In-Depth
World Congress 2020: Irwin Kishner
Executive Chairman, Herrick
On comparisons to other sports crises:
KishnerTony Florez
It’s entirely different because there’s so much inherent uncertainty, not to minimize the uncertainty that were associated with both the Great Recession of 2008, 2009, 2010, even worse, 9/11. Those were events that we sort of saw a path out. This one is just evolving on a moment-to-moment basis. Yes, this too shall absolutely pass. There’s no question about it. The more significant question is when? How and when can we get back to normal?
On the viability of mixed-use development currently under construction:
I do think that those developments, which were very well thought out, very well planned, are going to be a focal point for the local communities. Once we have less of a fear of going out in public and interacting with our fellow human beings, you’ll see these things slowly come back online because they do make sense. It does make sense to have a focal point, i.e. a professional sports team, and have all of the entertainment, hospitality, retail surrounding it. It’s a great way to spend an afternoon or an evening.
Innovation coming out of the crisis:
You’re going to also see the proliferation of virtual reality-type things where you’ll be able to go into your own room and be able to watch these contests as if you’re there. I think that’s going to proliferate as a result of this because it does create in this type of situation, a much safer environment and you can literally feel like you’re in the arena or the stadium.
Long-term impact of work-from-home movement:
You’re going to see something of a social shift in how people conduct business. Because if you’re able to establish that you are just as productive, if not even more productive, if you take commuting time out of it and you’re able to use that time in a productive manner, it makes sense to have less costs, i.e. less physical costs in the concept of real estate, and why not have it as more diversified? This is going to be a social shift as people prove the point that you can work at home and productively.
