SBJ Unpacks: The Road Ahead -- NFL Staying Close To Home

Influential voices continue to frame the sports conversation around racial injustice and police behavior. 

In USA Today, Warriors coach Steve Kerr and former NFL player Anquan Boldin, among others, co-authored an editorial outlining changes they feel are needed to immediately transform U.S. policing. The National Basketball Coaches Association has formed a committee in an effort to combat racial injustice. Almost every major college athletic conference has weighed in, and SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey tweeted a Bible verse that included the line, "Stand on the side of the good."

Among team executives who have spoken out, Marlins CEO Derek Jeter issued a statement that read in part: "No one should be excused from acts of racial hatred. Please do not allow anyone to demonize those who are standing up against these acts."

It's interesting to think of how athletes and coaches potentially could have used the platform of live sporting events to amplify their message if games were being played right now. We are still weeks away from finding out. 

--- Eric Prisbell

NFL RULES OUT OFF-SITE TRAINING CAMPS

• NFL teams are being told the league will prohibit off-site training camps this summer due to the pandemic, reports SBJ’s Ben Fischer. An official memo is expected soon, but two sources have said league officials have begun informally spreading the word. At least three local beat reporters (in Pittsburgh, Charlotte and Dallas) are saying the same.
  
  
• The precise rationale is not fully known, but the COVID-19 prevention protocols associated with returning to NFL facilities are complex, and implementing those at locations used for less than six weeks would be costly. Also staying at home facilities will minimize travel.
  
  
• Even before the pandemic, more NFL teams have been staying home for camp in recent years for simplicity’s sake and to make it more fan-accessible. Twenty-one years ago, 28 out 31 teams left their home markets for camp, but only nine were planning on leaving this year. 

NON-PLAYOFF TEAMS MAKE LATE PUSH TO JOIN NBA RESTART

• There is a lot of last-minute lobbying by non-playoff NBA teams pushing to be included in the league’s proposed restart plan that calls for 22 of the 30 teams to play at Disney beginning in late July, reports SBJ's John Lombardo.
  
  
• “I have been banging this drum for a while to get to all 30 teams,” said one source from a non-playoff team. “To have eight teams sit out when there is so much relevancy. As a non-playoff team, we want to play for a multitude of reasons for our region, our community and the halo effect of the business. ... If we don’t come back until the end of December, you are talking about nine months of nothing. We will do a great job of creating relevancy, but we want to play."
  
  
• While the league plans a Thursday vote on the 22-team return, there is hope by some that last-minute changes can be made to include more teams. But there is some thought that having all 30 teams would pose a greater health and safety risk. One source said, "I don’t know if it’s too late, but Adam (Silver) is listening to everyone. Adam’s leadership has been impeccable and we want to play, but we are all partners."
  
  
• For more on the debate over the NBA restart, see today's issue of SBD.

WTA PRESIDENT REALISTIC ON CHANCES OF SALVAGING SEASON

• WTA President Micky Lawler said that key parts of the decision of how much of the 2020 season the tour can salvage is “really out of our hands.” Lawler told SBJ’s Bret McCormick recently that a U.S. Open could jump start the season and lead into the WTA’s Asian swing in the fall, which includes the lucrative season-ending WTA Finals in Shenzhen.
  
  
• “I can tell you from our conversations it seems that the USTA is going to put every effort forward to have the U.S. Open,” Lawler said. “If the U.S. Open happens, then I think other events will follow. The French Open is really optimistic about being able to host in September and our Asian events, they’re kind of waiting for us to model out how they could operate with less fans, with full fans. Steve Simon, our CEO, has done all the modeling and he’s provided protocols for every potential scenario.”
  
  
• But even armed with models and protocols, the WTA, which has seen 24 tournaments hit by the pandemic so far, can’t control what happens in the coming months with the fast-moving virus, or how global governments react to it. “It depends on travel restrictions, quarantine rules, and because we’re a global sport, it is very difficult to get this organized with (these) travel restrictions in place,” said Lawler.
  
  
• The suspended WTA top-100 currently has players from 33 countries represented. Figuring out how to get all of them to single tournament locations across the globe is just one of the Russian-nesting-doll-type challenges that tour organizers are trying to solve. “How do we move everyone around in these circumstances?” Lawler said. “That’s what’s difficult.” 

COLLEGIATE BASEBALL RETURNS WITH LIMITED FIELD SHOWCASE EVENT

• As MLB continues to hash out proper health and safety protocols for a potential return to play, the three-day, four-team Collegiate Baseball Summer Invitational is ready to play ball this Thursday in College Station, Texas, writes SBJ's Eric Prisbell.
  
  
• The most interesting aspect of the event? Players will be allowed to play the game and interact like it's a pre-COVID-19 world. Yes, they are all quarantined for the week on four floors inside the College Station Hilton, where three meals will be delivered to suites each day. And yes, the 120 individuals -- players and non-players -- inside the so-called bubble underwent antibody and nasal-swab COVID testing Monday and will again at the conclusion of the event Saturday. Players will have temperature checks each day before they are given a wristband. And they will not shower at the ballpark. But during the games, there will be no restrictions on high-fives, mound visits, social distancing or spitting.
  
  
• Uri Geva, the Infinity Sports & Entertainment CEO who is helping CBSI organize the event, told SBJ: "Our belief is that once you are inside the bubble, you are safe. We're keeping you in the highest level of quarantining. Therefore, we're going to give you the ability to play baseball the way it used to be two months ago. We're not going to limit their interaction. Inside the bubble, once they have been cleared, once they get the wristband for each day, go have fun and welcome back 2019."
  
  
• There are clear differences between CBSI and MLB, which wants to prohibit high-fives, fist bumps and spitting. Among them: MLB players will travel for road games and also won't be quarantined in their homes when they're not on the road. The risks are theoretically higher because MLB players won't be quarantined in a so-called bubble city for any considerable length of time. Still, how the CBSI tournament unfolds in Texas this week from a logistical and medical standpoint could provide MLB with an instructive template.

ESPN ANALYST: MLB, UNION MUST "INVEST IN THE FUTURE"

• As the clock ticks on MLB's negotiations with the union, ESPN’s Mark Teixeira believes both sides "need to understand that they have to invest in the future of their sport.”
  
  
• Teixeira, appearing on "Get Up" this morning, said, "When you invest, you take money out of your pocket and usually give it to somebody else, but you hope that later on down the road you’re going to make that money back two or three times. The players and the owners need to realize that they are going to invest in each other, invest in the sport, lose a little bit of money now, but save baseball for this year and the future.” 
  
  
• The Boston Globe's Peter Abraham writes if MLB "screws this up, 17 months will pass between the end of the 2019 World Series and the start of the 2021 season." That is a "long time for people to find something else to occupy their time."

SPORTS CONSTRUCTION WEATHERING COVID IMPACT

• The impact of COVID-19 on the U.S. construction business has been “less than expected,” which means work has continued unabated at many projects around the country. Gilbane Building Co. VP/Supply Chain Joe Piro today told Construction Dive that his firm recently completed work on the $102 million overhaul of TD Ballpark and the Englebert Complex in Dunedin, Fla., which is the Blue Jays’ spring training home. Gilbane also has continued to be part of a joint venture building the $90 million Polar Park in Worcester, the future home of the relocating Pawtucket Red Sox, according to SBJ’s David Broughton.
  
  
• Piro: "A lot of people within our industry did think that there would be a shortage of materials and that would necessitate higher prices. But I think what's ultimately going to happen is actually the opposite. The key factor, believe it or not, was the shortage of shipping containers that needed to return to the port of origin. .... We use a green, yellow, red dashboard. And during the crisis it was predominantly green. ... We've been communicating regularly with peer groups in our industry and I think we can all agree that we're not going to see a price increase. In fact, we're going to see prices likely go down into Q3 and likely into Q4.”

CHECK OUT THIS WEEK'S SBJ

• Don’t miss this week’s issue of SBJ. Meanwhile, if you’d like to receive the print issue at your home office, update your delivery address at any time within your account settings here. If you have any questions about how and where to receive your print copy of SBJ, please email help@sportsbusinessdaily.com.

SPEED READS

• MLS players are "set to vote on the league's latest proposal tonight and into tomorrow morning," per The Athletic's Paul Tenorio & Sam Stejskal. The MLSPA "will respond accordingly after the vote closes tomorrow, per sources." See more on where MLS stands in today's issue of SBD.
  
  
• Phillies Managing Partner John Middleton projected a "loss of 'substantially more than $100 million'" this year and announced "salary cuts, effective immediately, for anyone on the business or baseball side of the organization who was due to make at least $90,000 this year," according to Scott Lauber of the Philadelphia Inquirer.
  
  

• The NASCAR Cup Series race from Bristol on Sunday averaged 2.93 million viewers, marking the most-watched telecast on FS1 since the end of the 2019 ALCS and the most-watched Cup race on FS1 since Sonoma in June of 2017 (3.24 million), per SBJ's Austin Karp.
  
  

• With the pandemic shuttering most fitness classes, Americans "appear to have embraced solo fitness endeavors out of necessity."  And a "big winner appears to be the performance running sneaker industry," per Yahoo Finance's Myles Udland. According to analysts at Bank of America Global Research, brands like Brooks, HOKA One One, On Running, and Nike’s performance running sneakers "stand to benefit from a resurgence in interest in running outdoors." Downloads for apps like the Nike Training Club (+510%), Nike Run Club (+144%), and exercise tracker Strava (+222%) also suggest consumers picking up new fitness habits like biking and hiking.
  
  

• German Football League CEO Christian Seifert, whose organization oversees the Bundesliga, was labeled the "German executive who showed sports how to come back" by the Wall Street Journal's Joshua Robinson. Seifert "can say what few others in his business can at the moment: he managed to put a professional sports league back on the field." His challenge now is "keeping it there." 
  
  
• The PGA Tour has "expanded its health and safety blueprint via a 34-page Participant Resource Guide," and although the guide includes a policy stating that COVID-19 testing is a "condition of competition, the at-home test players and caddies take before travelling to a tournament is actually 'strongly encouraged,' but not required," according to Golf Channel's Rex Hoggard.

NEWS YOU NEED FROM SPORTS BUSINESS DAILY

• During this crisis impacting the sports business, we want everyone to be up-to-date on the latest news and information. SBD's "Coronavirus & Sports" section is free, outside the paywall, for the foreseeable future. Below are today's headlines:
  
  
  • Sources: MLB Discussing Shorter Season With Full Prorated Salaries
  • NBA Teams Not Included In Orlando Plan Worried About Long Layoff
  • Pac-12 Commish: Student-Athletes To Get COVID-19, Antibody Tests
  • PGA Tour Memo: At-Home Testing "Encouraged" But Not Mandatory
  • A's Only MLB Team So Far To End Weekly Stipends For MiLBers
  • Phillies Start Making Salary Cuts To Offset Projected $100M In Losses
  • Incoming AHL Commish Focused On Whatever It Takes To Play

SBJ UNPACKS -- WEATHERING COVID-19

• Check out the most recent editions of our "SBJ Unpacks" podcasts around COVID-19:
  
  
  • Intersport founder Charlie Besser on the state of agencies and sports sponsorship during this pandemic.
  • UNC Charlotte AD Mike Hill on the complexities of student-athletes returning to campus and resumption of play.
  • John Ourand and Bill King discuss how networks are planning to broadcast games without fans in the stands.

NOMINATIONS OPEN FOR SBJ GAME CHANGERS!

Online nominations for Game Changers are now open. We’ll be accepting nominations through midnight June 21. The Game Changers event will be Oct. 27-28, and a special section will run in SBJ in the Oct. 19 issue.

Something related to coronavirus and sports business catch your eye? Tell us about it. Reach out to Austin Karp (akarp@sportsbusinessjournal.com) and we'll share the best of it.