Menu
Download the app

SBJ subscribers – Enhance your experience with the revamped iOS app

Sports and Society

Events learn from each other as play resumes

The PGA Tour continues to “refine and adapt” with its tournaments and is paying close attention to any surge in COVID cases in various markets.getty images

Individual sports with inherent social distancing have somewhat of an advantage during the coronavirus pandemic, but many of the stakeholders are still concerned about safety protocols as the industry heads into the second half of 2020.

With less physical contact in these sports than team sports, theoretically properties like NASCAR, the PGA Tour and ATP can have slightly less stringent rules for dealing with the virus.

NASCAR was one of the first sports to return to competition, doing so in mid-May. It has put together a lengthy list of rules and requirements to keep people compartmentalized at race tracks, but unlike most other sports, NASCAR still has not instituted uniform coronavirus testing.

NASCAR has only had one driver (Jimmie Johnson) test positive so far, along with a handful of crew members, but only those showing symptoms or having been in contact with someone who tested positive are getting tests. That means NASCAR is still under the microscope from some critics about whether it needs to introduce broader testing heading into the second half of the season.

John Bobo, NASCAR’s vice president of racing operations, said for now the series is confident in its plan.

“Our protocols remain a work in progress, and we are constantly trying to learn ways to improve,” he wrote in an email. “We also want to learn as much about the virus as we can and update as needed while preserving our ability to be agile.”

For the PGA Tour, which returned to action in June, the league is mainly concerned about the safety of its players and how positive tests could affect that. Six players have tested positive for the virus so far.

“Our hope is first and foremost that our health and safety protocols continue to work and we control and mitigate as much risk as we can related to COVID-19,” said Laura Neal, the PGA Tour’s senior vice president of communications and content. “That leads us to staging tournaments successfully and perhaps even bringing back fans if not full time, in some form or fashion. Ultimately, it is getting to our Tour Championship and completing our season, all done in a safe and responsible manner.”

For the second half of 2020, Neal will be paying close attention to the numbers from a surge standpoint. “We are looking in-house how we refine and adapt,” she said. “We keep tightening the bubble. We have to be diligent in reviewing each positive test case and what measures we can tweak to close the loop.

“Now that other sports are coming online, we are learning from each other as well. It is very back and forth, and the collaboration is more than I have seen.”

Tennis has been slow to return, but industry leaders feel that’s for good reason. The ATP tour will end a six-month suspension of play with the  Citi Open in Washington, D.C., from Aug. 14-21.

Andrea Gaudenzi began his new job as ATP chairman on Jan. 1. His year began with wildfires near the Australian Open, before the pandemic consumed his full attention in March. The avalanche of canceled ATP tournaments showed Gaudenzi that tennis needs to diversify its revenue streams.

“The future growth will come from media and data, not from ticket revenue,” said Gaudenzi. “We’re still a sport that relies on ticket, gate revenues.” 

Every postponement or schedule change for the ATP forces a conversation with sponsors.

“It’s a difficult commercial discussion because obviously you can’t charge for what you’re not delivering,” said Gaudenzi. “Those negotiations and discussions are ongoing as we speak.” 

The ATP’s most recent schedule release unveiled just seven tournaments, with the plan to further nail down what’s left of the 2020 schedule by mid-July. That will create another round of conversations between the tour and its sponsors. 

“Once we know what we can deliver, we can have those discussions with sponsors and broadcasters,” said Gaudenzi.

Staff writers John Lombardo and Bret McCormick contributed to this report.

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.

SBJ I Factor: Nana-Yaw Asamoah

SBJ I Factor features an interview with AMB Sports and Entertainment Chief Commercial Office Nana-Yaw Asamoah. Asamoah, who moved over to AMBSE last year after 14 years at the NFL, talks with SBJ’s Ben Fischer about how his role model parents and older sisters pushed him to shrive, how the power of lifelong learning fuels successful people, and why AMBSE was an opportunity he could not pass up. Asamoah is 2021 SBJ Forty Under 40 honoree. SBJ I Factor is a monthly podcast offering interviews with sports executives who have been recipients of one of the magazine’s awards.

Shareable URL copied to clipboard!

https://www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/Journal/Issues/2020/07/13/Sports-and-Society/events.aspx

Sorry, something went wrong with the copy but here is the link for you.

https://www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/Journal/Issues/2020/07/13/Sports-and-Society/events.aspx

CLOSE