Eric Shanks suggested that, in the absence of games, Buck should use his pipes to announce some of life’s mundane tasks. They were kidding at first, but after a short back-and-forth, the conversation became more serious. Shanks said, “I’ll have some people at Fox contact you.”

        • That conversation has resulted in around 30 Twitter posts where Buck uses his familiar voice to narrate videos that people that have sent to him. Those tweets have accounted for about 7 million views, Buck told SBJ’s John Ourand. “I thought it would probably go nowhere -- maybe make a little bit of a dent on Twitter, if at all,” Buck said. “I never expected that it would connect.”

        • Buck asked his Twitter followers to send him videos. He says he tends to pick ones that have children and/or pets. He uses a Zoom recorder to put a track down; sends the track to a Fox technician, who puts it together and sends it back to Buck. Because it’s cycled through Fox, the network has to get clearance from the person who sent it in before it can release it. “The ones that are getting out are the ones that were sent to me three days ago.”

        • Buck’s favorites so far?

        • “That is what this thing is all about,” Buck said. “Sometimes when you’re left to your own devices, maybe these families are reconnecting or connecting in a way that they hadn’t before. That’s a small silver lining in this really scary time in our country.”

         

         

        NASCAR'S SHIFT TO iRACING DONE ON THE FLY

        • As sports shut down across the globe and Americans began to hunker down at home, one U.S.-based sport -- NASCAR -- was uniquely positioned for opportunity, SBJ's Bill King writes. An opportunity to create a competitive event that could be run safely. To give a starved sports network programming. To give its fans a campfire around which to gather, and escape. And to give the racing industry something to work on.

        • In today’s “SBJ Unpacks” podcast, NASCAR Managing Director of Gaming Scott Warfield talks at length about the property’s quick veer into the well-established, but little-known world of virtual racing, which it shifted to immediately after canceling its race in Atlanta on March 13. “We decided to build the plane while we flew it,” Warfield said, “And that’s the god’s honest truth.” NASCAR heads into its second iRacing event buoyed by viewership of 903,000 in its quickly assembled debut on FS1 last weekend. Those viewers averaged 59 minutes watched, Warfield said, with 225,000 of them tuning in to a Cup Series telecast for the first time this year.

        • “When you talk about, 'What’s the value of what we’re doing with this series?' -- or with esports in general -- we’re in it and we’re spending the money because long term, it’s going to help us get younger and more diverse," Warfield said. “And that is what that number helps with.” Some hints of what’s new heading into Week 2: “We’re looking at celebrities that can be involved in terms of commands to start engines and other typical race dignitary roles,” Warfield said. “You’re going to see the international piece pop.” Sunday’s race will air live on TSN in Canada and on Fox Sports Mexico, as well as in the U.K., India and Australia through distribution by IMG, Warfield said.

        • For lots more, including details of how it all came together and what the new series means to the overall NASCAR business, check out the full podcast here.

         

        DATA SHOWS 2020 MEDIA AD SALES SET FOR 12% DECLINE

        • Magna Global put some numbers on the expected ad revenue decline due to the coronavirus outbreak as part of its March update, notes SBJ's John Ourand. As you might expect, they’re not pretty. Magna predicts that ad sales across TV, radio, out-of-home and print will decline by 12% this year -- down 20% in the first half and down 2.5% in the second half of the year. Digital ad sales will see a 4% lift, Magna predicts, down 2% in the first half and up 10% in the second half.

        • Magna projects that national TV will see a 13% ad sales revenue drop this year; print will see a 25% drop; and radio will see a 14% drop -- numbers that were unthinkable just a few weeks ago. Sports TV, in particular, had been enjoying one its most robust ad markets in history, with big events like the Super Bowl, NCAA Tournament and NBA All-Star Game selling out months ahead of time.

        • Magna: “At this stage, the total market decline anticipated (-3% or -$6.2 billion vs 2019) remains less severe than the decline experienced in 2008-2009 (-20% or -$33 billion vs 2007), mostly because of the weight and resilience of digital advertising today.”

           

        NBCSN SIMULCASTING HORSE RACING, BUT NOW WITHOUT SANTA ANITA

        • NBCSN is set to simulcast 12 hours of live horse racing from TVG's "Trackside Live" this weekend, including the Florida Derby on Saturday, SBJ's Liz Mullen writes. "Obviously in a time where there isn't a lot of live sports, its a great opportunity to get horse racing in front of a live audience," TVG CEO Kip Levin told SBJ. TVG, which is dedicated to horse racing, is available in about 45 million homes nationwide, compared with about 80 million for NBCSN.

        • Among the tracks set to be shown are Gulfstream Park, Tampa Bay Downs and Oaklawn Park. Racing from Santa Anita Park was supposed included, but this afternoon, the track announced that it was closing live racing temporarily, effective immediately. The move is in accordance with instructions received from the L.A. County Health Department

         

        FOX, ESPN USING CLASSIC NFL GAMES TO FILL PROGRAMMING

        • ESPN and Fox will show classic NFL games this spring via agreements with the league, reports SBJ's John Ourand. ESPN on Mondays will show classic "MNF" games, starting with a March 30 replay of the 2018 Chiefs-Rams game. Fox kicks off its schedule the day earlier with a Sunday afternoon showing of Super Bowl LI between the Patriots and Falcons. There will also be a separate set of games lined up for FS1. Below are the planned schedules for Fox and ESPN:

        • ESPN
          • March 30: Chiefs-Rams (from 2018)
          • April 6: Falcons-Saints (from 2006)
          • April 13: Packers-Vikings (from 2009)
          • April 20: Colts-Patriots (from 2005)
          • April 27: Cowboys-Bills (from 2007)

        • Fox/Fox Deportes
          • March 29: Super Bowl LI Patriots-Falcons
          • April 5: Super Bowl XLV Steelers-Packers
          • April 12: Super Bowl XLII Giants-Patriots
          • April 19: Super Bowl XXIII Broncos-Falcons
          • April 26: Super Bowl XXXI Packers-Patriots
          • May 1: Super Bowl XXX Cowboys-Steelers

         

         

        SPEED READS

        • ESPN’s Doris Burke this afternoon on Adrian Wojnarowski’s podcast revealed she has tested positive for the coronavirus. Burke realized she needed to get tested after she “could not be out of bed for five minutes.” Now in recovery, Burke said it took her eight days to get test results after visiting a Philadelphia hospital. Two weeks ago, Burke served as the color commentator for the Mavericks-Nuggets contest that turned out to be the final NBA game before the regular season was suspended.

        • Suns play-by-play man Jon Bloom and color analyst Tim Kempton tonight on Phoenix-based KTAR-AM -- as well as on Twitch -- will become the first announcers to call an "NBA 2K20" matchup on the radio. Suns G Mikal Bridges will man the controllers against 76ers rookie Matisse Thybulle as their teams face off.

        • MLB Network’s Bob Costas believes a potentially shortened season presents an opportunity for baseball to experiment with its product, whether that comes in the form of scheduling, rule changes or playoff structure. Costas, appearing on “The Bernie Miklasz Show,” said, “Given the uniqueness of the situation, even fans who prize the continuity of the game, would understand that this is a … once in forever situation. … Now’s the time to put (ideas) on the table and experiment with some portion of them.”

        • DraftKings is adding to the portfolio of video games that fans can bet on. Esports Observer's Kevin Hitt reported "Counter-Strike: Global Offensive" has been added to DraftKings' daily fantasy platform. DraftKings already facilitates daily games for both "Rocket League" and "League of Legends" that "work similarly" to that of this new "CS:GO" daily league.

        • Summer and fall concert dates are no longer a sure thing for many sports venues. The latest tour postponement today came from Roger Waters, who was scheduled to hit Little Caesars Arena, Wells Fargo Center, Chase Center, MSG, TD Garden and Fiserv Forum, among many others, later this year. Waters in a statement said his "This Is Not A Drill" tour will take place next year.

         

        SBJ UNPACKS -- WEATHERING COVID-19

         

         

         

        Something related to coronavirus and sports business catch your eye? Tell us about it. Reach out to Austin Karp (akarp@sportsbusinessjournal.com) and we'll share the best of it.

         

         

         

        SBJ Unpacks: Coronavirus -- Olympic Sports Layoffs Begin With USA Cycling

        Today was supposed to be MLB’s Opening Day. Tonight was supposed to be the start of the NCAA's Sweet 16.

        But we all have more pressing matters than mourning events long since called off -- namely the 3.28 million new unemployment claims last week, 5x higher than the previous record from 1982. That, plus the continuing spread of the coronavirus and the fallout in the sports world, is where we start tonight.

        As we enter a third week without events, job and payroll cuts in sports are becoming unavoidable. Endeavor cut 250; Delaware North will put more than 2,000 on leave; the NBA cut about 100 top executive salaries by 20%. Meanwhile, the Indy 500 was pushed back to August today even as Commissioner Rob Manfred offered an optimistic scenario of MLB retaking the field by mid-May.

        Despite the shocking unemployment report, stocks rose for the third straight day, ending an 11-day bear market but doing little to alter the basic economic fear. Lawmakers in the Senate made clear progress on the first major rescue bill, but a hurdle or two still awaits in the House.

        Just after trading closed, the New York Times reported a new dark milestone: The U.S. now leads the world in known coronavirus cases with more than 81,578. More than 1,000 have died.

        -- Ben Fischer
         

         

        USA CYCLING IS FIRST LARGE OLYMPIC BODY TO HAVE LAYOFFS

        • USA Cycling has laid off or furloughed more than 30% of its 70-person work force amid a profound revenue downturn because of the pandemic, CEO Rob DeMartini told SBJ’s Ben Fischer. He declined to provide a precise breakdown of personnel actions, but said the majority were furloughs set to last between two and six months depending on the duration of the crisis and the workers’ specific roles. All will maintain health insurance coverage for 90 days.

        • The Colorado Springs-based NGB has already canceled 120 racing events since March 1, and does not project any racing until July at the earliest. While the non-profit has year-round sponsorship support, much of its income is generated directly by events. USA Cycling reported $14.9 million in revenue in 2018, with about two-thirds coming from membership, sanctioning, camps and clinics.

        • Cycling is the first Olympic NGB to announce layoffs, but expect more. Earlier this week, the USOPC told Congress that individual sports bodies will lose $150 million in revenue related to domestic cancellations alone, and that total losses from the loss of domestic events and the Tokyo 2020 postponement could reach $800 million across the U.S. Olympic movement.

         

        COSPORT: TOKYO TICKETS WILL BE HONORED

        • Tokyo 2020 tickets bought via U.S.-authorized reseller CoSport will be honored at the rescheduled Olympics next year, according to a letter sent to some customers obtained by SBJ’s Ben Fischer. The letter did not address refunds if fans are unable to use their tickets in 2021, or exactly how tickets for given events will work for events not yet rescheduled. “We know there are questions surrounding such an unprecedented move and want you to know that CoSport Tokyo 2020 purchases will be honored at the Games in 2021, and we continue to work in support of our customers in addressing issues,” said CoSport President Robert Long.

        • Details may take “some weeks” to develop, Long said. Tokyo 2020 has said little officially about its ticketing procedures since the postponement, and some Japanese media reports have claimed domestic ticket buyers there will not get refunds. CoSport has reseller rights in the U.S., AustraliaNorway and five other countries. In the U.K., reseller Team GB Live has offered refunds for travel packages tied to the tickets or the right to shift those packages to 2021, but has told ticket-only buyers to await further information.

         

         

        D1 SCHOOLS FEEL NCAA REVENUE HIT

        • The NCAA’s annual revenue distribution to its Division I members will be $225 million, or 37.5% of the $600 million the association had budgeted for 2020. The shortfall is the result of lost revenue when March Madness and other winter and spring sports were canceled. Most of the NCAA’s revenue comes from its media and marketing contract with CBS and Turner for the men’s basketball tournament. It also has a lucrative contract with ESPN for spring sports championships like the College World Series
        • The word from the NCAA today is likely the first in what’s going to be a string of discouraging financial news for athletic directors from lost events, SBJ’s Michael Smith reports. On top of that, schools might be asked to foot the cost if spring sports athletes are granted another year of eligibility. A vote on that is expected Monday. And then there’s the uncertain specter of the upcoming football season, which has the entire enterprise uneasy. There clearly are more questions than answers.
        • The NCAA distribution to the conferences will arrive in June. Conferences don’t know yet what their share will be, but it’s significantly short of what their schools expected. NCAA documents show 2019 distribution at $590 million and 2021 distribution will be $613 million. The amount increases annually by 2% through 2024 and the increases go up slightly through 2032.

         

        ESPN’S PITARO WORKING CLOSELY WITH LEAGUE EXECS

        • ESPN President Jimmy Pitaro said that he’s been in “regular and constant contact with league execs” throughout the coronavirus outbreak, SBJ's John Ourand notes. In his first public comments since major U.S. sports leagues decided to suspend their seasons, Pitaro said most of the conversations have focused on what he described as short-term issues, like finding replacement programming. “We’re talking with commissioners and league executives about getting access to athletes,” Pitaro said during Wednesday’s SBJ World Congress Comes To You online event. “That’s obviously incredibly important to us right now. Athletes are home, and we’d love to be speaking to them and hearing from them.”
        • There are some questions about how leagues will compensate networks, who don’t have any games to air. Pitaro would not talk specifically about any of ESPN’s league or conference relationships, but he did suggest that everyone appears willing to work together during the coronavirus outbreak. “What I will tell you just at the macro level is that our partnerships have really never been stronger,” Pitaro said. “That’s become more and more apparent to me as each day has gone by over the past week. There’s definitely a ‘we’re all in this together’ attitude, and it’s really refreshing.”

         

        WHAT WILL AN MLB RE-START LOOK LIKE?

        • As MLB and the MLBPA discuss logistics surrounding a potentially truncated season that could begin in a few months and stretch well into November, SBJ's Eric Prisbell writes there are two other issues at hand:

          • How much ramp-up time will players need before starting the season?
          • Would the season start in spectator-less ballparks in some markets?

        • Cardinals President Bill DeWitt III is among the high-level execs in regular communication with the league and other clubs as they sort through myriad options. He told SBJ that while it's "safe to say that our goal as an industry is to have it start back up with fans in the stands," it may be necessary in some communities more heavily impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic that they begin the season with no fans in their respective ballparks.

        • Few execs say that a lengthy Spring Training will be necessary. DeWitt said, "That's probably not in anyone's interest. We're all going to want to get started as soon as possible. I've heard our folks say, 'Whatever it takes to get a maximum number of games in on the schedule is sort of what we're going to try to do as an industry.' As it relates to getting ready, I think the amount of time needed to get ready will be determined primarily by a consensus of team doctors, who will say, 'Look, what's a healthy amount of reps for pitchers to build up their pitch count?' I don't think we need extra games to fine tune a slugger's swing technique."

        • DeWitt is bullish on fans returning to live sporting events once the virus subsides. "There's definitely going to be pent up demand for entertainment," he said. "You can only watch so many binge-worthy shows on Netflix before you crave the live nature of sports. There's probably some cross-currents. On the one hand, you'll have people really just excited to be back and I think baseball will play a special role, whenever it does return, in getting people together and perhaps celebrating some things that perhaps we took for granted. ... Whenever Opening Day is, it will probably be as memorable an Opening Day as I think we have ever had. But if the economy is significantly damaged, that will affect buying patterns and we will have to adjust."

         

        FIRST INDY 500 UNDER PENSKE SHIFTS TO AUGUST DATE

        • When Roger Penske bought IndyCar and Indianapolis Motor Speedway last November, the idea that he would oversee the first Indy 500 to not run on Memorial Day weekend since 1946 was unthinkable, writes SBJ's Adam Stern. Fast forward to today, and Penske was making what had become an expected announcement that the 500 will be postponed until Aug. 23. Meanwhile, the GMR Grand Prix -- the IMS road-course race that was supposed to run two weeks before the 500 -- has now been scheduled to run July 4 in a historic doubleheader at IMS with NASCAR, a change that SBJ first reported on earlier this week.

        • IndyCar team owner Bobby Rahal told SBJ: “Do I feel sorry for Roger? Yeah, I kind of do, because who the hell would have thought this would have happened? … (But) we’re very lucky to have Roger and his group, and we’ll come out of this smelling pretty good frankly.”

         

        TENNIS CANCELLATIONS A NEW PROBLEM FOR TOUR COMPANY

        • The cancellation of the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells left Grand Slam Tennis Tours in an unprecedented predicament, SBJ's Bret McCormick reports. The 30-year-old company, alternately known as Topnotch Tennis Tours, had 300 customers booked for the ATP/WTA event, including tickets and suites, as well as a substantial block of hotel rooms reserved at the La Quinta Club & Resort. All of that went unused when the tournament was canceled the night before its March 9 start. “Had to sit down and figure out what is our policy on this?,” said Kyle Ross, who oversees GSTT’s public relations and the ATP Challenger Series tournaments the company runs. “How do we approach something that has never happened before?”

        • Vermont-based GSTT, which is also the official North American travel partner of the Australian Open and the Roger Federer-backed Laver Cup, is a perfect example of the trickle-down impacts that stem from coronavirus-related sports event cancellations. Fortunately for GSTT, Ross said that long-term relationships with both the BNP Paribas Open and the La Quinta resort led to a generous solution that put GSTT in position to offer its customers a 110% credit.

        • It was just the first solution in a year that will be filled with finding creative ones. Ross said GSTT had 100 customers booked for trips to the various European clay court tournaments in April and May that were canceled, and that the company is sitting on millions of dollars-worth of U.S. Open tickets, anxiously waiting to see if the pandemic wanes before late summer.

        • The rescheduling of the French Open created another challenge for GSTT, because the Grand Slam’s new date coincides with the Laver Cup. The move “pretty much made it impossible for the Laver Cup to host their event as they imagined it,” said Ross.

         

        SPORTS EXECS SHARE SENTIMENTS ON LEAGUES RETURNING

        • During yesterday's CAA World Congress of Sports Comes To You virtual event, SBJ polled execs on a number of topics related to the stoppage of sports. Below are some of the results from the small sample size of executives:

         

         

         

         

        PANDEMIC PUSHES FITCH TO REVISE CREDIT EVALUATION

        • Fitch Ratings will revise how it evaluates the impact the coronavirus is having on the sports world, reports SBJ’s Karn Dhingra. In the near-term, the credit ratings agency is gaming out four scenarios for the NBA, NHL and European Football Leagues to finish the 2019-2020 regular season and playoffs.
        • Delayed but complete regular season and playoffs
        • Shortened remaining regular season games and complete playoffs and finals
        • Shortened remaining regular season games and shortened playoffs and finals (fewer teams and/or shortened series)
        • The leagues cancel their regular seasons and playoffs
        • Fitch expects these leagues seasons will end somewhere in between the aforementioned scenarios and they could end without fans in the stands. Along with examining the teams and facilities near-term cash liquidity, how medium-to-longer term interruptions will affect their business and material changes to their financial profiles, Fitch will look at how local, state and federal enforced rules related to size of public gatherings, league enforced player safety and health parameters, social distancing and other contributing factors, will impact their businesses.
        • Overall, Fitch expects the major sports leagues’ long-term contractually obligated revenues from a diverse pool of businesses should protect the majority of their teams and facilities against the near-term shock of the pandemic.

         

         

        SPEED READS

        • ESPN’s Brian Windhorst warned that the NBA and its players are “headed for some drama” when it comes to April 15 paychecks. The league in a memo to teams approved full paychecks for April 1 for games that have not yet taken place, but also “made it kind of clear that there was a possibility that they may not make the full April 15 payment.” Windhorst: “For every single game that is played, NBA players earn $38 million in aggregate. That’s what the teams have to pay out. … You can see why that number piles up.” Windhorst notes the NBA recently “doubled their credit line” from $650 million to around $1.1-1.2 billion. More Windhorst: “That sounds like a lot of money, but when I start talking about that every single game that takes place is $38M, you start to see where things can get hairy."

        • Soccer could be the first sport to resume play across the pond should circumstances improve, according to Fox Sports’ John Strong. Appearing on a radio program with the Portland Oregonian's John Canzano, Strong said several European leagues are “desperate to get back on the field.” Strong: “They would be more than happy to play behind closed doors in empty stadiums. That was part of why the Premier League pushed really hard, really long to try to keep playing, because anyone that can be playing games right now has 100% of the market share globally. … It took two coaches and handful of players on different teams being diagnosed with COVID for the Premier League to finally go ‘okay, fine.’”

        • What does the future hold for the American gambler in the time of the coronavirus? The Ringer’s David Hill writes it “seems counter-intuitive, but studies have shown that during periods of economic uncertainty, Americans gamble more, not less.” Ironically, gambling in the U.S. experienced its “biggest period of growth during the Great Depression,” as states turned to legalized gambling “as a way to generate much-needed tax revenue.”

        • There is no real manual for covering a crisis like the current pandemic. But Bob Ley has such experience, having spearheaded ESPN’s coverage of the 9/11 attacks. Ley, now teaching a class at Seton Hall, told SEC Network’s Paul Finebaum how he recently wanted to reach into that 9/11 experience as an example for his students, only to realize there were some in the class who “may have just been born or not even born yet when it happened.” Ley: “Folks our age take for granted some of the references in time.” Ley’s advice for the coming weeks? “I sit and consume media, but you have to ration how much you watch and how much you read because it can really get to you after a certain point.”

        • With the April 9 opening day for Minor League Baseball postponed indefinitely, clubs are getting creative to stay relevant with fans. Appearing on “The Show Before The Show” podcast, MiLB.com’s Ben Hill noted the Binghamton Rumble Ponies are playing out their canceled games on Sony’s “MLB The Show 20,” which has MiLB rosters, while the Lehigh Valley IronPigs and El Paso Chihuahuas had a three game-set that was streamed on Twitch. Hill: “It’s something we’ll continue to see more of as teams try and get creative, kind of simulating the season. And being creative with it -- editing a highlight package from their virtual game, having their announcers narrate some of the action or narrate the highlight package.” Beyond video games, Hill noted the Pensacola Blue Wahoos have set up grab-and-go service at their ballpark, and options include gameday specialties like a crab mac-n-cheese dog.


         

        SBJ UNPACKS -- WEATHERING COVID-19

         

         

         

        Something related to coronavirus and sports business catch your eye? Tell us about it. Reach out to Austin Karp (akarp@sportsbusinessjournal.com) and we'll share the best of it.

         

         

         

        SBJ Unpacks: Coronavirus -- The State Of The Industry

        During an interview that aired during today’s CAA World Congress Comes To You -- a virtual presentation of the annual SBJ event originally scheduled for this week in Dana Point, Calif. -- Verizon Media VP & GM of Sports Geoff Reiss captured the ambitions of many -- both in the sports world, and out. “There's nothing I want more right now than to be able to go with my family to a ballgame,” said Reiss, who led Yahoo Sports before its acquisition by Verizon, and before that oversaw the launches of ESPN.com, NFL.com, NBA.com and NASCAR.com. “That is like the North Star, that for me is hanging out in the distance. When can we go to a game together? Because that means we're together, and it means we're doing something we love.”

        Those who best understand what it takes to staff a sporting event -- moving fans in and out of a venue, seating them in close proximity to each other, serving them food, taking their payments -- would say if that day is on the horizon, it’s a distant one. When games resume, they almost certainly will do so, at least initially, without spectators. And when spectators are welcomed back, some may find themselves uncomfortable sitting shoulder to shoulder. People get twitchy passing each other in the bread aisle at the grocery store. How do you think they’ll feel about packing into Section 108? 

        New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said today that the state’s restrictions appear to be slowing the virus there. The Senate finally reached agreement on a $2 trillion stimulus package. The markets responded positively. Elsewhere around the globe, the news was horrific. There is only so much solace you can take in today’s updates being ever so slightly better than yesterday’s.

        But that’s the thing about the North Star.

        The darker the night, the easier it is to find. And no matter how thick the clouds, you know it’s still there.

        Thanks, Geoff. That quote is making the rounds.

        -- Bill King
         

         

        ANHEUSER-BUSCH HAPPY PARTNERS ARE OVER-COMMUNICATING

        • Anheuser-Busch InBev VP/Partnerships, Beer Culture & Community Nick Kelly praised its league and team partners during this time of uncertainty for “over-communicating everything” to the brewer in regard to their situation, SBD's Lucas Smith reports. “They’ve been extremely responsive and proactively calling us and telling us, ‘Hey, I just don’t know,’” Kelly said today during the first session of the CAA World Congress Comes To You virtual conference. He added the smooth process has been helpful in providing guidance, because league officials are “learning it at the same time we’re learning it.”

        • Kelly emphasized the importance of communication at this time, especially since the impact on A-B InBev’s overall business potentially won’t be known for months. “We just want to be able to help you if there's a way for us to help you,” Kelly said. “The other part is just be able to empathize with what you guys are going through, so we're not asking you a hundred questions or we're not putting you in a position to prioritize us over something that's far more important.”

        • A-B InBev today announced it is redirecting just over $5 million from its sports and entertainment investments to the American Red Cross. So when will the brewer re-enter the marketplace? “Most of our brands don't take themselves too seriously, so it's figuring out what is the right time to provide a level of levity, of fun, of poking fun of being stuck in the house, of providing value through entertainment or looking forward to when we get back,” Kelly said.

        • Kelly said the “biggest word is patience, and it is across the board,” when it comes to navigating the current landscape. “It's being patient to figure out what the best time is and the right messaging to get these big events and venues back up and running,” Kelly said. “It's also patience with all your partners and all your fans that, the ability for them to roll over and buy another year of season tickets after they may be directly impacted."

         

        RIOT GAMES PIVOTED EARLY WITH CHINA OUTBREAK

        • Riot Games Head of Global Esports Partnerships & Business Development Naz Aletaha noted her company was “one of the first” to be impacted by the coronavirus outbreak, “because we own and operate a very large league out in China,” notes SBD's Andrew Levin. Speaking during today's virtual CAA World Congress Comes To You event,  Aletaha said that after Riot's League of Legends competition was suspended in China in late January, the game publisher "quickly realized, just globally, that this was going to be a situation that would likely expand to other regions, if not all regions.” Aletaha: "We knew it was something we needed to prepare for, and because our leagues are set up in such a globally integrated way, we quickly were able to share best practices.”

        • Aletaha noted at present, Riot's four biggest regions -- North AmericaEuropeChina and South Korea -- are all "back online and they're able to continue to deliver to fans.” She added, “What's been exciting to see is the shifts in how we actually produce our broadcast. We've been able to move to an online-only format, and so, you're going to see our competitions continue. You'll see pro players competing at home -- from their homes -- same with the crew, same with our on-air broadcast talent. Everybody's going to work remote.”

         

        Aletaha discussed how Riot's China league gave it insight into how coronavirus was likely to spread globally

         

        TOM GLICK EMPHASIZES IMPORTANCE OF LIVE EVENTS

        • Tepper Sports & Entertainment President Tom Glick, whose company operates the NFL's Panthers and expansion MLS Charlotte club, believes that while the sports industry is coming up with creative at-home viewing experiences during this pandemic, those innovations "cannot be at the expense of the live event" once sports returns, SBD's Lucas Smith notes. “We're social animals, sports are shared experiences. It's about being part of memories with friends, with family. I don't see that changing and I see people investing more money in experiences going forward.”

        • Glick noted the onus will be on the sports industry to make sure at-venue experiences “stay fresh and innovative and convenient and affordable and all these things.” He also shared a couple of messages on navigating the current landscape. “Stay solid and take care of your people, your teammates,” Glick said. “Make sure that your organization is solid, that your people are reassured that they're staying balanced, that they're staying accessible and switched on to each other.” The other message was to get ready and be prepared for when the pandemic subsides, as “people are going to be looking to us to return to playing games and doing the things that they love about our industry.”

         

        USATF CEO CREDITS NIKE DEAL FOR STABILITY IN CRISIS

        • USA Track & Field CEO Max Siegel says his organization is less exposed to the economic ravages of coronavirus than most Olympic sports because of its 23-year, $400 million sponsorship deal with Nike, which earned Siegel rare public criticism from his predecessor and other critics for its length. “For all of those people that criticized me for doing a long-term Nike deal, this is the reason why,” Siegel said. “While I never could have predicted coronavirus, I was in NASCAR in 2008-09 when the economy tanked, and sponsors left, and they never came back like they were. The teams that had foresight to do long-term deals, it really gave them the financial stability where they didn’t have to panic.”

        • Like many Olympic NGBs, USATF’s cash flow has trickled to a standstill. Sanctioning income, membership income and merchandise sales all depend on the 8,000 competitions USATF sanctions or organizes annually, and those have totally stopped. The delay of the Tokyo Olympics will further hamstring NGBs. The annualized value of the Nike deal is nearly half of USATF’s 2018 total revenue of $33.4 million.

        • Siegel said he cannot rule out layoffs or other staffing reductions, but they are evaluating expense reductions from a position of relative calm. “We’re going to do what’s prudent and responsible, but we have enough solid footing we’re not in panic mode,” he said.

         

         

        DELAWARE NORTH PLACING MANY EMPLOYEES ON TEMPORARY LEAVE

        • Delaware North starting April 1 will put two-thirds of its 3,100 full-time employees on temporary leave because of the pandemic, SBJ's Karn Dhingra reports. The company, owned by the Jacobs family, operates a massive concessions business and owns the Bruins and TD Garden. Full-time employees placed on temporary leave will receive medical, dental and vision benefits for eight weeks and a full week of pay for the first week on leave.

        • Delaware North’s remaining employees will take an indefinite reduced rate of pay and thousands of the company’s frontline part-time employees at more than 200 sports and entertainment venues, restaurants, casinos and parks in in the U.S.U.K. and Australia are no longer being scheduled to work. The company’s airport locations continue to operate, but at a reduced scale.

         

        UNITED CENTER BECOMING LOGISTICS HUB DURING CRISIS

        • United Center will serve as a hub in Chicago’s fight against the coronavirus as the arena and surrounding campus will be used as a logistics hub, SBJ's John Lombardo reports.The venue will be used as a food distribution center, first responder staging area and medical supplies collection center. “On behalf of the Chicago BullsChicago Blackhawks, our athletes, our front offices and our dedicated United Center personnel, our thoughts and support are with the people of this great city and state. Together, we will get through this,” said the teams announced in a joint statement.

         

        WOOD MEMORIAL POSTPONED AS PART OF AQUEDUCT CLOSURE

        • The New York Racing Association has suspended live racing at Aqueduct through at least April 5, SBJ's Liz Mullen reports. As a result, the Wood Memorial has been postponed to a date yet to be determined. Historically a major prep race for the Kentucky Derby, the Wood Memorial had been scheduled for April 4. NYRA suspended live racing on March 19, following the confirmation that a backstretch worker who lived and worked at Belmont Park tested positive for the coronavirus.

        • Meanwhile, Churchill Downs Inc. announced the suspension of horse racing at Florence-based Turfway Park in accordance with Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear's "Healthy at Home" executive order issued today. Turfway Park was scheduled to end its current meet on March 28. The track's backside will remain open for training because it falls under the “life-sustaining business” category as it provides “food, shelter, and other necessities of life for animals.”

         

        ARAMARK CONTINUES TO MOVE UNUSED FOOD TO NON-PROFITS

        • Major U.S. concessionaires continue to donate food to non-profits in their local communities to help those in need during the pandemic. Aramark recently sent 25,130 pounds of food from venues across the country with postponed or canceled games and events to non-profits. Notably, the concessionaire sent 10,000 pounds from NRG Stadium, which hosts the canceled Houston Livestock Show & Rodeo for three weeks in March, to Second Servings of Houston, a non-profit that redistributes leftovers from food businesses to fight hunger.

        • The concessionaire also sent food from Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse (Cleveland), PPG Paints Arena and PNC Park (Pittsburgh), RingCentral Coliseum (Oakland) and Wells Fargo Center (Philadelphia). 

         

         

        SPEED READS

        • William Hill U.S. CEO Joe Asher said he will contribute his entire salary to a foundation set up to lend financial support to about 600 employees that the company recently furloughed, SBJ's Bill King reports. Asher also encouraged staff who kept their jobs to do the same. Sportsbooks worldwide have seen steep declines in revenue during the shutdown, which stripped their sites of the most popular betting options.

        • The AP reported this afternoon that the NHL has now extended its request for players and hockey staff to stay away from team facilities until April 6. Originally, the league and its union told players to head home through the end of March. To date, only two unnamed players -- both with the Senators -- have tested positive for the coronavirus.

        • WaitTime, an artificial intelligence tech company used by the likes of AEGLegends HospitalityLevy, the Heat and Sabres to improve wait times in concession and bathroom lines, has been enlisted to battle the pandemic, SBJ's Karn Dhingra reports. WaitTime Founder & CEO Zachary Klima said the New South Wales government in Australia has mandated a project to monitor the real-time occupancy of coronavirus testing facilities with the company’s tech. WaitTime deploys cameras in concourses powered by algorithms that can count the number of people in an area or line and determine if they are waiting in line or passing through. Venue operators have a back-end analytical dashboard, where they can make decision to make lines more efficient.

        • Esports Observer's Graham Ashton reports the upcoming ESL One Dota 2 tournament in L.A. will now be played entirely online in response to COVID-19. The event will now take place March 28- April 19 and will feature five regional leagues with a best-of-three round-robin format. The event had originally been scheduled to take place over a few days with all teams on-site.

        • Warriors coach Steve Kerr, who was set to be an assistant under Gregg Popovich for USA Basketball at the Tokyo Games, said he’d been texting regularly with the Spurs coach about a potential postponement, which both coaches agreed felt “inevitable.” Kerr told Bleacher Report’s Howard Beck, “Disappointment for sure. … But you have to couch any sort of disappointment professionally with the perspective of what’s happening in the real world.” Kerr said he’s spending the shutdown in San Diego with his wife, three children and their significant others, which makes for a full house. “Highly recommend the jigsaw puzzle in these times. We just finished Wrigley Field.”

        • The N.Y. Times reports that Gov. Andrew Cuomo said New York City’s social distancing measures will include a "limited pilot program to begin closing some streets to automobile traffic to give pedestrians more space outside, and to institute new rules to limit density in the city’s playgrounds.” The sports tie: “No basketball,” Cuomo said.


         

        SBJ UNPACKS -- WEATHERING COVID-19

         

         

         

        Something related to coronavirus and sports business catch your eye? Tell us about it. Reach out to Austin Karp (akarp@sportsbusinessjournal.com) and we'll share the best of it.

         

         

         

        SBJ Unpacks: Coronavirus -- What's Next For Olympic Decision Makers?

         

        The biggest sports business story for today deals with the Olympics postponement, which, of course, is again our top story tonight and is a topic that will dominate our coverage for months.

        My focus today, though, was on a couple of stories about sports properties that lost control of their message during the virus outbreak. Now is not the time to be tone deaf.

        76ers and Devils owner Harris Blitzer Sports & Entertainment caught a lot of bad press when it told staff that it was cutting salaries temporarily by up to 20% depending on salary level and moving to a four-day work week. The ownership group reversed course today: “After listening to our staff and players, it’s clear that was the wrong decision.”

        The NHL was bashed on mainstream and social media outlets after it was revealed that the league will cut its employees' pay by 25% starting April 1. Canadiens owner Groupe CH said it was temporarily laying off 60% of its employees.

        These moves were viewed as too draconian and too soon, hitting lay people and daily staff when ownership is still paying players at least through mid-April. I can understand why these stories upset so many. Sports organizations need to be more conscious of the timing of these types of decisions. They need to assume that all their moves will be made public.

        Bottom line: Public nerves are frayed, anxious and sensitive. Management must tread carefully as they try to weather this storm.

        Closer to home, Mecklenburg County, N.C., which is home to SBJ’s Charlotte HQ, will be under “stay at home” orders starting Thursday morning and running for at least three weeks. This should have no impact on our service as our staff has been working remotely for more than a week.

        Stay safe, everybody.

         -- John Ourand
         

         

         

        OLYMPIC POSTPONEMENT RAISES BIG QUESTIONS

        • Postponing the Tokyo Olympics was the easy decision, writes SBJ’s Ben Fischer, and now comes the hard part: Shifting the world’s largest peacetime gathering nearly a year into the future after nearly seven years of planning. Here are the five most urgent questions that came through on a day of calls around the Olympics industry:

        • Cash flow: Without the largesse generated by the Summer Games for nearly another year, Olympic sports federations globally will feel the pinch. The USOPC and many of its governing bodies run deficits or narrow margins in non-Olympic years with the expectation of making it back in the Olympic years. Belt tightening already started as revenue-producing domestic events were canceled earlier this month. We took a look at the topic in this week's magazine.

        • What about sponsors? All 19 USOPC sponsors’ current contracts expire Dec. 31, and many were on the cusp of launching Olympic promotional campaigns when the pandemic hit. Do they get an extension? Also complicating things: Effective Jan. 1, all Team USA rights transfer from the USOPC to U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Properties, the joint venture of LA28 and USOPC. Meanwhile, what about conflicts? Liberty Mutual and The Hartford are both sponsors now, but the IOC sold global insurance category exclusivity to Allianz beginning Jan. 1. United Airlines is the USOPC sponsor for now, but the LA28 joint venture sold it to Delta starting in January.

        • When are the Games? The IOC and Japanese government gave themselves a nine-month window to hold the 2021 Olympics: after 2020 but before the end of summer 2021. Precisely one year later would appear to involve the fewest scheduling difficulties, but is this a chance to right old wrongs? Tokyo had been working feverishly to mitigate the severe summertime heat and humidity; what if they schedule the Games for June, or even earlier? Global sports schedules can’t adjust until they know. The future of track & field's World Championship, currently slated for August 2021 at the Univ. of Oregon’s Hayward Field, depends on this, along with the competition schedule of every Olympic sport until then.

        • What do NBC and advertisers do? There is now a 17-day hole in the middle of summer programming for NBC's family of networks, not to mention around $1.25 billion in advertising commitments to consider. NBCUniversal is “actively working with our advertising partners” and “exploring all options to best serve their brands and our consumers,” according to a statement. In 2011, NBC agreed to pay the IOC $1.41 billion for the Olympic rights that included the 2020 Games, and continues to hold Olympic rights through 2032.

        • Tickets & hospitality: Tokyo was already the highest-demand Olympics, with demand outstripping the supply of 7.8 million tickets by wide margins in Japanese and U.S. sales. Interest in corporate VIP guest trips organized by sponsors, the USOPC and other groups was extraordinary. Even if the tickets are simply rolled over in 2021, scores of hotel arrangements must be changed, flights must be re-booked, and there could be lasting effects on consumer attitudes toward crowds. Buyers will want certainty faster than organizers can give it.

        • What of the promotional spending? The pandemic comes as Olympic sponsors and advertisers were on the cusp of major expenditures: final deposits on showcasing space, shipping, ad buys, retail buy-ins and more. What of that can be stopped before the cost is incurred? What creative can be held and repurposed for 2021, and what must be re-shot? Will messages carefully crafted for a good-economy 2020 still work for a post-pandemic 2021? What will 2021 marketing budgets look like? Every one of 66 local Japanese sponsors, 14 global Olympic sponsors and 19 domestic U.S. sponsors must figure that out.

         

         

        GOVERNING BODIES SEEK TO MANAGE CASH FLOW

        • Across four-year Olympic cycles, national governing bodies tend to rely most on the year of the Games for revenue, SBJ's Chris Smith writes. A delay will push much of that cash flow back to 2021, but NGBs are still on the hook for most of this year’s budgeted expenses. That means NGBs need to find cost savings elsewhere, and those pressures are already impacting staffing decisions.

        • USA Weightlifting CEO Phil Andrews says his NGB has reviewed every cost obligation for 2020, which includes freelance and contract workers. “Most of those have already been furloughed or canceled,” said Andrews, who also said he’s requested a 90-day pay reduction to provide some spending relief. At present, there are no plans in place for staff layoffs. “Our first priority is the athlete stipend, and the second priority is maintaining staff,” said Andrews. “It’s possible there might be layoffs down the road, but in our case we already … run lean enough where there isn’t much you can cut without impacting the business. It will likely mean we are able to protect people more than we normally would.”

        • USA Cycling CEO Rob DeMartini says the most urgent problem is cash flow lost because of day-to-day competitions. About 120 cycling races have already been canceled and the NGB doesn't expect any until the end of June. That means some "pretty aggressive organizational interventions to bridge that gap” are coming this week, DeMartini said.

        • USA Team Handball CEO Barry Siff runs one of the smaller NGBs. He doesn’t expect any layoffs, but there’s already been an impact on the freelance level. “I was supposed to have five part-time regional ambassadors starting today, and I have postponed those hires,” said Siff.

         

        DECISIONS COMING FOR MLB TICKETING, LONDON SERIES

        • As MLB inches closer to what was scheduled to be Opening Day on Thursday, Cardinals President Bill DeWitt III said he expects a league-wide ticket policy to be introduced in the coming days pertaining to games that either will be rescheduled whenever the season starts or outright canceled, SBJ's Eric Prisbell reports.

        • "For the most part, and this is across the league, we've been saying that nothing has been decided yet regarding how the season is going to look, so it's hard to refund something if we don't know if it's actually being canceled or rescheduled," DeWitt told SBJ. "But once we get past Thursday, the urgency of the response will pick up and I think you'll see a league-wide approach to that issue get resolved here in the next few days, at least an initial approach to this. Thursday will come and go and games won't be played. Are they being rescheduled? Are they being canceled? Those decisions need to be made and therefore refund policies would flow from those decisions."

        • Among other MLB issues is the fate of the second installment of the London Series, this one scheduled to match the Cardinals against the Cubs on June 13-14. Several sources said even before the Olympics were postponed on Tuesday that it was unlikely that the London Series would be played as scheduled this June.  "If it's still wildly uncertain in a few weeks, you might have to see some sort of an announcement to move it or delay it or cancel -- or whatever that looks like, I don't know," DeWitt said. "With London, we were looking forward to it as a major highlight of our summer, and the outcome is certainly in doubt."

         

         

        USTA FOCUSING ON GRASS ROOTS DURING PANDEMIC

        • America's signature tennis event, the U.S. Open, is increasingly under pressure from the pandemic, but the USTA is still focused on its bread and butter -- grassroots tennis, SBJ's Bret McCormick reports. With families across the country quarantined, the USTA is sending a newsletter called “Tennis at Home” to parents three times a week that includes activities to get kids moving, video content and drawing contests. The newsletter is going to those already on the USTA's mailing list for its youth tennis brand, Net Generation, but it can be accessed by anyone at NetGeneration.com. The USTA currently has over 400,000 registered Net Generation accounts.

        • USTA Chief Executive for Community Tennis Craig Morris is working from home in Orlando alongside three kids between the ages of 8 and 15. “It’s an extraordinary time,” he said. “Whatever support we can give to the parents of the world who are trying to cope, working from home as well as keeping the kids in a level of school and trying to do some physical activity, it’s paramount right now just for the health and wellness of the country.”

        • Morris said that Net Generation had steadily accumulated content since its 2017 creation, some through a partnership with GoNoodle, which produces kid-centered videos focused on movement and mindfulness. When the stay-at-home orders began to come down across the U.S., it became clear that this was a time to put the content, which features prominent American tennis players, to use. “For us to be able to adapt to the crisis and really be able to create value for parents was the critical thing for us,” Morris said.

         

        The USTA is sending a newsletter called “Tennis at Home” to parents three times a week that includes activities to get kids active

         

        BUSINESS EXECS TURNING EARLY & OFTEN TO ZOOM

        • As long as people are working from home, Zoom has greater value. But when the White House started talking about shortening the time that we're locked down, that lead to a decrease in Zoom's stock price today (-15%). The popular video conferencing software has become the communications tool of choice for many businesses that meet remotely, but still want that face-to-face connection. Zoom’s stock price had lived up to the company’s name throughout the pandemic with gains of 39% over the last five weeks, making it one of the few companies that bucked the stock market’s downward trend. Zoom shares increased 117% going back three months, according to The Motley Fool.

        • Paciolan President & CEO Kim Damron is among the leaders who has been starting her day on Zoom, SBJ’s Michael Smith reports. Since last week, Damron and 23 members of her leadership team connect via Zoom every morning. Damron: “There is a difference of feeling connected when you can see people smile and laugh and you feel like you're part of the team. All of our management teams have moved to that. We’re using Zoom for video conferencing and Slack for instant messaging, and everybody's posting pictures of their daily meetings with their team. We really have moved to a video-first culture.”

         

         

        SPEED READS

        • A coronavirus testing center has been set up at zMAX Dragway -- normally used for NHRA races -- thanks to a partnership between Atrium Health and Charlotte Motor Speedway, which owns the facility. Charlotte-based radio station WFAE notes the track is "apparently the first pro sports venue in the U.S. to do so."

        • SI’s Jon Wertheim found one silver lining for tennis in the Tokyo Games postponement. “There are a number of players who are nearing the end of their career who have pinpointed this event as a real capstone. Maybe this will have the effect of prolonging some careers. … Venus Williams will be in her 40's this time next year. Roger Federer will be 39. Serena will be 39.”

        • YouTube will be "setting the video quality for all viewers to 'standard' (480p) in order to relieve some of the bandwidth stress being placed on the world’s internet connections," Esports Observer's Kevin Hitt reports. YouTube last month entered into a $160 million deal with Activision Blizzard Esports that gives the platform exclusive streaming rights to both Overwatch League and Call of Duty League, among others.

        • Fighter Daniel Cormier is steadfast in his belief that UFC will return sooner rather than later. Cormier told ESPN’s Ariel Helwani, “All these main events that were supposed to happen, have to happen. They just start doing super-card after super-card after super-card. Because if you’re the UFC, don’t you have to stack the cards to make all the money that you’re going to miss going forward? People will watch. … The longer this thing goes, the more of a chance the UFC becomes just massive pay-per-views all through the end of the year. … The moment [Dana White] sees a window to get this thing back going, he’s going to do it.”

        • Brenna Greene, the sports director at Spokane-based KREM2 News, said she and the station’s management decided this week to forge ahead with coverage because it "gives people a respite.” For Greene, that means seeking out human interest stories, like a piece last week on a pair of Iowa sisters who realized they’d just played their last high school soccer match together. “We’re looking for something unique. We’re trying to mix it up a little bit.” Greene also said she feels a responsibility to fill a community void after Gonzaga basketball teams were denied trips to the NCAA Tournament.

        • Yahoo Sports’ Dan Wetzel noted college athletics has been “virtually recession-proof for 100 years,” but athletic departments should be preparing for lean times ahead should universities see a decline in things like student applications and booster donations. Wetzel, appearing on the “Yahoo Sports College Podcast," said, “The schools can’t bail out the athletic departments, and the schools are in a lot of trouble. How many people are going to go college next fall? How many people can afford it? … Everything could change. And these schools were already operating on a very thin margin in some cases. … Nobody could have predicted this, but here it is.”

        • The return of touring events such as Monster Energy Supercross and Monster Jam may be in doubt after Feld Entertainment, which operates those series, laid off a “large percentage of its staff.” The Tampa Bay Business Journal notes an “estimated 900 to 1,200 employees were let go due to the coronavirus pandemic causing shows to be canceled.” 

        • Commissioner Greg Sankey said he and his team at SEC HQ have a “responsibility to prepare for a set of unknowns” concerning athletics and the well-being of student-athletes during the sports shutdown. Sankey told SEC Network’s Paul Finebaum, “‘I don’t know’ is a perfectly good answer right now.” Sankey said his daily call with athletic directors begins with an update from him on the conference’s thinking. "Then I update them on what’s happening nationally to the extent I know,” Sankey said. “We go through what’s happening on each campus. … Our athletic directors share a little bit on how our student-athletes are being supported academically. We then go into what kind of needs are being met on campuses -- how many people might be there, what’s happening with local emergency planning.”

        • Woodbine Entertainment, which operates Woodbine Racetrack in the Toronto area, announced that it is postponing the start of its thoroughbred season until further notice, SBJ's Liz Mullen reports. The delay was prompted by the government of Ontario's mandate that all non-essential businesses be closed by 11:59pm tonight. The race meet had been scheduled to open on April 18.

         


        SBJ UNPACKS -- WEATHERING COVID-19

         

         

         

        Something related to coronavirus and sports business catch your eye? Tell us about it. Reach out to Austin Karp (akarp@sportsbusinessjournal.com) and we'll share the best of it.

         

         

         

        SBJ Unpacks: Coronavirus -- IOC On The Clock

         

        Surgeon General Dr. Jerome Adams set the tone for Monday when he issued a warning: “This week, it’s going to get bad.” Adams was sternly voicing his concern that Americans aren’t doing enough to distance themselves from others.

        By this afternoon, Adams’ words appeared prophetic, although not in the way he intended. Veteran Canadian IOC member Dick Pound predicted the Tokyo 2020 Games will be postponed, echoing similar remarks made earlier Monday by Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. The IOC continues to say it’s evaluating options, but most Olympic insiders believe the only question is when the Games will be rescheduled, not if.

        -- Michael Smith
         

         

        SOURCES: COACHES DROVE CONCERN WITHIN USA SWIMMING

        • USA Swimming CEO Tim Hinchey’s request for USOPC CEO Sarah Hirshland to seek a postponement of the Tokyo Olympics last Friday came after more than two weeks of concerned calls from swim coaches around the country, sources told SBJ’s Ben Fischer. The outbreak earlier this month started to disrupt preparations for the normally-blockbuster U.S. Swimming Trials in late June. At that same point just a few weeks ago, IOC President Thomas Bach said the words “cancellation” or “postponement” weren’t even discussed at an IOC board meeting.

        • Only about 50 swimmers make Team USA, but more than 1,700 typically post times that qualify them for the trials, a 10-day event that sells more than 200,000 tickets to CHI Health Center in Omaha in June. The moment campuses started to close training facilities, swimmers who use those pools registered their concerns to USA Swimming's HQ in Colorado Springs -- complaints about fairness considering not all pools were closed, and their own safety.

        • Last Friday, USA Swimming held five back-to-back conference calls with 80 national team athletes, open-water swimmers who have already qualified, coaches and Omaha Sport Commission leaders. It produced an overwhelming consensus behind sending the letter. Hirshland knew it was coming, but Hinchey didn’t tell other national governing body leaders on a conference call of the NGB Council that same day. Since then, others have joined the call to postpone and now it appears to be a virtual certainty.

        • Late this afternoon, USA Gymnastics joined USA Swimming and USA Track & Field in advocating for the IOC to formally postpone the Olympics. Those are the three biggest U.S. NGBs during any Summer Games, and they combined to win 77 out of Team USA’s 121 medals in Rio 2016.

         

        VIRTUAL RACING A BIG SUCCESS FOR NASCAR

        • NASCAR’s virtual race on Sunday provided the industry with a strong boost from all corners of the sport, SBJ’s Adam Stern writes. The race was called the Pro Invitational Series and it aired on FS1, giving it the look and feel of an actual race at a time when there are practically no live events. NASCAR, Fox Sports, teams and drivers came together over the past 10 days to put together this unique presentation of simulated racing. 

        • The broader sports world took notice. The event on the iRacing platform -- which was co-founded by Roush Fenway Racing co-owner John Henry in 2004 with Dave Kaemmer, who runs the business as CEO -- took over the No. 1 trending topic on Twitter by mid-race and remained either No. 1 or No. 2 for close to three hours, including after the race as positive reviews flooded in after a photo finish. Race winner Denny Hamlin, who edged out the retired Dale Earnhardt Jr. on a last-lap, last-turn pass, said he did more media interviews and appearances for yesterday’s win than he does for a normal race, aside from his two Daytona 500 victories.

        • iRacing runs on PCs and some younger or less successful drivers have very rudimentary setups. But Hamlin, a veteran driver at Joe Gibbs Racing, has a rig that costs around $40,000 and includes motion elements that, for example, will tilt his body one way or the other as he drives on banked turns.

        • The virtual series will continue this weekend from Texas Motor Speedway, and is expected to again be aired by Fox, which had both talent and producers practicing social distancing methods yesterday at its Charlotte studios. The invitational, the opening race in the series, produced rounds of good feedback for NASCAR at a time when a diversion was welcomed. Fox also sold ads for the broadcast, which might prove promising as NASCAR looks to grow the series.

         

         

        ENDEAVOR HALTS EQUITY BUYBACK PAYMENTS

        • Endeavor has suspended equity buyback payments to agents and execs due to the economic uncertainty related to the pandemic, SBJ's Liz Mullen reports. The payments were set to be made April 5. It was going to be the second opportunity for WME and IMG agents and Endeavor execs to liquidate equity in the absence of Endeavor being a public company. Endeavor withdrew its IPO last September.

         

        ANHEUSER-BUSCH REDIRECTS DOLLARS TO FIRST RESPONDERS

        • According to an early evening note from Anheuser-Busch VP/Partnerships Nick Kelly, the brewer will redirect $5 million of its marketing activation budget to support COVID-19 first responders through the American Red Cross. Kelly wrote: “We are working closely with the Red Cross to identify locations that could help facilitate these donations and may reach out soon for assistance. … In the meantime, we are converting our company’s tour centers in Fort Collins, CO, Merrimack, NH, and Saint Louis, MO to conduct daily blood drives and will be donating media air time to the Red Cross in support of their public service announcements. Budweiser will launch a campaign Tuesday that heroes those on the front lines and asks Americans to consider donating blood at one of the Red Cross’s many locations."

         

        POSTPONED OLYMPICS HURTS FITNESS PARTICIPATION NUMBERS

        • The prospects of a postponed Olympics represent yet another open wound for sporting-goods manufacturers, notes SBJ's Terry Lefton. Sports & Fitness Industry Association President Tom Cove talked about consumers being forced indoors, retailers remaining shuttered and Asian supply lines being weakened. Cove: “Whenever we have a big Summer Olympics and the U.S. teams do well, those sports go up in participation. It doesn’t look like that will happen this year. We normally get an Olympic bounce for sports like swimming, gymnastics, track and field and volleyball. … But the biggest impact will be on the big brand campaigns and product launches.”

        • Other early casualties: gyms, fitness centers and youth sports. With revenue for Q2 looking miniscule or nonexistent, “our companies have to conserve cash,” Cove said. “Where are you going to stop cash outflow? It starts with employees.’’ Companies are dealing with that differently, he said. Some are furloughing, but still paying health insurance, some are laying off, and some are going with reduced hours or reduced pay.

        • As for the shutdown’s impact on fitness participation? Cove: “We anticipate a significant pent-up demand by the third quarter, but the idea of trying to put everything from 12 months into a six-month period means a lot of challenges.”

         

         

        BALLPARK DEBUT ON HOLD, SO RANGERS PRESS ON

        • While the large majority of the Rangers' staff is working remotely, longtime Exec VP/Communications John Blake occasionally walks around the team's new ballpark, Globe Life Field, a routine that offers a brief respite from unrelenting COVID-19 coverage, SBJ's Eric Prisbell writes. Today was supposed to have been the first-ever baseball game at the ballpark, an exhibition between the Rangers and the Cardinals, but of course there is no telling when baseball will be back.

        • Until baseball returns, the Rangers' social media team is trying to be very selective in creating content to post, Blake said, and not doing it all in bulk. From a broadcasting perspective, the Rangers' RSN, FS Southwest, will broadcast highlighted games from 2019 in the time slots that their 2020 games would have been scheduled, beginning with Opening Day on March 26. Blake is also working with their radio rights holder to continue some of their weekly programming that they carry in the off-season.

        • Like all franchises, the Rangers are adjusting and trying to maintain as many lines of communication as possible. "Our executive group is in close daily contact and I'm doing the same with my communications team," Blake said. "We are in a unique position of having a new ballpark that continues to undergo finishing touches but for the most part is shut down. On the media side, I'm doing regularly scheduled update conference calls with [GM] Jon Daniels as circumstances warrant. But of paramount concern and attention right now is everyone's health and safety. That's the only priority."

         

        INTER MIAMI GETS CREATIVE WITH TEAM LOGO

        • Inter Miami CF has a new, temporary logo that encourages social distancing during the pandemic. It features a separation of what would normally be two interlocked white herons, SBJ’s Mark J. Burns reports. The creative alteration occurred over a 24-hour time span this weekend and launched today. The new MLS club plans to promote similar messaging on social media throughout the week.

        • There’s no determined timeline for how long the new logo will run for, according to team VP/ Community Engagement Chris Allan, as the team takes a “week-by-week approach.” Allan: “Our goal is to service our fans, our staff and community alike, while supporting key messages from organizations such as the CDC.”

         

         

        CONFERENCE CALLS NOW THE DAILY NORM FOR MANY ADs

        • Ohio State AD Gene Smith, like his peers, spends most of his time on conference calls, SBJ’s Michael Smith reports. Most days, he can count on four calls -- one with staff, one with the Big Ten, one with the university and one with coaches -- and that's just the minimum. The Big Ten has been conducting daily calls with its ADs, as have the Pac-12, Big 12, ACC and SEC. It’s an opportunity to share the latest news and best practices from one campus to another. While most conferences are using Zoom or Skype to connect, Smith said he’s an old-fashioned call-in guy.

        • Smith relayed a story about the last in-person senior staff meeting he conducted last week. In the practice of social distancing, the staff met in a large ballroom and there was one person per table. “We were more than 10 feet apart,” Smith said. “That was the last time that we were all actually in the office.”

         

        CONCESSIONAIRES MAKING LARGE FOOD DONATIONS AROUND U.S.

        • Thousands of pounds of food from canceled or postponed events have been donated by major concessionaires across the country, SBJ's Karn Dhingra reports. Aramark, Centerplate, Delaware North and Levy have directed staff at venues under their management to send perishable food to food banks and non-profits in communities across the country.
        • Aramark has donated 10,760 pounds of food, including 3,300 pounds going from Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse to the Greater Cleveland Food Bank.

        • Sodexo-owned Centerplate has an ongoing program to donate perishable food items and care packages to hourly employees during the pandemic. Centerplate sent 800 banquet-ready meals to several local organizations, including Pullen Memorial Baptist Church, which supports the homeless and “food-insecure” in Raleigh. Centerplate worked with the Food Bank of Central & Eastern North Carolina for distributing the meals.

        • Delaware North’s Sportservice has donated 32,005 pounds of food from its venues, including 6,500 pounds from Little Caesars Arena to local charities in Detroit

        • More than 30 Levy properties have donated about 90,000 pounds of surplus food, which is nearly 40 tons. Staples Center sent 7,000 pounds of food to the Midnight Mission in L.A. and State Farm Arena moved 10,785 pounds to Goodr, a company that helps venues reduce their food waste and distribute food to non-profits, and Second Helpings Atlanta.

         

        HORSE RACING CONTINUES IN SOME PLACES, STOPPED ELSEWHERE

        • SBJ's Liz Mullen notes with horse racing being regulated at the state level and operated without a single league office or commissioner, decisions are all over the map in response to COVID-19. NYRA suspended racing at Aqueduct last week after a worker tested positive, but on the other side of the country, Santa Anita Park was open for spectator-less racing Friday through Sunday and took in $17.2 million in wagering dollars from online sources, Mullen reports. The racing is being allowed by the California Horse Racing Board and Gov. Gavin Newsom because the horses cannot be moved and need to run. Santa Anita Director of Publicity Mike Willman told SBJ. "We were pleased with yesterday’s pari-mutuel handle of $7.1 million and we will continue to donate our profits to charity."

        • NBCSN decided not to simulcast TVG's "Trackside Live" over the weekend, citing concerns around the virus. "We aim to simulcast the coverage next weekend," the network said. Meanwhile, the Dubai World Cup, a $12 million race that attracts some of the best horses and jockeys around the world, also announced that it would be postponed until 2021 to "safeguard the health of all participants."

         

         

        SPEED READS

        • In case you haven’t read it yet, SBJ Publisher & Executive Editor Abe Madkour offered a message for readers and the sports industry worth clicking on. Madkour: “My message is simple: You are not alone. We are all feeling this uncertainty. But this industry must collaborate like never before. It’s on us collectively to talk to each other and share ideas, best practices, learnings and failures. Communicate, reach out and find ways our respective organizations can help during this challenging time. Let’s not have the history books say that the sports industry didn’t do its part in leading the world through this unprecedented moment.”

        • March Madness headlines the list of canceled events this month, which prompted Kagan’s media research analysts to come up with these numbers:

          • $902 million -- amount expected to be paid by Turner and CBS in licensing fees for March Madness.
          • $968 million -- revenue generated from advertising from last year's men's NCAA tournament. Turner/CBS already said it had sold out of ad inventory.
          • $60,000 to $75,000 -- cost for a 30-second spot in NCAA early round play.
          • $950,000 -- cost for an ad in the championship game.

          • Of note: Turner will take a bigger hit on the cancellation of March Madness because it was Turner’s year to carry the Final Four, Kagan said.

        • ESPN’s Emily Kaplan reports NHL players and teams “largely shied away from interviews” last week, but that “could change in the coming days, as the league understands the importance of staying relevant.” Meanwhile, players are “getting tested on a case-by-case basis.” Kaplan: “We haven't seen full teams order tests for their players from private companies, like we've seen in the NBA, and according to sources, the NHL testing so far has focused mainly on those who are showing symptoms.” 

        • Ratings for Fox’s Sunday afternoon NFL package have been stronger than CBS in recent years, and with Tom Brady headed from the AFC to the NFC for 2020, Colin Cowherd was quick to note the effects: “Good day for Fox. For years and years, CBS made a lot of money putting Tom Brady on those late [afternoon] games. … Tampa and Tom Brady next year face Aaron Rodgers and Green Bay. Patrick Mahomes and Kansas City. The L.A. RamsDrew Brees twice. Those are all national TV games. Those are great watches. … Conversely, New England now -- which CBS has leaned on -- is an absolute snooze.” One thing to note, writes SBJ's Austin Karp, the NFL in recent years has more frequently cross-flexed Sunday national windows for Fox and CBS, meaning Brady may still get some time on CBS.

        • Most sports facility construction continues, evidenced by the football operations center on Georgia's campus. DPR Construction, the company that employs the workers, told the Athens Banner-Herald that activity at the site "continued on Monday." The $80 million project will "add an expanded weight room, coaches’ offices, a locker room, meeting rooms and a sports medicine facility."

        • New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo told Madison Square Garden officials that it would not need to use its facilities as a site for a coronavirus hospital during the crisis, ESPN’s Keith Olbermann reported via Twitter. “The military is setting up a field hospital just blocks away from the Garden at the Javits Convention Center making MSG redundant geographically,” Olbermann tweeted.

        • F1 is getting racing online in the same way as NASCAR, Tobias Seck of Esports Observer -- a sister publication of SBJ -- notes . Esports organization Veloce was the first to make a foray after the cancellation of the Australian GP a couple of weeks ago, but leading up to this past weekend's canceled Bahrain GP, F1 itself became a competitor, joining up with esports outfit Gfinity. The F1 Esports Virtual Grand Prix series, featuring a number of current F1 drivers, will also use the official "F1 2019" PC video game, developed by Codemasters.
        • Olympians such as Michael Phelps, Simone Biles, Shaun White, Aly Raisman, Nathan Adrian, Alana Blanchard, Natalie Coughlin, Hannah Teter, Kelly Clark and Seth Wescott are among those who have donated a signed item to raise money for its COVID-19 charitable effort, Octagon’s Athletes For Relief. Fans who donate to the funds are eligible to win an autographed item. All proceeds benefit the Center for Disease Philanthropy’s COVID-19 Relief Fund, which supports local non-profits working in highly impacted and vulnerable areas.

         


        SBJ UNPACKS -- WEATHERING COVID-19

         

         

         

        Something related to coronavirus and sports business catch your eye? Tell us about it. Reach out to Austin Karp (akarp@sportsbusinessjournal.com) and we'll share the best of it.

         

         

         

        SBJ Unpacks: Coronavirus -- Consumer Demand Evident In Brady Jersey Sales

         

        The news got worse each day this week. Even as I’m writing this, headlines are filled with lockdowns in California, Illinois, New York. Our borders to both the north and south are closed, and all experts have warned that the situation will get worse before it gets better.

        Still, there have been heartwarming signs in this long and weird week starting with NBA Commissioner Adam Silver, who has become the unquestioned leader of the sports business, consistently setting the agenda for his colleagues. His Wednesday night interview with ESPN’s Rachel Nichols is a case-in-point. He struck the perfect chord with his tone and demeanor, combining seriousness with humility and optimism. His idea for a charity game involving medically cleared NBA players was praised throughout the industry.

        As I reported stories this week, I was struck by the amount of optimism throughout the country’s media companies. Make no mistake: media executives understand that there’s a long, painful road ahead as our country deals with this worldwide pandemic. But there’s optimism that when we do get through this, sports will be a vehicle used to bring normalcy back to American lives.

        To that end, our lead story tonight is not about the effects of the virus. It’s about the power of sports and the ability of one player to lift the spirits of an entire market.

        Stay safe, everybody.

        – John Ourand

         

         

        BRADY ADDITION MOVES BUCS GEAR UP THE CHARTS

        • Outside of packaged goods -- especially toilet paper, it seems -- American consumer demand is at ebb tide, according to SBJ’s Terry Lefton. However, Tom Brady’s defection to Tampa Bay after 20 years and six rings with the Patriots had NFL fans reaching for their mouse and credit card to buy his Buccaneers jerseys today -- the first day it was available. Brady's jersey was the top seller during the last regular season and it was a top-five seller over the past 10 seasons.
        • However, with the Bucs set to release a new jersey design next month, the sites are showing nothing but a plain white jersey with Brady’s name on it, and the number “0,” along with proviso that the product will be shipped “no later than July 17.”

        • Nonetheless, across the Fanatics networks of sites, which includes NFLshop.com, Brady is the top-selling player, and the Bucs are the top-selling NFL team. The Patriots are second. More Bucs licensed goods have been sold today on those sites than during the past two weeks.

         

        With the Bucs releasing a new jersey design next month, sites are showing nothing but a plain white jersey with Brady’s name on it

         

        USA SWIMMING PUSHING USOPC TO CALL FOR OLYMPIC POSTPONEMENT

        • Tim Hinchey, CEO of USA Swimming, formally requested that the USOPC advocate for postponing the Olympics until 2021, according to SBJ’s Chris Smith. In a letter to USOPC CEO Sarah Hirshland, Hinchey wrote: “Our world-class swimmers are always willing to race anyone, anytime and anywhere; however, pressing forward amidst the global health crisis this summer is not the answer. … Our athletes are under tremendous pressure, stress and anxiety, and their mental health and wellness should be among the highest priorities."

        • This marks the first time an NGB openly has pushed back against the USOPC, which earlier today reiterated its intention to compete in Tokyo. Hinchey told SBJ that the decision to speak out was the result of “a lot of listening” and the realization that USA Swimming needed to provide guidance not just to its Olympic hopefuls, but to the thousands of swimmers at lower levels of the sport. “As an organization and as a leadership team, it became more important for us to focus on the health and safety of everyone,” said Hinchey. In response, Hirshland and USOPC Chair Susanne Lyons released a statement that promised the concerns would be relayed, but that the USOPC would grant the IOC the "opportunity to gather more data and expert advice before insisting that a decision be made."

        • A postponement would have tremendous financial impacts for USA Swimming, which would lose this year’s Olympic Trials, currently scheduled for June 21-28. The event draws more than 200,000 fans to Omaha every four years, and in 2016, USA Swimming reported $4.6 million in total event revenues, which are typically less than $1 million in non-Trials years. For now, USA Swimming still is proceeding as if the Trials will run on schedule. The current back-up plan is a closed-door Trials without fans, and Hinchey says Plan C is to select the Olympic team based on past performances, though details of that system have not yet been finalized.

         

        GOODELL PENS LETTER TO "NFL FAMILY"

        • NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell wrote a letter to the “NFL family” on Thursday about the COVID-19 pandemic, thanking staffers for their hard work and providing rationale for keeping offseason league business going during the crisis. “We are hopefully providing our fans a small but welcomed respite from the critical matters at hand with some exciting football news and optimism about the upcoming season,” Goodell wrote in the letter obtained by SBJ’s Ben Fischer. He also suggested the NFL will be rolling out more plans in response to the crisis.

        • “While there have been changes to the way we work and some of our plans, we have an unwavering commitment to upholding the NFL’s legacy of unifying and lifting the spirit of America, and bringing out the best in our fans and in our communities around the world,” Goodell said. “You’ll hear more from us in the days and weeks ahead about how we intend to demonstrate that commitment well beyond our fields. And I hope you'll share your ideas on how we can do that.”

         

        COLLEGES STILL WORKING WITH ATHLETES

        • College athletes have access to physical therapy, mental health care, academic support, nutrition and most other services from the athletic department, even as campuses shut down, SBJ’s Michael Smith reports. Many athletes have decided to return home to wait out the pandemic, but others, including foreign athletes and those who come from disadvantaged backgrounds, are opting to stay in off-campus housing.

        • By staying in town, an athlete who might be recovering from a surgery would be able to continue physical therapy at the school’s training center or a university health center where they can be screened before being admitted. Those sessions are being scheduled by appointment so trainers can control the number of people. Nutrition staffs also are preparing food that athletes can pick up.

        • As college athletes transition to online classes for the remainder of the spring semester, academic support personnel are working with them through virtual study sessions, Cal AD Jim Knowlton said. He’s relying on coaches to stay in regular contact with their players. Knowlton: “We’re trying to keep our thumb on the pulse of how they’re doing personally, how they’re doing academically, how they’re dealing with things. We’re taking care of the people first and then we’ll worry about what’s happening with the NCAA and the Pac-12.”

        • College ADs are preparing for a different financial reality. What does that look like? Read Smith’s story in SBJ on Monday.

         

         

        1HUDDLE WORKING WITH TEAMS ON REMOTE WORK TRANSITION

        • Over the past few days, Sam Caucci, founder & CEO of 1Huddle, has heard from several teams who say they likely will be pulling back on recruiting and cutting seasonal hires. Caucci hasn’t heard as much about full-time staff being laid off. “It is the wrong decision to pull back on engaging with any workforce you are cutting or laying off,” Caucci said.

        • Caucci has had many calls with pro teams on how to transition their work force to a remote work setting, SBJ's Karn Dhingra reports. 1Huddle, a mobile and online learning platform to train ticket sales and gameday staff, counts Legends Hospitality, Monumental Sports, MSG, the Dodgers, Lightning and Nets among its clients, has made its platform free for teams willing to offer the service to their frontline labor force.

         

        VIEWERSHIP UP FOR WHISTLE SPORTS AS GAMES GO DARK

        • Whistle Sports' total watch time is at a three-year high, with long-form content getting the biggest boost, company execs told SBJ’s Chris Smith. Through the first three weeks of March, consumption of Whistle’s YouTube content on smart TVs and gaming consoles is up 200% over January.

        • Whistle President Michael Cohen sees the lull in on-field action as an opportunity for his media company. “Now is a great time to be attaching talent,” says Cohen. “We have the ability to package great talent into the studio projects that we’re working on, and there’s a great window to do that right now.” Studio projects already in the works include the Steph Curry-produced “Benedict Men” for Quibi and “Legacy,” an upcoming series featuring Dwyane Wade, Evander Holyfield, Randall Cunningham and their children.

        • Potential programming strategies include re-editing and sharing archived footage on social media, producing more text-based content and curating user-generated videos. That’s in addition to unreleased episodes already in the can. “We are shot pretty far ahead,” said Joe Caporoso, Whistle Senior VP/Content & Brand Platforms. Upcoming episodes of the show “Bad Jokes” will feature Dikembe Mutombo, Muggsy Bogues and Gary Payton.

         

        SPECTRA WORKING TO DISTRIBUTE FOOD FROM ITS VENUES

        • Philadelphia-based concessionaire Spectra is working with the Food Recovery Network to donate and distribute food from venues with canceled events due to the coronavirus pandemic, according to SBJ's Karn Dhingra.

        • In many cases, Spectra’s vendors already work with local groups to donate excess food, Spectra VP/Culinary Excellence Scott Swiger said: Where they don’t, Food Recovery Network will step in to help the concessionaire. Spectra mostly has held off making any big food and beverage orders as it clears perishable items from its venues. “It varies some by the facility and what's happening, so it depends if a season canceled or is it being pushed back and rescheduled, but we're going to be ready to go once things come back,” Swiger said.

        • Some examples: Salt River Fields in Scottsdale, the spring training home for the D-backs and Rockies, donated five pallets of perishable goods to First Step, a division of St. Mary's Food Bank and the Phoenix Rescue Mission. In the college ranks, Wake Forest athletics donated fresh produce to the local Salvation Army.

         

         

        NBA 2K LEAGUE TO LAUNCH TOURNAMENT

        • The NBA 2K League is rolling out “NBA 2KL Three for All Showdown,” an online 3-on-3 tournament where fan-organized teams, female 2K players and social media influencers will compete for the chance to play against NBA 2K League teams and a share of a $25,000 prize pool, SBJ’s John Lombardo reports.

        • The tournament will have two stages: the first will feature 32 fan-organized teams competing against each other March 27-29. The second stage takes place March 31-April 3. Each bracket will be best-of-three games series, with the final round matchups being best-of-five.

         

        A FOCUS ON YOUTH SPORTS

        • Pro and college sports aren’t the only ones shut down now, as winter turns to spring. So are youth sports, SBJ’s Bill King says. Tomorrow morning, millions will wake up with no games, practices or tournaments for their kids. What does that mean to parents and grandparents and coaches and mentors? And what does it mean to all those kids?

        • Tom Farrey, the director of the Aspen Institute’s Sport & Society Program, says he hopes absence will lead to even greater fondness for youth sports -- and a re-examination of the direction it has taken in the U.S. “We’re going to want it that much more for our children,” Farrey said. “My hope is that we’re going to want it for all children, not just those in our own home, but kids from lower-income neighborhoods and maybe the kids who aren’t the best athletes who get pushed aside from travel team tryouts. (I hope) we really come back and make room for all those kids because sports is an extraordinary experience and we’re being denied it.”

        • For more from Farrey, including recommendations on how to work through this with your kids, grandkids and teams, check out today’s SBJ Unpacks podcast.

         

         

        SPEED READS

        • Beginning Monday, XFL players, whose season was formally canceled today, will be free to sign with NFL or CFL teams upon execution of an XFL notice of contract termination, according to SBJ's Ben Fischer. The XFL, NFL and CFL offices have finalized protocol for an XFL player to execute such a notice concurrent with signing an NFL or CFL contract. If an XFL player requests to be released to play for any other pro league, the XFL league office will send the notice to the player and approve his release upon execution of the notice. If NFL or CFL teams conduct tryouts in April or May, XFL players will be permitted to participate while remaining under contract with the XFL. However, XFL players must execute a waiver and release form prior to participating in any tryout.

        • USTA Managing Director of Corporate Communications Chris Widmaier tells SBJ's Thomas Leary that with ATP and WTA events canceled through June 7, the U.S. Open Series -- set to begin July 12 -- would represent the “perfect leadup” to the U.S. Open in late August. But whether those seven events, beginning with the Hall of Fame Open in Newport, R.I., remain on the schedule is top of the mind amid daily communications between the USTA, ATP and WTA. Widmaier: “This is a time for over communication and coordination. … We’re going into this with wide eyes and trying to gather as much information as we can from medical and security experts. … There are so many variables, you just can’t really put a stake in the ground at this point.”

        • Overwatch League was due to start online-only games this weekend, but California’s stay-at-home order affected production plans for the event to the extent that the league has called off call games, according to SBJ's Adam Stern. The Activision Blizzard Esports group is working on re-adjusting productions plans for upcoming weeks. For Riot Games, the company's League of Legends online-only competitions in North America, Europe and South Korea are all just getting re-started.

        • Even if the Olympics do happen, ESPN's Rachel Nichols wouldn't expect NBA players in Tokyo at this point. Appearing on Barstool’s “Pardon My Take podcast, she had this to say about the best ballers in the world playing for their respective countries: "I just don’t see a way the NBA is sending our elite players ... because I think those guys will be in the playoffs."
        • Santa Anita Park outside Los Angeles continued to race today, despite the statewide stay-at-home order put in place last night by Gov. Gavin Newsom, according to SBJ's Liz Mullen. "I don't know the machinations of it, but we got OK-ed," said Santa Anita Director of Publicity Mike Willman. Meanwhile, TVG and NBC horse racing analyst Britney Eurton yesterday tweeted that she is self-quarantining after interacting with someone who tested positive for COVID-19. On March 14, Eurton interviewed New Orleans Saints Head Coach Sean Payton, who revealed yesterday that he tested positive for the virus. "She has no symptoms," Eurton's agent Sandy Montag said. "She feels fine."

        • At a time when there’s no live sports content, archival specialist Heritage Werks has seen a spike in demand, with every sports property looking for content . That’s resulted largely in “This day is in YOUR TEAM’s history” features for web sites or social teams of times that were already Heritage Werks clients -- around 20, Executive Director Charlie Turano told SBJ’s Terry Lefton. “We trying to provide more touchpoints for teams, at a time that this history and tradition jumps to the forefront,” Turano said. “And most of our researchers were already working from home, so…”

        • At presstime, the Bruins remain the only active NHL club which has yet to publicly announce any financial support for gameday arena workers or hourly employees, which led Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey to deliver these strong comments to the Boston Herald: “Do something for their workers. Every other team has said they are going to provide financial support for hourly workers who have been hurt by this, and that runs the range of paying their salaries or paying for their living expenses. … I just want them to act now.”

        • The NBA has launched "NBA Together," a global community and social engagement campaign around the coronavirus pandemic. The NBA is looking to raise more than $50 million to support people impacted by the coronavirus, an effort that includes the more than $30 million financial commitment already made by NBA and WNBA teams and players to date.

         

        SBJ UNPACKS -- WEATHERING COVID-19

         

         

         

        Something related to coronavirus and sports business catch your eye? Tell us about it. Reach out to Austin Karp (akarp@sportsbusinessjournal.com) and we'll share the best of it.

         

         

         

        SBJ Unpacks: Coronavirus -- Olympic-Sized Dilemma

         

        The $1 trillion aid package proposed today was a vivid reminder that the coronavirus pandemic is not just a health issue, it’s also a deeply economic one hitting many Americans hard during this national shutdown. Legislators from both sides of the aisle met most of the day about a plan that could pay as much as $1,200 to individuals and $2,400 to couples, helping quickly restore some level of income for idled workers as well as others who are reeling.

        Not lost in the economic news was word from the CDC that younger members of the U.S. population could be more at-risk than originally thought, and a recommendation from the State Department for U.S. citizens to avoid any international travel, something that could have continued sports ramifications.

        While the nation's capital debated how best to respond to COVID-19, another high-profile case hit close to home in the sports world. Saints coach Sean Payton told ESPN that he tested positive this afternoon, marking the first known case of someone from the NFL world with the illness.

        We’re left wondering what tomorrow’s news will bring.

         

         

         

        TEAM USA SPONSOR COULD LOOK TO RECOUP ATHLETE FEES

        • New U.S. Olympic team sponsor Eli Lilly & Co. is asking potential Team USA athlete endorsers to give back some of their fees if the Olympics are canceled or postponed beyond its contract term, sources who have seen the proposals tell SBJ’s Ben Fischer. While some decrease in payment is not unreasonable given the widespread virus-related disruption, the company can expect resistance to major givebacks.

        • The request sits at the heart of the dilemma facing Olympic marketers right now. Most Olympic-sport athletes generate almost all of their commercial value during the Games’ two-week window, but the heavy promotional season would start in the next few weeks. An established Olympian might still yield great benefits for a brand -- particularly a health care one right now -- in the coming months even if the Games ultimately are delayed.

        • Olympic deals typically include bonuses for making the team and medaling on top of firm base payments. Lilly signed its one-year deal with U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Properties just last month so its athlete deals are coming together during the virus scare. Lilly is looking for athletes whose families have been affected by migraines, psoriasis, diabetes or breast cancer.

         

        AT LEAST FOUR NFL TEAMS DEFERRING SEASON-TICKET PAYMENT DEADLINES

        • The Texans and Jets are the latest teams to give season-ticket holders a reprieve from their upcoming payments, joining announcements earlier this week from the Packers and Giants. “We’ve suspended all payments in March,” said Texans VP/Communications Amy Palcic. “We will reassess at the beginning of April, with regard to this and anything else that’s been canceled or adjusted.” Jets Senior VP/Communications & Content Eric Gelfand said the club hasn’t put a precise date on it, only promising fans that any due dates “in the coming weeks” won’t apply.

        • While the timing of the virus has not impacted NFL games, the associated economic slowdown is coming amid high activity in season-ticket renewals, sales and payments. New Jersey alone saw 15,000 new claims for unemployment on Monday, which Politico reported is 12x its usual rate. With the status of the virus, government-mandated shutdowns and team sales cycles varying widely, NFL HQ in Manhattan has not issued any league-wide guidance on the subject.

         

         

        MANY COLLEGE COACHING CHANGES LIKELY ON HOLD

        • College basketball coaches on the hot seat might buy themselves another season because of sensitivities related to coronavirus, sources tell SBJ’s Michael Smith. Many universities are heading into severe financial headwinds because of lost revenue from tuition, housing and sporting events. A costly buyout in a coach’s contract might be enough to prevent a firing, at least for now. If there’s a strong financial implication that comes with a change, “you’re probably going to wait,” one source said.

        • The day after Selection Sunday is typically filled with news about coaches being fired. That wasn’t the case this week. Athletic directors are considering the optics of firing a coach in the middle of a pandemic, in addition to the financial hit. It’s not a good look. “A lot of people are pumping the brakes on their searches,” another source said.

        • There are also logistical components to consider. With travel at virtually a standstill and many people confined to their home, it’s extremely difficult to arrange in-person interviews and campus tours for prospective coaching candidates. “ADs are really focused internally right now on managing their finances,” a source said. Considering the pandemic, are ADs really going to go find $1 million or more to make a coach go away? It’s not likely, at least until something changes.

         

        NHL CURATING CONTENT FOR LEAGUE PLATFORMS

        • The NHL will soon release a Netflix-like experience of curated content on the league’s website and YouTube channel, SBJ’s Mark J. Burns reports, in addition to daily programming across other NHL social platforms. As part of what the league’s calling "NHL Pause Binge" amid COVID-19, fans will have access to over 100 classic games from the 1950s to now and behind-the-scenes programs such as "Road to the NHL Winter Classic" and "Behind the Glass," among other content. NHL Chief Content Officer Steve Mayer: “This is something that’s unique to this period of time, something that we felt would be very cool and it’d be one-stop-shopping to binge watch everything NHL.”

        • Mayer explained that roughly a dozen producers and editors, who are now working remotely, are cutting up new material, including weekly motivational speeches from players and coaches that’ll release starting Monday, and a bracket-style competition around the greatest moments from the 2019-20 season, which fans can eventually vote on. Additionally, between tomorrow and April 30, the NHL and Sportsnet will give fans an opportunity to watch on-demand full replays of this season’s games via the NHL app, league website and on NHL Live in Canada.

         

         

        DOUBTS OVER INDY 500 CONTINUE TO GROW

        • Doubts over whether the Indianapolis 500 will run as scheduled in late May have grown over the last week -- but today, they seemed to grow by the hour, according to SBJ's Adam Stern. This morning brought the announced news that F1’s Monaco Grand Prix is cancelled for 2020, and SBJ first reported around the same time that Indianapolis Motor Speedway execs are indeed considering a postponement for the Indy 500, which is currently slated to take place May 24.

        • By the end of the day, the AP's Jenna Fryer tweeted that new IndyCar/IMS Owner Roger Penske told her that he was “non-committal" on the Indy 500. "Lots of moving parts. Working on many options. … I am not going to let this short-term issue impact my commitment to IMS or to the league.”

        • Any exact postponement plan that IMS is working on has yet to emerge. IndyCar CEO Mark Miles told SBJ in a text message: “Our objective is to run as scheduled, but we are monitoring all developments and planning for all contingencies." While the May 24 date falls after the expiration of the CDC’s eight-week major event ban recommendation, the race itself is the culmination of not just several weeks' worth of community events around Indianapolis, but also a couple of weeks of practice for drivers.

        • The first Indy 500 was held in 1911, and it has gone on hiatus only twice -- during World War I and World War II.

         

        CBS REACHES INTO MARCH MADNESS VAULT FOR PROGRAMMING

        • CBS will run classic NCAA Tournament games this weekend during time slots that would have been devoted to this year’s tournament, according to SBJ's John Ourand. On Saturday, it will show 1982’s North Carolina-Georgetown national championship game at noon ET; 1983’s N.C. State-Houston national championship at 2 pm; and 1992’s Duke-Kentucky regional final at 4 pm. On Sunday, it will air three national championship games: 2008’s Kansas-Memphis at noon; 2019’s Virginia-Texas Tech at 2 pm; and 2016’s Villanova-UNC at 4pm. The following Sunday (March 29), CBS will show three more national title games: 1985’s Villanova-Georgetown at noon, 1997’s Arizona-Kentucky at 2:30 pm and 2010’s Duke-Butler at 4 pm.

        • Without live college basketball games this weekend, TBSTNT and truTV will return to their normal slate of entertainment programming. 

         

        LOSS OF GAMES COULD CUT 15-20% FROM ARAMARK REVENUE

        • Aramark has $1.3 billion in cash available to weather the fallout from the global coronavirus pandemic, SBJ’s Karn Dhingra reports. To increase its financial flexibility and liquidity, the concessionaire borrowed $230 million remaining on its $1 billion revolving line of credit to increase its cash availability.

        • It’s still too early to gauge the full impact of the pandemic on the company’s operational results, but an overall drop of 15-20% in operating revenues is expected, due to flexible cost structure of its business model, geographic mix and diversified client portfolio, which includes sports venues. Venues and facilities under Aramark’s sports and leisure line of business generally have mid-single digit operating margins.

        • Among the major concessionaires, Aramark will have the second-most lost games in MLBNBA and NHL and third most in MLS, according to data compiled by SBJ's David Broughton

         

        SPONSORSHIP CONSULTANT SAYS OPPORTUNITIES EXIST

        • With games shut down, most of the assets that sports sponsors traditionally turn to are in moth balls. Tickets, arena signs, broadcasts, hospitality -- it’s all inert. But one sponsorship consultant says there are ways for brands to take advantage of some of what they’ve already purchased. “Opportunities are slim, but they are there,” said AJ Maestas, founder & CEO of Chicago-based Navigate Research, a firm that specializes in sponsorship analysis, advising properties, brands, universities and agencies. “For our brand clients and for buyers, what we’re saying is take advantage of that intellectual property that you purchased. Those rights, marks and logos -- they still have that same impact, whether you’re reminded at point of sale or it’s seen online. So there’s plenty of things that are jumping. Social, digital, mobile, television, gaming. These things are taking a leap forward with all this down time. But people still love those athletes. They still love those teams. So if you can remind them of your association, you’ve got a heck of an opportunity there.”

        • For lots more from Maestas, listen to our latest SBJ Unpacks podcast.

         

        WEIGHTLIFTING FEDERATION MAKES QUALIFICATION CHANGES

        • Following a two-day online meeting, the Int'l Weightlifting Federation’s executive board agreed upon a new Olympic qualification system and submitted the procedure to the IOC for approval, according to SBJ's Chris Smith. The IWF has not made public the details of the amended process, but USA Weightlifting CEO Phil Andrews says the new system will advance the end of the qualifying period to March 31. With no qualifying events on the calendar before the end of the month, that means the IWF’s current Olympic ranking will effectively be locked in. Competitors who were scheduled to compete at upcoming qualifying events will be able to count those toward the minimum number of events required by the IWF for Olympic qualification. The IOC is expected to approve the new system on Monday.

        • The formation of a new qualifying procedure follows the Wednesday postponement of the Pan American Championships, originally scheduled for April 14-24 in Santo Domingo. That event was the final Tokyo 2020 qualifier that had yet to be canceled or postponed. Continental weightlifting championships in Europe and Africa were previously moved from April to June, but they will no longer impact Olympic qualifying.

        • Under the proposed qualifying procedure, USA Weightlifting would send the maximum eight athletes to this year’s Games. Unlike some NGBs with centralized athlete communities, USA Weightlifting’s athletes are located throughout the country. Andrews says the NGB has been in close contact with members and has informed athletes that their stipends are guaranteed. “We are being very honest and open, with clear communication and lots of empathy for the way their lives have been turned upside down,” said Andrews. 

         

         

        SPEED READS

        • The suspension of live horse racing at Aqueduct in Queens comes as a backstretch worker tested positive for coronavirus, SBJ's Liz Mullen reports. The individual, and his roommate, had been quarantined since developing symptoms on March 13 and he tested positive this morning, NYRA said in a statement. This individual, who was not named, lives and works at Belmont Park.

        • Data from comScore shows that despite a lack of live sports, there hasn't been a big drop in traffic to sports sites from desktops and mobile, reports SBJ's Austin Karp. For the period of March 2-15, there were 456.2 million total visits to sports sites in the U.S. That is down only 2% from the prior two-week period (Feb. 17 through March 1), when 467.8 million visits occurred.

        • The Golden Knights today pledged to donate a minimum of $500,000 to part-timers and hourly on-call employees who were scheduled to work the final regular season games at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. Goalie Marc-Andre Fleury kicked off the initiative by pledging $100,000 to the cause, which now makes the Bruins the lone NHL club that hasn’t publicly stated any financial support for TD Garden game day staffers amid the COVID-19 outbreak. 

        • One word to sum up Adam Silver’s appearance on “SportsCenter” last night? Transparency. Jackie MacMullan on “The Hoop Collective” podcast said, “That authenticity showed through. He looked to me like a haggard, worried commissioner. Which is exactly what we would expect he would be, because these are difficult times.” ESPN’s Tim MacMahon: “Silver was everything you would hope a commissioner, or anyone from a major leadership standpoint, would be. He was calm, he was measured. I did think he was as transparent as he possibly could be.” Brian Windhorst: “We let it run on ‘SportsCenter’ for almost 25 minutes, which doesn’t happen for anyone. That tells you how important it was.”

        • UFC being one of the last major sports organizations to cancel events was up for discussion on "Ariel Helwani's MMA Show" podcast, with ESPN’s Marc Raimondi saying, “It was ridiculous when Dana White said on Saturday night that they were trying to move UFC London to the United States and it was basically going to be a makeshift card put together through newly-signed fighters and pretty much whoever was available. To me, that’s not the UFC.” Helwani: “What are we doing here? ... It’s like we’re just trying to put on a card for the sake of putting on a card. That’s when it started to feel weird and it started to feel like we were going back to the early ‘90s where we’re running away from government regulations.” ESPN’s Eric Jackman called Saturday’s fight in Brazil “very strange.” He said, “In the back of your mind, you’re thinking, ‘should this fight really be going on?’” 
        • Jesse Marsch, the American coach of Austria-based soccer club Red Bull Salzburg, has had a unique experience dealing with the sports shutdown. Marsch told SI’s Grant Wahl the club held their most recent training session last Friday, with all players operating off home programs since then. For most players, that means daily jogs on public streets, while adhering to the one meter distance recommendation by the country. Marsch said his top priority is looking out for his players. “We have a lot of 18-, 19-, 20-year-olds from different countries that are living alone right now. … We need to make sure we’re checking in on them and making them feel like they’re still taken care of.”

        • Callaway Golf has replaced their podcast advertising reads on “No Laying Up” with dedicated segments on how to stop the spread of COVID-19. Golf blogger Job Fickett tweeted, “Reading the room and encouraging public health to an audience demographic that needs to hear it. Cheers.” 

         

        SBJ UNPACKS -- WEATHERING COVID-19

        • ICYMI: Check out the most recent editions of our "SBJ Unpacks" podcasts around COVID-19:

          • SBJ examines the pandemic's impact on sports sponsorships with AJ Maestas of Navigate Research.
          • Attorney Mikaela Whitman talks about how sports businesses are answering the question, “Am I covered?” and what the insurance market will look like when events return.
          • Joe Asher, CEO of William Hill U.S., joins to discuss COVID-19’s impact on sports betting.
          • SBJ's Bill King and Ben Fischer talk about how coronavirus is disrupting Olympic qualification events and what that may mean for the Tokyo Games.

         

         

         

        Something related to coronavirus and sports business catch your eye? Tell us about it. Reach out to Austin Karp (akarp@sportsbusinessjournal.com) and we'll share the best of it.

         

         

         

        SBJ Unpacks: Coronavirus -- Properties In Touch With Sponsors

        The full scope of the coronavirus’ impact on the economy came into clearer focus today, even as calls for the IOC to make a decision on the Tokyo Olympics intensified. The nation’s largest owner of shopping malls, Simon, said it will shutter all U.S. properties as states and local governments further limit public gatherings, and the U.S.-Canada border will be closed to all non-essential travel. Meanwhile, the Dow Jones lost another 6.3% today.

        The first coronavirus stimulus package is heading to President Trump’s desk tonight. The Senate approved two weeks of emergency support for anyone who missed work because they’re sick with the virus or in precautionary isolation, and policymakers in Congress and the administration scramble to do more as you read.

        Tampa Bay football fans woke up today with the sudden confidence of having six-time Super Bowl champ Tom Brady on their side, and season-ticket sales are surging for the long-struggling Bucs. A couple of hours ago, 510 NFL players became free agents at the start of the new league year. We'll also hear again from Adam Silver tonight on "SportsCenter," with Rachel Nichols set to interview the NBA commish.

        In what is becoming a daily refrain, there are far more questions than answers as sports tries to figure out what comes next.

         

         

        PROPERTY EXECS KEEPING TOUCH WITH SPONSORS

        • SBJ's Terry Lefton writes many sports business execs lived and worked through the industry freezes following 9/11, as well as various labor stoppages in pro sports and the recession of 2008-09. But so far, the coronavirus pandemic feels different to many of those individuals, due to the larger societal threat. With sports shut down for an indeterminate period that certainly looks like months, layoffs and associated industry pain seems likely, if not inevitable.

        • Having said that, how are property execs spending their time? “This a pause and we are starting to think a little bit about what a relaunch would look like,’’ said Harris Blitzer Sports & Entertainment CEO Scott O’Neil. “Of course, we’re keeping the lines of communication open with business partners. But we need to find the joy and purpose in this pause. Eventually that means we’ll come back stronger, and we’re starting to plan a little for re-entry as well. In the meantime, we’re trying to over-communicate.’’

        • MSG Exec VP/Marketing Partnerships Ron Skotarczak. “This is a bigger situation than business -- this a people-first situation. So we want to let partners know we’re there for them, without overwhelming them. Very few were asking about specific questions about the future. The very large majority weren’t.’’

        • It also appears too early to get very specific about value and make-goods. “It’s very simple,'' said another sales exec at an organization which owns multiple pro teams. “We’re keeping [sponsors] up to date. I’ve made a ton of those calls. We’re keeping track of what assets we haven’t delivered and as soon as its feasible, we’ll come back and say, 'Here’s what we’ll do for you.'"

        • Learfield IMG College Exec VP/National Sales Andrew Judelson said he’s also been calling one business partner after another. "The one thing we know is that there’s never been a greater need for empathy for our brand partners and our university partners,’’ he said. "So it doesn’t start with a business conversation. it starts with a personal conversation. The way you handle a partner today is the way they will treat you tomorrow."

         

         

        DISNEY ENTERTAINMENT SEES AD SALES PICK UP

        • Disney has seen increased advertising for its entertainment platforms, particularly within the packaged goods and direct-to-consumer categories, Disney Ad Sales President Rita Ferro wrote in an open letter on her company’s website. Ferro: “We are actively working with many of you to help maximize your creative messaging and your plans to respond to these rapid shifts in consumer behavior.”

        • Ferro did not address ad sales at ESPN directly, SBJ's John Ourand noted. She said the company is working on “replacement programming for the remainer of March & April.” In her note, Ferro highlighted studio shows like “SportsCenter,” “Get Up!” and “First Take,” as well as NFL free agency and the “Greatest College Basketball Player of All Time.” And she said ESPN has been in contact with the leagues to "ensure sponsors are ready to go as soon as they are.”

         

        A LOOK AT TV VIEWERSHIP WITHOUT MANY LIVE SPORTS

        • Only three sports telecasts this weekend drew over 1 million viewers -- a repeat of The Players Championship on NBC (1.12 million viewers) and two live LigaMX soccer matches on Univision/TUDN, SBJ's Austin Karp reports. That’s it. It comes as no surprise that sports TV ratings were much smaller over the weekend since most events were canceled. But it still was breathtaking to see how far the numbers dropped. On the same Saturday/Sunday period in 2019, 19 English-language sporting events drew more than 1 million viewers, fueled primarily by March Madness.

        • Even the little bit of live sports that was on failed to produce good ratings. Take ESPN’s UFC prelims on Saturday, which averaged only 672,000 viewers for the window even though it was the only live English-language sports programming that day. The PBA World Championship on FS1 averaged what turned out to be a respectable 397,000 viewers Sunday afternoon, up 44% from last year's championship.

        • The increase in audience numbers for news programming has been big -- similar to the gains seen around the 2016 presidential election. Fox Sports Exec VP & Head of Strategy Michael Mulvihill noted TV use over a given day -- which had been down for 2020 -- was up 14% on Tuesday. Last week (March 9-15), CNN was up 110% in viewership, while CNBC was +69%, Fox Business was +61%, Fox News was +46% and MSNBC was +26%.

         

        Club America-Cruz Azul was the most-watched live sporting event of the weekend with 1.1 million viewers

         

        SANKEY BELIEVES SEC WILL HAVE FULL FOOTBALL SEASON

        • Describing himself as a “glass half full” kind of guy, SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey said today that the conference is preparing as if the football season will start on schedule, SBJ’s Michael Smith reports. Sankey added that plans for SEC Media Days in July are “full steam ahead,” although the conference is "preparing for disruption.” Other sources cited by Smith say there is a developing concern among high-level administrators that football might not have a complete season, especially if coronavirus safety measures extend into August.

        • The financial ramifications of canceled events haven’t been top-of-mind for the conference. “That’s not at the forefront of our conversations,” Sankey said. “We have to figure out the impact on the weeks and months ahead.”

        • For the time being, the conference’s 14 ADs are staying in touch while working from home. The SEC is facilitating daily conference calls with each of them to discuss scheduling, player eligibility, academic support, mental health care and physical therapy. Sankey is pushing forward with other meetings, like today’s officiating clinic, using video connections. “There’s a lot that goes into getting ready for the season,” he said.

         

        FITCH HAS "MIXED" OUTLOOK ON U.S. SPORTS INDUSTRY

        • An outlook on the U.S. sports sector by ratings agency Fitch is mixed, notes SBJ's Karn Dhingra. Fitch noted U.S. pro sports leagues are backed by a combination of contracted revenues in the form of long-term TV contracts, and demand-based revenues, which are realized through the sale of tickets, sponsorships and advertising. Finances for leagues are primarily secured by media contracts, consequently they are exposed to weakening credit quality experienced by their major broadcast partners, Fitch noted.

        • Fitch also downgraded the credit rating of NEP Group, a company that provides outsourced TV production services for major live sporting events around the world because of the impact the global coronavirus pandemic is having on live televised events. Among the events that have used NEP’s facilities and equipment are the Super BowlOlympicsFIFA World Cup and Wimbledon. Fitch placed the Carlyle Group-owned subsidiary on a negative rating watch because of the substantial impact the coronavirus is having on company’s near-term liquidity and cash flow, and the uncertainty for how long pro sports and other live events will continue to be canceled or postponed.

        • While Fitch noted that a portion of NEP’s revenues are subject to multiyear contracts, the company does not get paid until its services are rendered and is not insured against the cancellation of live events. The ratings agency will likely lift NEP from its negative rating watch if the company can maintain sufficient liquidity to support its obligations through this period of cancellations and postponements of sporting events.

         

         

        CHARLOTTE MLS TEAM NAME PLANS ON HOLD

        • A team name announcement for MLS Charlotte could have come as early as later this month or the beginning of April, but the coronavirus outbreak has impacted that timeline, SBJ’s Mark J. Burns reports. Charlotte FC and Charlotte Town FC have been among some of the name finalists, according to multiple sources, with Charlotte FC being the front runner at this time. Charlotte will begin play during the 2021 season at Bank of America Stadium.

        • According to the USPTO website, DT Soccer -- which is backed by owner David Tepper -- submitted eight trademarks on Dec. 6, 2019, including the two prior mentioned names, Charlotte Crown FCCharlotte Fortune FCCharlotte Monarchs FCCharlotte Athletic FCCarolina Gliders FC and All Carolina FC.

         

        CORPORATE GIFTING OUTFIT STAYS BUSY

        • As the sports industry went into deep freeze last week, so did the business of BirdieBox, a Miami-based corporate gifting company, according to SBJ's Terry Lefton. What prospects could there be for BirdieBox, which has been serving the likes of Pepsi, Live Nation, MLB, PGA Tour, the Hornets, Lakers, Cowboys, College Football Playoff, Peach Bowl and MSG?

        • Such was the thinking of BirdieBox CEO President Pat DePirro last week as sporting events were canceled or postponed en masse. He didn’t count on the inbound traffic, but then it started -- companies wanting to be proactive in a time of chaos. A huge financial services conglomerate wanted to do something for its employees. A large insurance company needed gift boxes to send to important clients. One of the country’s 20 largest charities wanted to send gift boxes to donors after a benefit was postponed. By yesterday, BirdieBox had seven unsolicited orders, each yielding hundreds of gift boxes each.

        • “This was a complete surprise,’’ said DePirro, a former MLBAM marketer, “But we’ve seen some companies want to reassure their staff, their sponsors, and other partners, to say: 'We are here; we’re connected.'" The boxes, which include print or video messaging from the benefactor, include consumer electronics, like noise-cancelling headphones, chargers and portable batteries to help those now working remotely stay connected; as well as “comfort” items like self-cleaning water bottles and gravity blankets, spa kits or aroma therapy items.

         

         

        SPEED READS

        • The audience for Barstool Sports has always skewed young -- a demo the federal government is trying to reach right now with its messaging around social distancing. So it was encouraging to see one of Barstool's more popular podcasts, Pardon My Take, land Dr. Anthony Fauci as a guest today. The country's leading infectious disease expert had a message for young listeners: "When I was young, I did feel -- appropriately or inappropriately -- like I was invulnerable. … Even if you are doing very well, you have to be a very important part of our national effort to contain the outbreak. … You’re not a passive person in this. You are an important part of the active plan to contain this epidemic.”

        • The potential eligibility extension for spring student-athletes hit home for Arizona AD Dave Heeke. Just minutes after sitting in the meeting where the Pac-12 canceled its men’s hoops tournament and all spring sports, Heeke got a call from his son Zach, the starting third baseman at Central MichiganPer the “Inside Pac-12” podcast, Heeke asked his father, “What does this mean? Is this it? I’m a senior, am I done?”

        • IndyCar driver Conor Daly said there has “not been a lot of information" coming through to drivers in the wake of many races being canceled. “We can’t go to the simulator. We can’t do any of the testing that we had scheduled. I don’t know what to do,” he told the “Trackside” podcast. However, Daly was optimistic that he can use this time to elevate his brand and his sponsors. “I’m going to try to be streaming video games as much as I can, and potentially brand that with the Air Force. … If you can grow your social media fan base, and then when you do get back to racing you have another 10,000 followers … that only boosts your sponsor’s effectiveness.”
        • Tampa Bay Sports Commission Executive Director Rob Higgins was sorry to see WrestleMania forced to move to WWE's training facility in Orlando, but he’s confident in the collective decision-making that led to the move. “We’ve waited 36+ years to be able to host," he said on the "Tampa Bay 55" podcast. "But we’ll wait as long as it needs for us to be able to host in a safe and secure environment.” As for how planning is coming for Super Bowl LV at Raymond James Stadium amid the sports shutdown, Higgins said his staff is in “constant communication” with NFL Exec VP/Club Business & League Events Peter O'Reilly and his team.

        • ECHL Commissioner Ryan Crelin could not confirm that all of his league’s 26 teams would return next season after the economic impact of canceling the end of the 2019-20 season. Crelin, appearing on the “ESPN On Ice” podcast, said, “We had a number of teams that had six, seven, eight home games left. Our model is predicated on fans. We don’t have national TV deals. So that’s a significant hit, plus the loss of the playoffs. … It’s just a big hit to who we are as a business and hockey product.” 

        • Sports fundraising platform Pledge It and talent representation/marketing firm Octagon have partnered to develop the Athletes For COVID-19 Relief initiative, which is geared toward raising funds that will benefit the Center for Disaster Philanthropy’s COVID-19 Response Fund, reports SBJ's Mark J. Burns. The program, which launched over the weekend, has now expanded beyond just Octagon clients. Sports fans can donate at least $25 to enter into win players’ signed memorabilia. Over 80 athletes have contributed signed items, including 20 NHLers such as the Blue Jackets’ Cam Atkinson, Golden Knights’ Max Pacioretty and Panthers’ Jonathan Huberdeau. Gold Medal-winning U.S. hockey player Mike Eruzione, ESPN analyst Jay Bilas and USMNT legend Tim Howard are participating, too.

        • With Las Vegas essentially shuttered for the next 30 days, USA Wrestling has postponed its U.S. Open event scheduled for the South Point Hotel from April 21-26. But while casinos and other non-essential businesses are closed in the state, Legal Sports Report noted Nevada sports betting apps will likely be allowed to continue operating.

         

        SBJ UNPACKS -- WEATHERING COVID-19

        • ICYMI: Check out the most recent editions of our "SBJ Unpacks" podcasts around COVID-19:

          • Attorney Mikaela Whitman talks about how sports businesses are answering the question, “Am I covered?” and what the insurance market will look like when events return.
          • Joe Asher, CEO of William Hill U.S., joins to discuss COVID-19’s impact on sports betting.
          • SBJ's Bill King and Ben Fischer talk about how coronavirus is disrupting Olympic qualification events and what that may mean for the Tokyo Games.
          • Adam Stern discusses NASCAR’s decision to postpone upcoming races.

         

         

         

        Something related to coronavirus and sports business catch your eye? Tell us about it. Reach out to Austin Karp (akarp@sportsbusinessjournal.com) and we'll share the best of it.

         

         

         

        SBJ Unpacks: Coronavirus -- NHL Seattle Plans On Hold

        Kevin Durant and three other Brooklyn Nets players shared the sobering news just hours ago that they’ve been infected with the coronavirus.

        Even as the White House proposed an $850 billion stimulus package intended to counter a bear market and the economic hardships Americans are now facing, reminders of the virus’ relentless impact were prevalent throughout the day. Early on, there was an increasing skepticism about Tokyo’s ability to pull off the Summer Games in July. By the end of the day, the PGA Championship headlined the ever-growing list of postponed events. And then Durant, one of the NBA’s most-marketable players and marquee talents, confirmed that he had the virus.

        While every day we all search for a silver lining, we can't help but come back to the constant refrain from health officials: Things will get worse before they get better.

         

         

        OUTBREAK PUSHING BACK NHL SEATTLE BUSINESS

        • NHL Seattle will not unveil the team’s new name this month because of sensitivities related to the coronavirus pandemic, SBJ’s Mark J. Burns reports. The club entered the new year hoping to have the name selected and ready for release in Q1, but those plans are being pushed back. The city of Seattle and state of Washington have been hit hardest by the outbreak with more than 900 cases and 50 deaths, and the new club said it wanted to be thoughtful about the timing of any celebration related to the name. The team still working through the trademark and legal process. 

        • Another impact of the outbreak: The club postponed its in-person general seat selection process earlier this month, saying this morning that it will continue to evaluate the process and timeline, with online seat selection being a possibility for fans in the future. The team is scheduled to begin play for the 2021-22 season.

        • A team spokesperson did say that it’s “business as usual” for the construction sites for the new arena at Seattle Center and Northgate Ice Centre, which includes the team’s HQ, training facilities and three ice rinks.

         

        PGA CHAMPIONSHIP LATEST BIG EVENT TO BE POSTPONED

        • Scratch another major off the regularly scheduled 2020 golf calendar, as the PGA of America has now postponed the PGA Championship. The second major of the year had been set for TPC Harding Park from May 11-17, but the San Francisco area is now under a shelter-in-place order due to the spread of coronavirus. PGA of America CEO Seth Waugh hopes to reschedule the event at TPC Harding Park later this summer.

        • The postponement comes as the PGA Tour today canceled another wave of upcoming tournaments. The RBC Heritage (April 13-19), Zurich Classic of New Orleans (April 20-26), Wells Fargo Championship (April 27-May 3) and AT&T Byron Nelson (May 4-10) won't be played this year. These cancellations come after the Tour already cancelled events on all six of its tours through the Valero Texas Open set for March 30-April 5.

        • With The Masters also postponed, all eyes now turn to the USGA, which at least for today, according to SBJ's John Lombardo, is still planning to host the U.S. Open at Winged Foot from June 18-21. Winged Foot is located around five miles away from a coronavirus containment zone currently set up in New Rochelle, N.Y.

        • Another big event on the golf calendar, the Ryder Cup, looks to still be on the docket for the fall, despite some reports today to the contrary. The PGA of America, which operates the event in the U.S., posted tonight from its official Ryder Cup Twitter feed: "Reports today that the 2020 @RyderCup is expected to be postponed are inaccurate."

         

         

        IOC COMMITTED TO TOKYO, BUT SKEPTICISM GROWS

        • Olympic insiders reported a growing acceptance that the Tokyo Games simply cannot happen as planned, despite the IOC’s statement today that it “remains fully committed” to this summer's event. The IOC noted there are still “four months to go,” but SBJ’s Ben Fischer reports that experts don’t believe the normal preparations can be made with the unpredictability of the virus’ course.

        • Insiders say the situation for U.S. and European athletes is untenable. Most Americans haven’t yet qualified, and qualified or not, it’s hard to train under “social distancing” measures that have closed gyms and college campuses nationwide. Also, Olympic business has started, including the shipping of support equipment from the U.S. to Japan. Like an industrial supply chain, there’s a "sequence of trigger events that have to fall like dominoes,” as one Olympic industry vet said, and it’s already being interrupted.

        • The IOC is trying to move things along parallel paths, continuing to take all the steps that would allow the Games to proceed. That’s the part we’re hearing about. But an alternative path, postponing them one year until summer 2021, now is in play, insiders say. That brings its own problems and, just a few months ago would have been derided as impossible. But just about everything is being reconsidered.

         

        DIVING WORLD CUP STILL ON THE CALENDAR

        • FINA still has not canceled the Diving World Cup, which is scheduled for April 21-26 in Tokyo, according to SBJ's Chris Smith. It is the last event at which nations can earn qualifying spots for the Olympic diving events this summer. USA Diving has already qualified for half of the maximum possible spots and is planning to qualify for the remainder at the World Cup.

        • FINA recently rescheduled events in Trieste (Italy), and Rotterdam (Netherlands) from March until May and June, and last week the governing body created a COVID-19 task force to assess the risks associated with upcoming competitions. A diving insider said that it is unclear at this point how FINA will adjust the qualifying procedure should the World Cup be canceled.

        • USA Diving’s selection for which divers go to Tokyo is slated to take place at the Olympic trials from June 14-21 in Indianapolis. The U.S. NGB recently suspended all activities for 30 days and indefinitely suspended its regional championship events. USA Diving’s leadership is in the process of constructing contingency plans for its Olympic qualifying procedure, and newly instated president Lee Michaud said he expects to have a firm set of backup plans in place by Monday.

         

         

        CORONAVIRUS NOT STOPPING NCAA WORK ON NIL

        • The NCAA committee studying issues pertaining to name, image, and likeness decided today to move forward on the issue of athlete rights, SBJ’s Michael Smith reports. The first round of recommendations on how to implement NIL rights must be submitted to the NCAA Board of Governors by late April.

        • The NIL committee, co-chaired by Big East Commissioner Val Ackerman and Ohio State AD Gene Smith, had their first teleconference on Monday since the coronavirus outbreak led to mass cancellations and campus closings. They had another call today to finalize their intent to stay on schedule, despite the challenges they’re facing on their own campuses.

        • Gene Smith: “It's work that has to be done. There's a continuity of thought that we didn’t want to break up, levels of agreement that were being achieved. If we stop now, we will lose that.”

         

        TOM BRADY GIVES OUTLETS SOME NON-VIRUS NEWS

        • ESPN’s Mike Greenberg was interviewing Dan Orlovsky and Marcus Spears on “Get Up!” at 8:44am ET today when Tom Brady tweeted that he was leaving the Patriots. Almost immediately, Greenberg chimed in: “Dan, I’m going to cut you off for a second. I’m sorry. We have breaking news.” ESPN then cut to a breaking news graphic followed by a two-shot of Greenberg and NFL reporter Jeff Darlington, speaking from his home in South Florida.

        • So began a day when ESPN’s daytime programming did what it does best, SBJ’s John Ourand reported -- covering a breaking news story all day long from every angle, including interviews with many of Brady’s former teammates, like Tedy Bruschi, Randy Moss, Damien Woody and Rob Ninkovich. Studio shows finally had a trending topic that had nothing to do with coronavirus. One couldn’t look at ESPN and not see images of Brady or Bill Belichick the entire day.

        • Given all the free agent moves, NFL Network was also in a live programming mode, focused on Brady. NFL Net put its programming out with a skeleton staff -- it has seen a 50-75% reduction in staff required to physically come into its L.A. and New Jersey-based studios. “We are spreading out talent across our campus, utilizing all our studio space, taking advantage of remotely controlled cameras, talent who have home cameras and juggling edit bays and control rooms while doing extensive cleaning in between shifts,” said Alex Riethmiller, head of communications for the NFL’s media group. “We are constantly discovering various efficiencies on a daily basis that allow us to keep people at a safe distance from one another while continuing to cover all the news happening across the NFL.”

        • Other sports networks, like FS1 and NBCSN, are not set up to deliver news and stayed with taped programming. This afternoon as ESPN and NFL Net were all-Brady-all-the-time, FS1 was airing replays of XFL games, NBCSN was showing motorsports replays and CBSSN was showing replays of college basketball. All three networks had bottom line crawls that mentioned the Brady news. For ESPN, though, it seemed like a relief. Finally, there was news that didn’t have anything to do with a pandemic.

         

        After breaking during "Get Up," ESPN spent most of today discussing Brady's exit from the Patriots

         

        SPORTSBOOKS GO GLOBAL TO STAY BUSY

        • Sportsbooks in the U.S. are finding new ways for their customers to wager in the absence of traditional sports, SBJ's Bill King reports. All the leading sportsbooks raised the profile of their offerings on Saturday’s UFC event, with FanDuel putting a particularly interesting twist on it, creating parlays around groupings, including three Brazilian fighters or three grappling specialists.

        • William Hill yesterday rolled out this list of leagues and competitions on which it will take action in New Jersey:

          • Argentina: Superliga, Copa de la Superliga, Primara B Nacional
          • Brazil: Serie A, Serie B
          • Belarus: Belarusian Cup, Premier League
          • Gibraltar: Premier Division
          • Hungary: NB II
          • Kazakhstan: Premier League
          • Kosovo: Superliga
          • Russia: Russian National Football League
          • Serbia: Prva League
          • Turkey: 1 Lig
          • Ukraine: Persha Liga

        • Of course, with the situation around the globe so fluid, some of those leagues may already be postponed, or are headed that way the near future. But when there are games in those leagues and competitions, William Hill will take bets on them. “It doesn’t compare with what people want to bet on,” said William Hill U.S. CEO Joe Asher. “But certainly some people are betting on that. We’re just trying to do the best we can with the cards we’ve been dealt. People are clearly still interested in betting. Some people are. Others are probably at the grocery story trying to get that last roll of toilet paper.”

        • For lots more from Asher, check out today’s episode of our SBJ Unpacks podcast.

         

        A DAY AT THE RACES CONTINUES

        • Many thoroughbred tracks around the country plan to continue running races this weekend without fans and with only essential personnel, including Santa Anita Park outside Los Angeles, Aqueduct in Queens, Oaklawn in Arkansas, Fairgrounds in New Orleans and Gulfstream in South Florida, SBJ’s Liz Mullen reports. Veterinarians believe horses cannot carry the coronavirus, National Thoroughbred Racing Association President & CEO Alex Waldrop said, but officials should refrain from transferring horses between tracks. Waldrop: "The movement of those horses would only create potentially more problems as people move from place to place. So we have urged people to keep those horses in place."

        • With tracks racing and people betting on the races online, the sport has an opportunity to get in front of more fans. Waldrop: "We do know that many racetracks have moved to a no-spectator policy and we think that's a great idea for those tracks that can do it. It's an opportunity for racing to sell itself to a new audience because there is a dearth of sports betting out there.” The vast majority of wagering is done off-track now and Aqueduct saw good business this past weekend with $17.5 million wagered on its races from Friday-Sunday. That number compares with $19.2 million during a comparable weekend in March 2019.

        • With the Kentucky Derby postponed until September, no one knows whether the two other Triple Crown races will be held before or after The Run for the Roses. The Maryland Jockey Club, which operates the Preakness, said in a statement that it was working with state and local governments, industry participants and media partners to determine the "most appropriate time" to run the race. New York Racing Association CEO & President Dave O'Rourke said the Belmont Stakes is taking a similar approach.

         

        Racing will continue at Santa Anita this weekend -- albeit without fans and with limited staff

         

        ESPORTS LEAGUES SET TO BEGIN AGAIN

        • Overwatch League will restart its season with online-only matches this weekend, SBJ's Adam Stern reports. The league canceled all in-person events for March and April amid the pandemic, but it will re-start league play Saturday at 2:00pm ET with the San Francisco Shock playing the Seoul Dynasty. For this portion of the season, OWL is shaking up its usual Pacific Conference and Atlantic Conference and moving to three geographically based groups. Teams in each group will only play each other to minimize internet connection issues. One region will be teams from the western half of the U.S. plus the Dynasty, which currently has its players based in L.A.; the second will be eastern half U.S. teams plus the two European teams; and the third is the four Chinese teams.

        • The League of Legends series in North America and Europe will resume their seasons with online-only events starting this weekend. Many in the esports industry are hopeful that the competitive gaming events will see an uptick in interest and viewership over the coming weeks as millions of people around the globe spend added time at home amid the pandemic. 

         

        FIGHT CARDS ON HOLD, BUT FOR HOW LONG?

        • Dana White had been defiant that UFC fight cards would continue during the coronavirus pandemic, telling "SportsCenter" on Sunday: "The only thing that’s gonna stop us is a complete government shutdown where everybody is confined to their homes." After the White House on Monday recommended no gatherings of 10 or more people, White changed his mind and postponed the next three events (through March 11).

        • ESPN Radio Las Vegas’ Steve Cofield shed some light on White's efforts to keep the UFC going, including hasty plans to find a venue for this coming Saturday: “He said that it all came together. They had it done, finished. Card was good to go. It was a tribal land casino in Oklahoma. He said he lined up flights for everyone -- private jets, for everyone to come over, to get there, to make it happen.” But after the White House recommendation yesterday? “Dana said he started doing the math. He said two fighters, cornermen, judges, we’re already over 10, I guess we can’t do it. That was the nail in the coffin.” White did tell Cofield that UFC has no layoffs planned.

        • Fight cards have also been canceled by Top Rank, Showtime and Matchroom Boxing through April, but SI's Chris Mannix writes boxing -- like MMA -- has a "small advantage over some of the other sports impacted by the coronavirus." If the CDC raises the recommended limits on gatherings in two months, promoters "can put on shows, at least shows without fans in attendance." Veteran promoter Lou DiBella: "The only advantage boxing has right now, is that except for a few guys, live gates don’t matter.” Top Rank has a gym in Las Vegas that Bob Arum says can put on televised events, while Matchroom is "already contemplating a series" of smaller shows that would air on Sky Sports.

         

         

        SPEED READS

        • Nationally-branded fitness clubs like L.A. FitnessOrangetheory and Gold’s Gym have had to shut the doors at their brick-and-mortar locations with the coronavirus pandemic, and that has created opportunity for one sports/fitness stock in particular -- Peloton. On Monday, when the stock market had it worst day in more than 30 years, Peloton was up 13%. That climb continued on Tuesday, with the stock up 14%. While Peloton has closed most of its studio sets and showrooms to the public, the company will continue to produce classes from a London studio. Among those in sports business who have told SBJ about their affinity for Peloton are BodyArmor’s Michael Fedele, AEG’s Russ Silvers, Fox Sports’ Shannon Spake and the Red Bulls’ Marc de Grandpre. SBJ also profiled the company’s origins and strategy last year.

        • NHL Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly today admitted the coronavirus “blindsided a lot of us in terms of its severity and impact.” Daly, appearing on ESPN Radio Chicago, said the NBA’s suspension last Wednesday drove home the fact that it was time to “be a little more proactive than reactive.” He noted before the NBA decision came down, Gary Bettman had been in touch frequently with his commissioner counterparts at the NBA, MLBMLS and NFL, but that has changed somewhat now that each of those leagues has halted play. "We’re kind of in the hunkering down stage at this point so we’ve been dealing more closely with our clubs and less with the other leagues.”

        • The release today of “MLB The Show 20” comes at a time when people are at home and craving entertainment -- including the players themselves. Mets 1B Pete Alonso issued a challenge on Twitter: “50k retweets and I’ll download MLB The Show 20 and challenge teammates and other guys around the league. I’d figure out a way to stream as well!" At presstime, Alonso had just over 28,000 retweets. Among those looking to take on Alonso in the game: Twins P Trevor May, Blue Jays P Anthony Kay and Pirates P Derek Holland. The game's publisher, Sony Studios, also seemed keen to assist, tweeting: "We can help you with that!"

        • Longtime Mavericks radio play-by-play man Chuck Cooperstein believes the NBA’s silver lining amid the coronavirus delay is an opportunity to permanently play the season from Christmas Day through August. He told ESPN Radio Dallas, “It makes a heck of a lot of sense. ... Basically, the NBA has taken that approach anyway with the way they approach the Christmas games. … You have less exposure to football. Your major competition is regular season Major League Baseball. It’s an absolute win-win for the NBA to make that move.”

        • ESPN’s Buster Olney lays out “six creative ways MLB can make the best of a tough situation.” Among the highlights: identify neutral sites in the postseason -- in the same way the NFL has a host city for the Super Bowl – to avoid cold weather climates should the season run into November/December. Then present a “refreshed product” when the season resumes. Players “could wear mics on the field, in the dugouts, in the bullpens, reaching fans like never before.”
        • The NBA has been active in getting current and former players to do PSAs around things like social distancing, hand washing, health and fitness. Among those who have filmed messages are Steph CurryTrae YoungGrant HillJayson TatumDamian LillardDonovan Mitchell, Magic JohnsonDwight PowellVictor Oladipo and Rudy GobertZion Williamson appeared in a photo PSA. 
        • CBS Sports’ Matt Norlander went behind the scenes in the days and hours leading up to the NCAA Tournament’s cancellation, complete with a timeline of how NCAA Senior VP/Men’s Basketball Dan Gavitt and his team came to their final decision.

         

        SBJ UNPACKS -- WEATHERING COVID-19

        • ICYMI: Check out the most recent editions of our "SBJ Unpacks" podcasts around COVID-19:

          • Joe Asher, CEO of William Hill U.S., joins to discuss COVID-19’s impact on sports betting.
          • SBJ's Bill King and Ben Fischer talk about how coronavirus is disrupting Olympic qualification events and what that may mean for the Tokyo Games.
          • Adam Stern discusses NASCAR’s decision to postpone upcoming races.

         

         

         

        Something related to coronavirus and sports business catch your eye? Tell us about it. Reach out to Austin Karp (akarp@sportsbusinessjournal.com) and we'll share the best of it.

         

         

         

        SBJ Unpacks: Coronavirus -- NFL Preps For Hit To Regular Season

        It was only four days ago that NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said his league would wait at least 30 days before continuing its season. President Trump gave a much more sobering assessment this afternoon. “People are talking about July, August. ... Could be longer than that.” The White House released guidelines saying that people should not gather in groups of more than 10.

        The message is becoming very clear: Don’t expect a return to any kind of normal routine any time soon.

        Leagues greeted the latest news with more high-profile cancellations. The NFL halted the public aspects of its Draft, planned for Las Vegas next month. MLB pushed back Opening Day indefinitely. On a day when the stock market posted its worst performance in 33 years, good news in the sports world was hard to come by. Our best sources were left flattened, with a lot of questions and no good answers about the way to move forward.

         

        NFL ACKNOWLEDGES RISK TO 2020 SEASON

        • In the first indication that the coronavirus outbreak could jeopardize part of the NFL’s season, the league distributed talking points to teams about season ticket refunds if games are canceled, SBJ’s Ben Fischer has learned. The memo came to our attention as President Trump gave a revised time frame that would encroach into the NFL preseason.

        • The memo was sent to all 32 clubs on Friday, suggesting teams tell fans: "We have every expectation of playing a full schedule in 2020 and look forward to you joining us at [name of stadium] for an exciting season. But we also understand your concerns and want to be clear about our club’s policies, which will apply to season tickets purchased directly from the [club]."

        • If games are canceled and not rescheduled, or if games are played under “conditions that prohibit fans from attending (for example, if a public authority restricts gatherings to no more than a small number of people),” season ticket holders would get a prorated refund or credit to future purchases.

         

        NFL CANCELS PUBLIC DRAFT EVENTS IN VEGAS

        • The NFL canceled all public aspects of the April 23-25 draft, a move that was widely expected. Commissioner Roger Goodell said the event, which had been expected to draw hundreds of thousands to the Las Vegas Strip, will be televised. He did not provide more information on those TV plans. ABC, ESPN and NFL Network had been prepared to televise the draft from Vegas.

        • This afternoon, 49ers CMO Alex Chang told SBJ’s Ben Fischer that he was preparing a letter to fans, to be distributed later today or tomorrow morning, announcing that all live draft watch parties in the Bay Area and Vegas were canceled. Other teams said they were taking similar steps, or simply halting work on planning draft-themed parties that had not yet been announced.

        • Training camp is another fan-facing event that now may be in jeopardy with the extended uncertainty, two sources said. The NFL has embraced camp in recent years as a major opportunity for teams to engage with fans who cannot afford regular-season tickets.

         

         

        IOC TO TAKE ON OLYMPIC QUALIFYING CRISIS

        • The IOC will meet Tuesday with every national Olympic committee and the summer sports’ governing federations to discuss the growing Tokyo Games qualifying crisis, SBJ’s Ben Fischer and Chris Smith report. Only about 1/5 to 1/4 of the Team USA has been determined, and event cancellations are throwing future competition in doubt.

        • The situation varies widely by sport. USA Cycling, for instance, has a few Olympians named already, but mostly had been counting on future events to determine slots. The Int'l Cycling Union gives countries until July 6 to submit a final roster. “We’re through the majority of [qualifying], but in a lot of the disciplines the points are so close that the events toward the end of the qualification process are really important,” said USA Cycling CCO Bouker Pool. It’s not known how incomplete results will be handled.

        • Beach volleyball qualifying is also in limbo with no FIVB events scheduled through April. If no more qualifying tournaments occur, insiders expect the FIVB’s provisional Olympic ranking to stand, which would mean a fifth Games for Kerri Walsh Jennings.

        • The three big one-off trials events in the U.S. -- gymnastics (St. Louis), swimming (Omaha) and track & field (Eugene) -- are not slated until late June, and have not been canceled. But athletes are losing chances to meet the standards to participate in trials because lower-level events have been cut. In track & field, the Penn Relays were canceled today. A USATF spokesperson said they will consider all options for athletes who were counting on canceled events to qualify for trials. USA Wrestling continues to look for new dates for its trials, already canceled after being slated or April 4-5.

         

        KENTUCKY DERBY ANNOUNCEMENT TO COME ON TUESDAY

        • Media reports suggest that Churchill Downs will postpone the Kentucky Derby by a couple of months. The track said that it will make an announcement tomorrow morning regarding the "timing of the 146th Kentucky Oaks and Derby." In its 145-year history, the race has never been canceled, but has been postponed once, in 1945, notes SBJ’s Liz Mullen.

        • Other companies already have made the decision or cancel their races. Earlier today, Keeneland Race Course canceled its spring meet, which had been scheduled for April 2-24 in Lexington, Ky., due to health and safety concerns related to COVID-19. That meet features the Blue Grass Stakes, a prep race for the Kentucky Derby.

        • Some horse tracks, including Santa Anita Park, held racing this past weekend. The races at the track in the Los Angeles area were carried on TVG, with just jockeys, trainers and grooms allowed at the facility. "These horses, they need to run," Santa Anita Director of Publicity Mike Willman told SBJ's Mullen. "They really do."

         

        WINNING STREAK ALTERS LOGO TO PROMOTE SOCIAL DISTANCING

        • Winning Streak Sports, a licensee of nearly every major U.S. sports property, has altered its corporate logo to support social distancing efforts during the coronavirus pandemic, SBJ’s Terry Lefton reports. The licensed pennant and banner manufacturer added “Social Distancing Saves Lives” along with #flattenthecurve to the bottom of its company nameplate.

        • “We’re all trying to figure out what we can do at a time business is stalled, so the idea here is that if everyone in sports sent this kind of message with their own logo, it could make a difference,” said Winning Streak CEO Chris Lencheski. Winning Streak is owned by N.Y.-based private equity firm Granite Bridge Partners.

         

         

        NFL ALL OVER THE AIRWAVES

        • Adam Schefter and Chris Mortensen are usually fixtures on ESPN programming from Bristol at this time of year, but the coronavirus threat has them at their homes in Manhattan and Arkansas, respectively. Schefter, talking with Mort on his eponymous podcast, said: "The busiest week of the NFL year in free agency. You’re there, I’m here. That’s weird. ... Our bosses gave me a choice. … They said, 'You can come here and be in Bristol around the clock for all the shows or you can do it from home and just do all the shows from there.’” Mortensen: “I let one of my oncology contacts … make the call for me on this one because I’m over 60. … I would say that because I’m in a highly-susceptible state with the compromised immune system -- of course having gone through cancer and still have cancer -- it didn’t make a whole lot of sense."

        • Denver-based KKFN-AM co-hosts Mark Schlereth and Mike Evans supported the NFL’s decision to stay on schedule with the league calendar. Evans: “I respect the people involved in the NFL that they’re worried about coming across as tone deaf and that they’re worried about the optics looking bad. I respect them for feeling that way. But based on the reaction I’m getting, I’m telling them ‘relax, people are on your side here.’ … The NFL owners and general managers are tone deaf if they think that people don’t want them to conduct business as usual.” Schlereth: “It’s one of those things that we rally around, that we talk about as fans. Don’t underestimate the importance of sports in this country. Don’t underestimate the importance of connectivity that it brings.”

        • ESPN’s Dan Graziano, appearing on Mina Kimes’ podcast, took listeners through the decision to keep the NFL calendar year on schedule: “What I’m getting from people who are familiar with the contents of those talks, the thinking is free agency in the NFL is not an event that requires a whole bunch of people to assemble together. … Deals can be done without players visiting team facilities and in fact are all the time even in normal years. And then the other thought was, ‘We don’t know what’s going to happen.’ There are medical experts out there telling you that in two weeks, three weeks, things could be a lot worse than they are right now. If you postpone free agency by two or three weeks, and now the situation across the country has got even more significant, … then what do you do? Postpone it again?”

         

         

        SPEED READS

        • AT DEADLINE: WWE has decided to move WrestleMania 36 up I-4 from Raymond James Stadium in Tampa to the outfit’s training facility in Orlando. The event will be staged on a closed set with only essential personnel present. WWE Network will stream the event, which also will be available on pay-per-view.

        • While the PGA Tour has scuttled the next three tournaments on its schedule, and The Masters has been postponed, a decision has not yet been made yet on the PGA Championship set for May 11-17 at TPC Harding Park in San Francisco, reports SBJ’s John Lombardo. PGA of America execs said they continue to communicate with reps from San Francisco and the state of California as they evaluate plans with the "health and well-being of all involved as the highest priority.”

        • The AHL earlier this afternoon announced that it has advised teams that an indefinite suspension of play won’t be lifted before May. The league -- equivalent to the Triple-A level of hockey -- says it’s recommending that teams help in returning players to their primary residences. Over the weekend, the ECHL, one rung beneath the AHL, said that its Board of Governors approved the cancellation of the remainder of the 2019-20 season.

        • With college sports likely done this year, Arkansas AD Hunter Yurachek is pressing forward with future plans. “I’m going to get ready for the 2020-21 season, because we need to make that really special for our student-athletes,” he told KNWA-Fox. “We’re already in the preparation for our fall sports from next year from a marketing and promotions and ticket sales standpoint and our strategic planning for that. We’ll spend a great deal of time on that.”

        • The Sports Lawyers Association canceled its annual conference, which had been scheduled for Miami in May, SBJ’s Liz Mullen reports. “Unfortunately, the declaration of a pandemic by the WHO forced us to take a long hard look at moving forward,” SLA President Bobby Hacker wrote in an email. “But once there was a declaration in Florida and yesterday the Miami-Dade emergency declaration, the decision, although difficult, had to fall on the side of cancellation.”

        • The NCAA is likely giving spring-sport athletes an extra year of eligibility in the wake of coronavirus canceling the rest of the season, but a similar extension for winter athletes may prove to be trickier. “It sounds great in theory,” TCU AD Jeremiah Donati told the Ft. Worth Star-Telegram. “But I’m not sure how that could be applied across the board to all winter sports and student-athletes. Some seasons were complete and some were still playing.”

        • UConn baseball coach Jim Penders applauded the quick decision on eligibility. “The NCAA sometimes struggles to do what’s right and in this case they got it absolutely right,” Penders told the Middletown Press. “Frankly, I was shocked they were able to get it done that quickly. All the coaches I spoke to were in agreement they’ve got to do something for the seniors at least. They went above and beyond.”

         

        SBJ UNPACKS -- WEATHERING COVID-19

        • ICYMI: Check out the most recent editions of our "SBJ Unpacks" podcasts around COVID-19:

          • SBJ's Bill King and Ben Fischer talk about how COVID-19 outbreaks are disrupting Olympic qualification events and what that may mean for the Tokyo Games.
          • Adam Stern discusses NASCAR’s decision to postpone upcoming races.
          • Longtime major league team team exec Andy Dolich takes us inside the minds of his peers, and behind the decisions they face.

         

         

         

         

        Something related to coronavirus and sports business catch your eye? Tell us about it. Reach out to Austin Karp (akarp@sportsbusinessjournal.com) and we'll share the best of it.

         

         

         

        SBJ Unpacks: Coronavirus -- Higher Learning

        And then, there were basically none. What should have been a weekend of new shining moments instead will be replaced by a marathon of memorable ones. The last handful of major sporting bodies pulled the plug today on events scheduled for the weekend across the U.S., when the PGA Tour, NASCAR and IndyCar predictably joined previous decisions from the rest of the sports world, announcing that they would reverse course and go from holding their events without spectators to postponing/cancelling select events.

        The UFC does still intend to go on with its event, without fans, tomorrow night in Brazil, while LigaMX also plans to play south of the border. We’re down to those events, as well as some pro bowling, pro fishing and horse racing as the impact of coronavirus changes the entire landscape of sports. And looking just a little farther ahead to April, The Masters, the first of golf’s four majors, is now postponed as well.

        Unpacking how we got here, the fallout and what might lie ahead. And spoiler alert: Christian Laettner’s shot goes in. ...

         

        ALL EYES ON LEADERSHIP OF STUDENT-ATHLETES

        • Multiple reports over the past 24 hours criticized the NCAA’s lack of a coordinated communications plan as the governing body reacted to coronavirus news, according to SBJ's Michael Smith. At a "time of crisis with big decisions needing to be made, the communication coming from the NCAA office was woefully lacking," wrote USA Today’s Dan Wolken, based on feedback from his sources. ESPN's Jay Bilas said the confusion between schools and the NCAA this week "speaks to the fact that there is no real leadership in basketball." That’s a pretty startling condemnation of NCAA Senior VP Dan Gavitt, who oversees basketball and is one of the most well-liked administrators in college sports.

        • While the NCAA could have communicated more efficiently to cancel the college basketball season, such criticism in what was an unprecedented situation seems off base. Every one of the top seven NCAA hoops conferences (ACC, Big 12, Big Ten, SEC, Pac-12, AAC, Big East) has representation on the Board of Governors, which voted to cancel the season. If a commissioner or AD felt out of the loop, they had a rep who was part of the discussion. For what it’s worth, the board voted unanimously to approve ending the season.

        • Smith also notes the NCAA moved quickly to inform schools today that its spring sport athletes probably will not lose a year of eligibility for the lost 2020 season. Athletes in winter sports such as basketball are being considered for another year of eligibility as well. If approved by the NCAA board, spring athletes who are seniors this year, will be granted eligibility for 2021.

         

        WHILE WE’RE ON THE TOPIC OF CAMPUS LEADERSHIP

        • A number of stories looked at the decision-making around major cancellations. One that caught our eye was The Raleigh News & Observer’s Luke DeCock recounting how ACC school presidents responded to possibly playing their conference championship. But according to DeCock’s sourcing, it was Duke President Vincent Price who changed the tenor of the talks. Price "was the only one" among ACC powerbrokers "who would put his foot down and say 'no.'" Price reportedly went so far as to say that Duke "wouldn’t come to the arena" in Greensboro for its 3pm ET game on Thursday against N.C. State.

        • That is what changed between 9:30am Thursday, when ACC Commissioner John Swofford announced that the tournament "would go on in an empty building," and when Florida State was "pulled off the floor amid a barrage of cancellations."

        • Bottom line: Incredible to see how different stakeholders viewed moving ahead through vastly different lenses during a challenging time.

         

        MONAHAN EXPLAINS DECISION, WHILE THE MASTERS DOESN’T WAIT

        • The golf industry saw two of its biggest events suspended/postponed, but the approaches were certainly different. PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan started his week with the positive announcement of new media deals, but the rest of his week was a challenge. Critics questioned his decision-making around The Players Championship, which saw him finally pull the plug on the event on Thursday night. As late as Thursday afternoon, Monahan said that being an outdoor sport afforded golf more leeway with the outbreak of the coronavirus. But that clearly didn’t hold, as Golf Channel's Rex Hoggard wrote despite the Tour’s "best efforts to convince everyone to remain calm, the optics were quickly working against them."

        • For the Tour, it was "simply bad optics." Golf Channel's Randall Mell added that it "took PGA Tour officials a little longer than the NBA," but they "got there." They "got there before finding out one of their players has contracted the disease." Mell: "That would have been awful.” To his credit, Monahan made the media rounds on Friday morning to explain the process, adding, "While we had taken the right steps, you’re at the point where this world has changed so much and there’s so much uncertainty, and we just need to step back and do what a lot of others have done."

        • Then, at around 10:00am ET on Friday morning, Augusta National postponed The Masters, just 27 days before the start of the event. While Augusta National sounded intent on holding this year’s event at a later date, many didn’t see how that could be possible. Yahoo Sports’ Dan Wetzel noted that since Augusta National "doesn’t usually stay open in the summer in regular times, this feels more like a cancellation than a postponement."

        • These are huge events, and like the cancellation of the NCAA Tournament, the powers that be in golf wanted to make sure they were doing the right thing. Monahan and the PGA Tour, as well as Augusta National, were challenged in real time by the rapidly changing environment.

         

        SILVER TALKS TIMING, DECISION-MAKING & WHAT WE DON’T KNOW

        • There were a number of interesting takeaways from Adam Silver’s interview with TNT on Thursday night. One was that the NBA commissioner became the latest leader to express frustration over the inconsistent and varied information from the health community, and how that eventually changed the league’s approach. Another key line was his insistence that ownership did not focus on financial implications or make it a business decision. He said in board meetings on Wednesday and Thursday “not one team raised money.” “The entire discussion was about the safety and health of the players, the community around the NBA and our fans,” he said. Third, he was clearly a person searching for an answer, as he wasn’t afraid to say what he didn’t know.
           
        • Bottom line: Look for other execs and sports leaders to echo those same three themes: frustrating information out there, can’t focus on the business implications and no one knows where this is going.

         

        NASCAR, INDYCAR SWITCH GEARS, CANCEL RACING

        • After initially planning to go ahead with races this weekend without fans, both NASCAR and IndyCar today announced that their race schedules have been suspended. NASCAR postponed its next two races -- this weekend’s Atlanta stop and the March 22 race at Homestead-Miami Speedway -- and has yet to decide on its plans for its race at Texas Motor Speedway on March 29.

        • IndyCar postponed its season through the month of April. However, IndyCar CEO Mark Miles and series owner Roger Penske in a teleconference this morning said that the May 24 Indianapolis 500, for now, is expected to continue as scheduled.

        • Drivers from both series took to Twitter to react to today’s announcements. Seven-time Cup Series champ Jimmie Johnson: “We want to race as much as you want us to race, but this is the right decision. This is so much bigger than sports right now and the health and safety of our fans, industry members and the overall public is top priority.” Cup driver Clint Bowyer: “Damn it!!!!!!!!" IndyCar driver Marco Andretti: “Not ideal, but the right decision. We want to go racing, but safety first.” Driver Josef Newgarden: “Totally gutted for the fans but we have to be on the cautious side with this.”

        • With every other major sport calling for a complete halt to competition, this was the only logical course of action for both circuits and had to be expected.

         

        MANY NHL TEAMS TO COVER PART-TIME STAFFERS

        • Illitch Holdings, parent company for the Tigers, Red Wings, 313Presents, Fox Theatre and Little Caesars Arena, announced that they’ve formed a $1 million fund to cover a month’s wages for part-time staffers though March, according to SBJ's Mark J. Burns. Henry and Susan Samueli, who own the Ducks, also said that all full-time and part-time employees scheduled to work eight March events at the Honda Center, which the Samuelis operate, will be paid.

        • Earlier Friday, Josh Harris and David Blitzer, co-founders of HBSE, became the first individuals among NHL team leadership to publicly commit to paying part-time salaries. All hourly and event night staff for the Prudential Center and Devils will be paid through the end of the regular season. The ownership of the Sharks, PanthersCapitals and Lightning have also followed suit.

         

        INTERSPORT SUSPENDS EVENT AT FINAL FOUR

        • With the Final Four officially canceled, Intersport, the Chicago-based agency that owns and operates major basketball events at the site of the championship, officially suspended its events in Atlanta from April 2-5 -- the State Farm College Slam Dunk & 3-Point Championships, the American Family Insurance High School Slam Dunk & 3-Point Championships and Dos Equis 3X3U National Championship -- because of coronavirus. All tickets will be refunded at the point of purchase. Intersport will assess its options to reschedule these events later this year.

         

        U.S. OLYMPIC TRIALS START TO BE AFFECTED

        • USA Wresting says its Olympic trials have been postponed, according to SBJ's Ben Fischer. The event had been slated for April 4-5 on the campus of Penn State. The NGB is now looking to reschedule. This is by far the biggest coronavirus disruption to Team USA so far. The biggest and most prominent trials -- track & field (Eugene), swimming (Omaha) and gymnastics (St. Louis) -- aren’t until June or July.

        • Wrestling was a the biggest of the early Olympic trials, and will certainly challenge wrestlers’ training schedules as they adjust. Some other Olympic sports that do not have dedicated trials have struggled with cancellations to major competitions that award qualification points as part of a series, including volleyball.

         

        LATE HITS

        • The Toronto Star reports it is "believed the NHL has asked teams to book arenas through the end of July, which raises questions about the draft, set for June 24 and 25 in Montreal, and free agency, set to open July 1."

        • Late this afternoon, the NFL made a change to its upcoming free agency period, according to the Las Vegas Review-Journal's Vincent Bonsignore. The league will be "instituting new travel, draft-process policies out of concern for coronavirus."

        • The Packers have closed all of their Titletown businesses, and are restricting access to Lambeau Field to “critical staff” in the wake of the outbreak. Meanwhile, Raymond James Stadium is still set to host WrestleMania, with an expected crowd of over 70,000 fans, on April 5.

        • The AAU announced that it will suspend all events for the next three weeks. AAU President & CEO Dr. Roger Goudy said in the statement that the governing body will continue to monitor the COVID-19 situation, but it’s “first priority is the safety and welfare of all of our athletes, coaches and families.”

        • In case you missed it, here’s another item that caught our eye that may be of interest to the sports industry. The L.A. Times reported that “key figures” in the entertainment business -- including AEG President Dan Beckerman and Live Nation CEO Michael Rapino -- are forming a “global task force to help steer” the live event industry through the uncharted waters of the coronavirus.

        • SBJ research director David Broughton detailed the cities that will end up losing the most games as a result of the various suspensions, postponements and cancellations across U.S. sports.

         

        MARKET
        NO. OF GAMES
        MARKET
        NO. OF GAMES
        Los Angeles
        27
        Chicago
        16
        New York
        19
        Denver
        16
        Minneapolis-St. Paul
        18
        Philadelphia
        16
        Washington DC
        18
        Boston
        15
        Toronto
        17
        Dallas-Ft. Worth
        14
        Download the
        Coronavirus Cancellations By Market

         

        SBJ UNPACKS -- WEATHERING COVID-19

         

         

        Our new "SBJ Unpacks" newsletter series keeps you up to date on the biggest challenges facing the industry. Sign up today to receive daily updates on how sports is facing the coronavirus pandemic.

         

        Enjoying this newsletter? We've got more! Check out SBJ College with Michael Smith on Tuesdays and Thursdays for insights into all the latest news around the world of college sports, as well as SBJ Media with John Ourand on Mondays and Wednesdays. Also check out SBJ Football with Ben Fischer on Friday afternoons.

        Something related to coronavirus and sports business catch your eye? Tell us about it. Reach out to Austin Karp (akarp@sportsbusinessjournal.com) and we'll share the best of it.

         

         

         

        SBJ Unpacks: Coronavirus -- Sports Grinds To A Halt



        NOTE FROM THE PUBLISHER & EXECUTIVE EDITOR

        Is it really possible to expect sports leaders to have a strategic plan for dealing with a pandemic? There were surely memos, discussions among top level execs and "what if" scenarios over the years. But who could have properly planned for the dramatic acceleration of the past two weeks, which puts the sports industry in the most precarious position it’s ever seen. During times like these, leaders must lead, and institutions must quickly move to do the right thing.

        In the past 24 hours, sports again followed the lead of NBA Commissioner Adam Silver, who acted first to suspend the season – not out of visionary thinking but out of grave concern about the health of players and fans. Others followed, some more quickly. Some were praised, some were criticized for their response. As of this writing, only the PGA Tour, NASCAR and IndyCar were going forward with live competition among the major U.S. properties, but without fans.

        We will monitor all these issues and more in this newsletter, which we plan to distribute Monday-Friday for the foreseeable future. We will also be looking at organizational policy for employees and players still on the job. And outside of playing games, where can sports play a role to stem the spread of this virus? All this comes amid a crashing stock market and an anxious and unsettled public uncertain of what to do, what comes next and how severe this crisis will ultimately be.

        Bottom line: A sports business bear market is here.

        Abraham Madkour

         

        -----------------------------------

         

        Today, the sports world moved from press on to called off.

        The NCAA canceled March Madness, the Frozen Four, College World Series and every last one of its championships for remainder of the school year, the seemingly inevitable follow-up to the tabling of 19 D-I conference basketball tournaments. The NHL and MLS joined the NBA in the suspension of their seasons. MLB shut down spring training and pushed Opening Day back at least two weeks. And there were others. Globally, there have been many others.

        There is no way to know what all of this will cost, beyond the estimates of what some teams stand to lose as a result of each game never played. No way to know when any of the leagues will resume, or if all will resume in time to salvage their respective seasons. No clear solution for a business that relies on athletes competing in close quarters and spectators sitting side-by-side.

        Here’s what we do know now ...

         

        NCAA’s LATE AFTERNOON NEWS DROP

        • Right before 4:30pm ET, the NCAA announced it was canceling its major championships, including March Madness. This came one day after the organization announced it would hold the event absent fans. But the news of the past 24 hours pushed the urgency. ESPN’s Jay Bilas credited NCAA leadership’s decision yesterday to hold events without fans, but said it wasn’t coordinated well enough with the conferences. Around 5pm ET, he said, “Today, we were a little slow on the uptake on the conference tournaments, they shouldn’t have been played. …But at least the NCAA got to the right place, eventually.” SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey tweeted, "I'm surprised we've made a decision in March not to hold baseball and softball events in June. I'd love to know what went into those decisions."

        • Bleacher Report’s David Gardner: “For the vast majority of players, appearing in the NCAA tournament is the peak of their athletic lives. Tonight, I'm mostly sad for them." The N.Y. Times’ Wajahat Ali: “When America shuts down the NBA, NCAA, Disneyland, SXSW and postpones the new Bond movie, you know it's very serious. We love money, sports, celebrity and frivolity more than life itself, which means people realize this is life or death crisis needing an appropriate response.” Not everyone was aligned with the sweeping decision to cancel all events for the rest of the school year now instead of waiting. 

         

        HOW DECISIONS WERE MADE -- OR NOT

        • The Big East was the only conference to take the floor today and begin playing its conference championship, before pulling its players at halftime, a decision ESPN’s Rece Davis called “inexplicable." Davis: “The optics of it were unconscionable, perplexing. You saw everybody else canceling.” Big East Commissioner Val Ackerman, explaining the decision, said: "It was our view that we didn't feel like we needed a dramatic, pull-the-players-off-the-court-in-the-middle-of-the-game gesture. ... That said, we didn't think it was appropriate to send athletes back out onto the floor (after) halftime." FS1’s Chris Mullin said of the Big East, “You follow the best, and when Adam Silver made his decision, I think that set a precedent. This is the right decision, maybe a little bit late, but I thought maybe the NCAA should have stepped in instead of having each conference making their decisions on their own.”

        • The SEC's Greg Sankey noted that conflicting information made decision-making difficult. “The most important data point for us was here locally, where Metro Nashville Health said, ‘You’re fine to play, you’re fine to have people in the arena,’ and that’s why we moved forward,” he told ESPN. “We actually in that meeting transitioned from this coronavirus discussion into name, image and likeness, student-athlete support, and then literally information started to come from Congress, the World Health Organization, the definition of a pandemic, and you could just see our athletic directors’ moods change.”

        • Bottom line: Expertise and information gathering has been challenging and imperfect, making leadership decisions even more difficult.

         

        HOW THE NBA SET THE TONE

        • The NBA was the first major U.S. pro league to suspend its season almost 24 hours ago. Mavericks Owner Mark Cuban said of the decision, “I trust Adam (Silver). It’s really not about basketball or money.” The league is encouraging all of its players to be tested for coronavirus after Jazz C Rudy Gobert tested positive for it last night. Since then, teammate G Donovan Mitchell also has tested positive, and a number of teams who have recently played the Jazz are now in quarantine. ESPN’s Brian Windhorst said within the last week, "the NBA advised teams to set up procedures to get coronavirus testing.” Because those provisions were in place, the league was able to get Gobert tested quickly, and was “able to get the result back fast enough to stop the game.”

        • Financial hits: ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski cites sources as saying that NBA owners are encouraging Silver to “re-evaluate the league's suspension in 30 days.” Windhorst reported that the league already has asked teams to “give their availability of their arenas through Aug. 1.” NBC’s Dylan Byers writes that the league, its staff and its stakeholders “stand to lose hundreds of millions of dollars (if not more) in revenue from lost ticket sales, media agreements and merchandise.” Wojnarowski: “Owners have lost a lot of money this year based on the fractured relationship in China, and they’re going to lose significantly more money and the players are going to lose money because they share in the revenue.”

        • Cuban has been praised for his comments last night regarding the financial impact on hourly employees. ESPN's Mike Golic Jr.: “Everybody’s going to need a little help. If you are … a billionaire owner who’s got a franchise full of people that might need to depend on your help like that, this might be another good lead to follow.” Windhorst on Cuban: “The league owes a debt of gratitude to Mark Cuban, because that was a billionaire who is a team owner who was willing to come out in front of the cameras and be a voice of the league last night.”

         

        RUSH OF MOVES LEADS MLB TO PUSH BACK OPENING DAY

        • Around 3:10pm ET, MLB canceled the rest of spring training and said it will delay the regular season by at least two weeks. Commissioner Rob Manfred and the 30 owners had a conference call this afternoon to finalize a decision. The N.Y. Post’s Joel Sherman: “MLB will ask players to stay at spring sites where they have access to team medical personnel, can continue to work out and will not be fanning out across the country. But players can go as they please.” ESPN’s Jeff Passan: “The flurry of cancellations around the sports world today really pushed MLB.” Dodgers P David Price said of MLB’s decision: “It's gotta happen. This is so much bigger than sports. I've got two kids.”


        NFL CANCELS LEAGUE MEETING; TEAMS RESTRICTING TRAVEL

        • The NFL today canceled a league meeting, but there was nothing said about the start of free agency next week or the NFL Draft set for Las Vegas in six weeks. Pro Football Talk’s Mike Florio wrote, “The NFL league office has been conspicuously silent about plans for the draft in Las Vegas. … With each passing hour it becomes more and more strange that the NFL hasn’t said anything.” Florio said of the free-agent period set to begin on March 18: “Delay it. Delay it. Delay it.”

        • SBJ’s Ben Fischer reports most agenda items for the canceled meeting will shift to the already-scheduled May 19-20 meeting in L.A. League execs will speak directly to clubs during the days originally set aside for the upcoming meeting. Of interest? The memo from Commissioner Roger Goodell that informed teams of the cancelation came after some clubs were growing frustrated with the league’s silence.

         

        PRESIDENT TRUMP TALKS WITH PGA TOUR’S MONAHAN

        • NASCAR, IndyCar and the PGA Tour have opted to continue to hold events, but without fans. ESPN’s Michael Collins noted PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan “was in contact this morning" with the CDC and World Health Organization before the start of The Players Championship. Monahan on Golf Channel said he spoke with President Trump and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and “this issue has the government's full attention.” Meanwhile, reports have the Boston Marathon moving from April to the fall, likely September. 

         

        LATE HITS

        • SBJ's Ben Fischer cites a source as saying that the XFL is suspending its season. Another sources tells PFT that the league "will attempt to play at least the championship game in a few weeks." The fledgling league has played five weeks of a 10-week schedule.

        • Adidas estimates it will take a billion-dollar hit to sales in Q1. Adidas CEO Kasper Rorsted on CNBC said: “In the sporting goods industry, you're really at the end of the food chain so that means of course people when they start shopping again will buy normal stuff -- food, drinks, detergents -- before they buy the sporting goods, and that is what we're seeing so far in the first quarter. … It's a painful setback.”

        • Variety’s Brian Steinberg quoted a media buyer in the sports advertising space as saying: “We are going on the assumption that there will no live sports for the rest of the 1st quarter and a majority of 2Q.”

        • The Atlanta Business Chronicle’s Eric Jackson cites the local Convention & Visitors Bureau as saying that the NCAA decision to cancel winter/spring championships “will have ‘significant impact’ on its business,” as Mercedes-Benz Stadium was set to hold the men’s Final Four. The CVB projects business being down 30-50% over the next two months.

        • Omaha Mayor Jean Stothert told the local paper that the loss of this year’s College World Series is a “severe blow” to Omaha’s economy. The people of CWS Inc., a non-profit organization that supports the event, “were floored when the NCAA’s announcement was made Thursday afternoon.”

         

        SBJ UNPACKS -- WEATHERING COVID-19

         

         

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