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Leagues and Governing Bodies

Sports Leagues' Uphill Climb Against Pandemic Just Beginning

Professional sports "figured out how to sputter back to life over the past three months" amid the coronavirus pandemic, but "in many ways, the fallout for the industry is just beginning," according to Futterman & Stein of the N.Y. TIMES. Against "all odds, and with their financial futures threatened as never before, the leagues deployed aggressive, rapid-response testing that remains out of reach for the general public." By "keeping spectators out or severely limiting attendance, they apparently avoided the calamity of a virus death traced to an event." And they "pushed through, their schedules overlapping as never before." But "now comes the hard part." The leagues succeeded because they are "enormously wealthy," having "enough money not just to administer comprehensive testing but also to pivot quickly and do things that would have seemed unimaginable in the past." Now leagues have to "figure out how to do it again as infection numbers have reached a record daily high in the United States, making it unclear how to protect players and other personnel without spending exorbitantly again." Wasserman Chair & CEO Casey Wasserman said that he was "confident" the NHL and the NBA "would aim to start their seasons by early winter, perhaps with slightly shorter schedules of roughly 70 games, and to complete their playoffs in June, as usual" (N.Y. TIMES, 10/26). 

SBJ Morning Buzzcast: March 25, 2024

NFL meeting preview; MLB's opening week ad effort and remembering Peter Angelos.

Big Get Jay Wright, March Madness is upon us and ESPN locks up CFP

On this week’s pod, our Big Get is CBS Sports college basketball analyst Jay Wright. The NCAA Championship-winning coach shares his insight with SBJ’s Austin Karp on key hoops issues and why being well dressed is an important part of his success. Also on the show, Poynter Institute senior writer Tom Jones shares who he has up and who is down in sports media. Later, SBJ’s Ben Portnoy talks the latest on ESPN’s CFP extension and who CBS, TNT Sports and ESPN need to make deep runs in the men’s and women's NCAA basketball tournaments.

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