{"id":27640,"date":"2020-07-29T09:41:45","date_gmt":"2020-07-29T17:41:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/?p=27640"},"modified":"2020-09-27T15:28:44","modified_gmt":"2020-09-27T23:28:44","slug":"paying-the-price-sports-after-covid-19","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/paying-the-price-sports-after-covid-19\/","title":{"rendered":"Paying the price: Sports after Covid-19"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Guest opinion by Jeff Goldberg<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Of all of the industries affected by America\u2019s COVID-19 pandemic, the sports sector was among the hardest hit. With the U.S. forced into lockdown, almost all sporting competitions were suspended and it\u2019s only now that they\u2019re resuming again, leaving us sports betting fans without anything to wager on for months on end. But, as the country still grapples with the health crisis, it looks like sports are going to be played in a crowdless environment for the foreseeable future. Considering how much teams rely on matchday revenue, the ensuing financial impact could devastate the industry. Can the sector survive, and what does this mean for sports betting, one of the industries that most depends on it?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Empty stadiums leave sports teams in the mire<\/strong>: No crowds means no money coming in from fans on game days. It also means empty stadiums, which will be highly costly for all professional leagues. For example, it\u2019s estimated that NFL<\/strong> sides will lose a staggering $5.5 billion<\/a> if the 2020 season is played entirely behind closed doors. Of course, this will affect some teams worse than others, like the Dallas Cowboys<\/strong>, who will miss out on over half their revenue. There are also fears that fans won\u2019t feel comfortable returning to these venues, even when they\u2019re able to. For instance, a CivilScience<\/strong> poll found that one in five fans would never return to their local sports venues<\/a> due to safety fears. This reduced interest would likely have a knock-on effect on broadcast and sponsorship deals too, especially among a probable economic depression.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Lucrative TV deals offer hope<\/strong>: That said, the resumption of sport has allowed teams to honor lucrative TV broadcasting commitments, providing them with a huge financial safety net. For instance, the majority of the NBA<\/strong>\u2019s revenue comes from such agreements, such as its nine-year, $24 billion contract<\/a> with ESPN<\/strong> and Turner Sports<\/strong>. MLB<\/strong> also signed a new $3 billion media deal<\/a> in June, demonstrating the enduring financial pull of professional sports even amid a global pandemic. However, it\u2019s clear that not all teams and leagues have been so lucky. Take the NHL<\/strong>, which does not have a particularly large TV audience, relying even more heavily on matchday revenue, as do lower \\-level teams across all sports. That doesn\u2019t necessarily mean they can\u2019t offset any losses though, with salary caps reductions and luxury tax thresholds put forward as solutions, showing that sports teams won\u2019t go down without a fight.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Increased sports betting shows interest remains<\/strong>: On the whole, the sports sector has struggled in recent months, but that certainly isn\u2019t true for sports betting. Even though there have been no \u201creal\u201d sports to wager on, gamblers have instead turned their attention to e-sports<\/a>. In fact, some bookmakers have seen the number of e-sports bets increase fortyfold<\/a> since March, while worldwide esports gambling revenue is expected to double this year to about $14 billion. And with the return of professional sports in Europe<\/strong>, gambling volume on sports<\/a> including soccer, golf and NASCAR<\/strong> racing has surged, showing that interest in sport remains intact. Expect the same to happen once the likes of NBA, MLB and NFL come back here.\u200c<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jeff Goldberg<\/strong> is the Editor-in-Chief of Sports Intel<\/a>, a premium network providing sports fans with news, resources and analytics into the world of sports. Jeff was the former team reporter for the<\/em> San Diego Fleet and covered the UConn<\/strong> women\u2019s basketball team for<\/em> The Hartford Courant newspaper. He is the author of two books about the Uconn team<\/em>: Bird at the Buzzer and<\/em> Unrivaled.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Guest opinion by Jeff Goldberg Of all of the industries affected by America\u2019s COVID-19 pandemic, the sports sector was among the hardest hit. With the U.S. forced into lockdown, almost all sporting competitions were suspended and it\u2019s only now that … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[14,283,74,243,17],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27640"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27640"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27640\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":28047,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27640\/revisions\/28047"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27640"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27640"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27640"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}