The coronavirus-related postponements and cancellations of sporting events and games across the U.S. and Canada could affect more than 51 million potential game-day attendees and possibly lead to the loss of nearly $3.4 billion in estimated event-related spending, according to published and publicly available data analyzed by Sports Business Journal.
SBJ’s comprehensive study reviewed recent attendance patterns of the NBA, NHL, MLB (including spring training), MLS, WNBA and XFL; minor league baseball (affiliated and independents), hockey, soccer and basketball leagues; and the NCAA men’s and women’s national basketball and hockey tournaments. As of last week, those leagues and events had announced postponements or cancellations for a combined total of 5,320 games.
For game-day spending estimates at venues, the disruption of league seasons with available published data — the NBA, NHL, MLB, MLS, XFL and Minor League Baseball — impacted approximately $3.39 billion in potential ticket and other game-day sales (concessions, merchandise), according to SBJ’s analysis of the most recent data available from Team Marketing Report’s annual Fan Cost Index and league sources.
