After Months on the Sidelines, Live Sports Set to Return in Full-Court Press

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After Months on the Sidelines, Live Sports Set to Return in Full-Court Press

by Tim Baysinger | June 8, 2020 @ 6:00 AM

”Essentially, all the major broadcasters will end up becoming sports networks by the end of the year,“ sports consultant Lee Berke says

The coronavirus pandemic has relegated sports to the bench for the better part of three months, but the games have begun a slow crawl back onto the field. It will soon become a sprint.

In May, NASCAR, the UFC and International soccer leagues like Germany’s Bundelisga resumed play, while the English Premier League and Spain’s La Liga are scheduled to pick back up this month. The NBA took a big step forward on Thursday when its board of governors approved its plan for a July 31 return at Disney World, with the players signing off on Friday. The NHL has its own plan in place, and the MLB may not be far behind.

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After months of no sports, there is about to be an overflow.

“Fans may have the rare opportunity to watch the Stanley Cup, NBA Finals and World Series in the same week,” Lee Berke, president and CEO of sports consultancy LHB Sports, told TheWrap.

Also Read: NBA to Return With 22-Team Format, October NBA Finals

For ESPN, the NBA’s return would give it a much-needed injection after months of airing old games and “SportsCenter” episodes that didn’t have any games to talk about. The five-week run of “The Last Dance” docuseries was a brief respite, as was April’s three-day virtual NFL Draft. ESPN was forced to resort to airing Korean baseball games after midnight on the East Coast to give its viewers live action.

If Major League Baseball can come to an agreement with its players on a way to begin its 2020 season, that would give ESPN even more nights of sports. (Both sides remain far apart.) The NFL is still on track for its normal September start date, but college football’s season will rely largely on whether schools feel it’s safe to have students return to their campuses this fall.

Even without college football, the NBA and NHL seasons could stretch into October, right in the middle of the NFL season. The World Series could throw its first pitch in November. Golf’s Masters, delayed from April, is scheduled for Nov. 12-15.

“Essentially, all the major broadcasters will end up becoming sports networks by the end of the year, and they’ll be eager to do so, given the dearth of scripted series and the ratings strength of live sports,” Berke said.

There is still much to be figured out, from testing, safety and quarantine procedures, how to handle if and when a player or coach tests positive, to the doomsday scenario of the virus roaring back to a point where staging games becomes untenable. The United States is the hardest hit country by the pandemic, with more than 1.8 million infections and more than 107,000 people who have lost their lives to the disease. The NBA is planning to finish its season in Orlando, and any potential baseball re-start would include spring training in Florida. On Thursday, the Florida Department of Health announced 1,419 new COVID-19 cases, the most since it began providing daily updates in March.

Also Read: NHL Sets Return With 24-Team Playoff, But Gives No Date for Resumption of Play

But the leagues are trying to figure out how to return to the field in the safest way possible. Whether it can be pulled off will not be known for some time. But the financial implications were more clear: Disney would’ve been looking at a nearly $500 million loss in ad revenue if the rest of the NBA season were to get called off. For TNT, it would take a $210 million hit if the coronavirus wiped out rest of the season.

“If we get the optimal scenario — most major sports finish their current seasons in some way — there will be plenty of A-List live programming for advertisers to reach viewers, thanks to a supersized sports schedule,” said Patrick Crakes, a former Fox Sports executive who now works as a sports media consultant. “Ad revenue won’t be made whole, but it will be a heck of a lot better than we were projecting just a month ago and will make for a solid transition to new seasons and next year.”

As far as the schedule crunch, Crakes doesn’t foresee “any scheduling grid disasters.” For one, the major broadcast networks have not begun any production on any scripted series for next season; Fox’s fall lineup is largely made up of already-filmed shows that were either acquired from other platforms or haven’t aired yet. Fox also has practice balancing this every year in October, when it has the NFL, College Football, baseball playoffs and World Series.

“For all the sports networks this is truly a great problem to have,” Crakes said. “In particular, given what the alternative was looking like.”

Fans will have to get used to seeing empty stands (Stuart Franklin/Getty Images)

Some professional sports that have already returned are providing a playbook. NASCAR is racing again. New York’s Belmont Park saw its first horse racing event last week. (The Belmont Stakes are scheduled for June 20.) The UFC has staged a few fights. Internationally, Germany’s Bundesliga soccer league returned to the pitch, and the aforementioned Korean baseball league (KBO League) began its season on time in April.

The one thing every one of these leagues had in common? Playing in front of empty stadiums.

Fox broadcaster Joe Buck caught flack on social media when he suggested that the NFL is thinking about piping in fake crowd noise if the league has to play its games without any fans in attendance. Fox Sports 1, which airs Bundesliga matches, has been adding some crowd noise to its broadcasts to help make the games feel slightly more normal despite the vast empty rows of seats.

“If part of the attraction of live sports is its human authenticity, how will the experiments of 2020 impact the future of game presentation? That’s the key question,” said Crakes. “At some point, we will have fans back at venues. The real question isn’t how we approach possible fan-less games in Q3 and Q4 of 2020, but what’s the production approach to games with only a small amount of fans in 2021 and beyond.”

18 Dramatic Championship Sports Movie Moments: From 'Rocky' to 'Remember the Titans' (Photos)

"The Pride of the Yankees" (1942)

This beautifully dramatized moment of sports history, as wonderfully monologued by Gary Cooper, helped to immortalize the already infamous "Luckiest man" speech by Lou Gehrig.
“Rocky” (1976)

In the ultimate underdog story, newcomer Rocky Balboa (Sylvester Stallone) gets a shot at the world heavyweight title against champ Apollo Creed. Rocky proves he has the goods, going the entire 15 rounds against Creed, but loses in a split decision. Rocky would get a rematch though and win the title in “Rocky II”.
"Breaking Away" (1979)

One of the most inspiring underdog stories ever made, the Little 500 bicycle race in Bloomington, Indiana, is a local classic as made famous by this film. In the film's closing race scene, the locals -- dressed in plain white T-shirts with their nickname the "Cutters" -- upset the richer college students with more expensive bikes and uniforms, riding across the finish line in pure glory.
“Chariots of Fire” (1981)

Two Englishmen push each other to be the best sprinter at the 1924 Olympics. While they won gold on the big screen’s racetrack, “Chariots of Fire” would go on to win Oscar gold for best picture.
“The Natural” (1984)

Robert Redford plays middle-age rookie Roy Hobbs in “The Natural.” Hobbs leads his team to a championship on his final at-bat when he launches the most famous home run in movie history. Thus proving the unspoken rule in baseball: If you break the lights you win the game.
“Hoosiers” (1986)

Another Indiana classic in what is widely considered one of the greatest sports movies of all time, “Hoosiers” follows a small town high school basketball team as they make it all the way to the state finals. They play a bigger and more athletic team in the finals, but with a last second shot pull off the surprise victory.
“Major League” (1989)

Charlie Sheen and Tom Berenger lead an outfit of misfit Cleveland Indians from last place to a shot at the league pennant against the powerhouse Yankees. Even though the film is a comedy, the final game plays out in dramatic fashion.
“A League of Their Own” (1992)

“A League of Their Own” proved that girls can play baseball, and ends in a play at the plate that determines the championship. Geena Davis’ Rockford Peaches may lose that final game, but as Tom Hanks taught us, “there is no crying in baseball!”
“Hoop Dreams” (1994)

Steve James’ revolutionary documentary follows inner-city Chicago kids William Gates and Arthur Agee throughout their high-school basketball careers. The film culminates in both striving to reach the finals of their city wide championship tournament.
“Remember the Titans” (2001)

Based on the true story of Virginia’s first integrated high school football team (led by coach Denzel Washington), the Titans not only change the views of an entire town, but they go undefeated on their way to a thrilling state championship against an all-white team.
“Friday Night Lights” (2004)

The film that spawned the critically acclaimed TV series (which in turn may spawn a film of its own) is memorable in that its featured team doesn’t win the championship. The Permian Panthers mount a great comeback, but come up one yard short of the state title.
“Miracle” (2004)

In perhaps one of the greatest upsets in sports history, a team of U.S. college hockey players defeated the Soviet Union, the three-time defending gold medal winner and best team in the world, during the Cold War.
"DodgeBall" (2004)

Okay, okay. This is really a parody of sports movies. But for all its send-ups of underdog sports movie formulas, it also embraces them full-heartedly during the gripping championship showdown between the Average Joes and Globo Gym.
“The Fighter” (2010)

David O. Russell‘s Oscar-winning picture depicted boxer Mickey Ward’s (Mark Wahlberg) climb up the ranks from middling contender to a shot at the title. The final fight shows the grit and heart that it took for Ward to win the belt.
"Senna" (2010)

The best sports documentaries are as riveting as their scripted counterparts, putting viewers right in the action as if they are watching it unfold live. "Senna" is one of the finest examples, using primarily archival footage with no narration and few interviews to show the bitter Formula 1 rivalry between Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost that led to the 1989 and 1990 championships being decided in controversial fashion at Japan's famed Suzuka Circuit.
"Survive and Advance" (2013)

ESPN's "30 for 30" series included a look at arguably the most famous championship run in college basketball history. In 1983, Jimmy Valvano led the North Carolina State Wolfpack on a streak of nine consecutive overtime or one-point wins, culminating in a last-second basket to win the championship over top-ranked Houston. In this documentary, even though the outcome is known, every game's heart-stopping drama is recreated perfectly.
"Creed" (2015)

The power and hypnotic beauty of this famous running scene from "Creed" as directed by Ryan Coogler is immense. Michael B. Jordan captures the inspiring training run from the original "Rocky" with a modern spirit. You can feel the emotion of the moment so strongly and can't help but root for him.
"Celtics/Lakers: Best of Enemies" (2017)

Another ESPN documentary that puts you right in the moment. Narrated by Lakers fan Ice Cube and Celtics fan Donnie Wahlberg, this five-hour doc covers the most famous championship rivalry in sports, which peaked with Magic Johnson and Larry Bird in the 80s. The tension hits its peak with Game 4 of the 1987 NBA Finals, in which Bird infamously missed a game-tying three-point shot.