SBJ Unpacks: The Road Ahead -- NFL Stays Flexible

If everything goes to plan, there will be a ton of team sports action on TV by the end of July. But for the next few weeks, the sports world will still be more quiet than usual.

MLB was hoping to make a rousing return on July 4th weekend before it got mired in labor issues that will now see it start toward the end of month, around the same time the NBA and NHL are also slated to resume. The NWSL is already back and MLS starts next week, but other properties that will start in late July include the WNBA and Premier Lacrosse League.

While coronavirus safety and injury prevention concerns are of the utmost importance, the potential feast of late-July sports programming could make MLB or one of these other properties rue not starting their season a little earlier in a bid to grab a sports-starved nation’s attention.

-- Adam Stern

SOURCES: NFL CANCELS TWO WEEKS OF PRESEASON GAMES

• The NFL is canceling two weeks of its four-game preseason schedule, sources close to the decision told SBJ's Ben Fischer, as the league tries to make time for pandemic-altered training camps while keeping its regular season on schedule.
  
  
• Details are still sparse, but two senior executives said the league intends to cancel Weeks 1 and 4 while also reformatting Weeks 2 and 3 of the preseason so that every team plays one home game and one road game. Without that change, some teams would have lost both home preseason games.
  
  
• The NFL has said training camps will begin on time -- July 28 for most of the league's 32 teams -- and also still hopes to start the regular season on Thursday, Sept. 10. However, insiders expect the NFL and NFLPA to soon agree to terms on training camps that would call for a slower ramp up into full practices to account for an offseason that was completely virtual because of COVID-19.
  
  
• For more on the NFL's plans, click here.

MASKS, WAIVERS LIKELY REQUIRED FOR NFL FANS

• If NFL teams allow fans into their stadiums this year, they will likely be required to wear masks and sign liability waivers, sources tell SBJ’s Ben Fischer. Those guidelines are expected to be included in a league document detailing recommended procedures for reopening venues, due by early next week.
  
  
• One team executive said fans will likely be asked to “opt in” by agreeing to a waiver at the beginning of any lottery process that determines how many limited tickets available will be distributed. Most teams expect legal capacity to be far lower than total tickets sold as local governments seek to stop the spread of COVID-19.
  
  
• While the NFL document won’t be considered a mandate, officials today said they expect masks to be required for entrance to any stadium this year and employees will be expected to enforce that standard. Other aspects of the protocols, a source confirmed, will be cashless transactions and prepackaged food only at concession stands. The proposed guidelines were first reported by The Athletic.

NBA PROTOCOLS EMPHASIZE LEAGUE'S TIGHT CONTROL OVER BUBBLE

• NBA teams playing in the Disney bubble today submitted their 37-member traveling party list to the league with tight controls on who will be included. Per the NBA’s health and safety protocols, teams will have up to 17 players along with trainers, coaches, security personnel etc. as part of the basketball operations 35-member party, writes SBJ's John Lombardo.
  
  
• The traveling party must also include a senior basketball ops executive such as a basketball operations president, a GM or an assistant GM. Teams are also allowed to include one social media content staff member and one basketball communications staff member for a total of 37 people.
  
  
• According to the health and safety guidelines, owners and senior front office executives such as team presidents will be part of the “Tier 4” personnel that will not reside on the Disney campus. Regular testing for Tier 4 personnel will not be required, but temperature checks and symptom screening will be required to watch games in a socially distanced section at least 25 feet from the court. Face masks must also be worn at all times on the campus and Tier 4 visitors must use secured entrances and exits at the complex and are prohibited from having any direct or close contact with other Tiers when watching games for practices.
  
  
• Magic Chief Communications Officer Joel Glass, who will be the team’s PR rep in the bubble, said that despite living in Orlando, he and all other members of the Magic’s traveling party will be sequestered at Disney for the remainder of the team’s season. “My house is 30 minutes from Disney but it might as well be across the country,” Glass said. “I will leave my house on July 7 and stay to whenever our season ends. It is the only way it can be done.”
   

NWSL COMMISSIONER ON GUIDING THE LEAGUE BACK TO ACTION

• The NWSL has the distinction of being the first of the U.S. team sports to return during the pandemic. For all that the individual touring sports such as NASCAR, the PGA Tour and UFC had to navigate, they don’t have entire teams training and competing on a field in close quarters.
  
  
• NWSL Commissioner Lisa Baird spoke with SBJ’s Bill King about that dynamic, the league’s handling of a spate of positive tests from one club in Orlando, and a range of other issues on the latest episode of the SBJ Unpacks podcast. 
  
  
• “We are a team sport (and) we’re a contact sport, so obviously the medical protocols for that had to be at a really extraordinary level for us to be able to mitigate all the risk,” Baird said. “That was the single driver of the timeline -- making sure that we really had that at the level that we needed it to be to create a village, a protected environment, and the actual tournament format.”

The Thorns and Red Stars competing earlier today at the NWSL Challenge Cup in Utah

PADRES' RON FOWLER CASTS BLEAK FINANCIAL OUTLOOK

• Padres Executive Chair Ron Fowler indicated that a nine-figure loan is "just the starting point for mitigating against revenue lost by not having fans, plus diminished sponsorship and media rights agreements, for a truncated 2020 season and what he anticipates will be a financially-challenging 2021," per the San Diego Union-Tribune. 
  
  
• Fowler: "People don’t want to believe we’re going to lose, cash on cash, well over $100 million. I can assure you we are. ... We’ve already borrowed $100 million. We are looking to increase our loan availability, and we are looking to make a significant capital contribution -- more money into the team."
  
  
• Fowler also "doesn’t see it as likely fans will see any of that baseball in person at Petco Park" this season. But he added that "if things change and we can do it with social distancing and all that, we’ll do everything in our power to make it work."
  
  
  

NEW TENNIS PARTNERSHIP PROVIDES OPPORTUNITY AMID PANDEMIC

• Universal Tennis Rating unveiled its National Championship Series earlier this week, which will enable top junior, high school and college players to compete after the pandemic canceled their spring seasons. FILA was announced as the competition’s official apparel and footwear provider. “That core customer that UTR has, that 12-to 18-year old, it’s important for us to get our brand in front of that demographic,” said FILA director of marketing and strategic partnerships Lauren Mallon.
  
  
• FILA and UTR first held conversations about potential partnerships in the summer of 2019. So, the two sides were in position to move quickly when UTR began looking for a partner to provide prizes for the NCS, which was only created within the last month. “We were waiting for the right time and opportunity,” UTR president Anne Worcester told SBJ’s Bret McCormick. 
  
  
• Worcester called on previous relationships with FILA from when she was director of the WTA Connecticut Open. Although the FILA deal is so far specific to the NCS, both sides hope to partner again in the future. “We’re looking at this as a good springboard for our relationship,” said Mallon. 

WORKING FROM HOME WITH POPULOUS ASSOCIATE MEGAN RAND

• Populous Associate Megan Rand’s at-home office is pretty simple -- just a laptop at the dining room table. “And my desk chair that I brought home from the office after seven days of trying to convince myself it wasn’t necessary,” she said. Staying busy has been no issue. “With two projects currently under construction, I spend a lot of my day on Zoom and on the phone, which have made my air pods even more of a permanent fixture in my ears than they were prior,” she said.
  
  

• The Populous HQ in Kansas City is currently in the first phase of return-to-office, with those who have expressed a need to go in being assigned a two-day shift. “I have enjoyed going in one day a week to break up my schedule, even though the office doesn’t have its typical hustle and bustle feeling right now,” said Rand, a member of SBJ’s inaugural New Voices Under 30 class.
  
  
• “I was in a routine of being on the go constantly for project travel, recruiting efforts and personal travel, so this has been an adjustment for me,” Rand said. “I’ve felt very restless at times, but I think my cat is enjoying the company.” She has been impressed with Populous’ construction partners ability to deliver project updates, making use of programmed drone routes, panoramic images and ongoing field reports. “Previously, I would have felt uneasy about not being able to be on-site frequently,” she said. “Maybe in the future this new comfortability and familiarity with technology will help us reduce our frequency of travel.”
  
  
• Binge-watching Netflix series has been a quarantine favorite for many, but not Rand. “I have turned to reading to keep me entertained and get a break from screens,” she said. “I nearly exclusively read non-fiction and some of my favorite quarantine reads so far have been ‘Shoe Dog’ by Phil Knight, ‘Just Mercy’ by Bryan Stevenson, and ‘Kitchen Confidential’ by Anthony Bourdain. I have also been able to catch up on some back issues of The Golfer’s Journal -- one of the best curated publications I read.”
  
  

• Want to share what your work-from-home setup is like? Reach out to SBJ's David Rumsey.

Rand has kept multiple Populous projects on track while working from her dining room table

OUTSIDE CONTRIBUTORS: TRAVEL LIMITATIONS

• Tonight's op-ed contribution is from Sports Destination Network President Dirk Smith, who writes under the header, "Hotel Sector Is Relearning Supply-And-Demand Economics."
   
• "As a meeting planning company specializing in sports businesses, my 'old normal' role was hotel site selection, contract discussions, and logistical insight. That morphed into a cavalcade of group meeting postponements and cancellations. Now, as we (hopefully) emerge into some semblance of group meetings, the additional contribution for my clients is all of the above, plus a '30,000-foot' perspective of the travel industry."
  
  
• To read Smith's full contribution, click here.

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

• For the first half of 2020, the pandemic has put a large dent in the total prize money distributed among the top 10 esports titles, Trent Murray notes in the SBJ Esports newsletter. Data from Esports Earnings shows that those 10 titles, which includes top games like Counter-Strike: Global Offensive and Dota 2, awarded $29.94 million in prize money. That's down over 40% from just over $50 million during the same time frame last year. The reason for the sharp drop is simple: Most esports distribute the majority of prize money at in-person, international championship events, and those have not taken place since March. 
  
  
• Six FC Dallas players have "tested positive for COVID-19," per the Dallas Morning News. FC Dallas traveled to Orlando to prepare for the MLS is Back tournament, which begins July 8. The club confirmed that "no members of its traveling party had tested positive for the virus prior to the club’s departure for Orlando on Saturday morning." But upon their arrival in Orlando, two players "tested positive." FC Dallas said that the two affected players were "immediately isolated from their teammates, the entire FC Dallas delegation, other MLS clubs and staff." All FC Dallas players and staff are "now being isolated while in Orlando."
  
  
• In SBJ Media tonight, John Ourand takes a look at the hazards of running a traditional TV business during a pandemic, especially when there are no sports to fill the schedule.
  
  
• The Devils this afternoon unveiled new “Black Lives Matter” logos behind the nets at the Barnabas Health Hockey House, the team’s practice facility, writes SBJ’s Mark J. Burns. The logos will be in place for the foreseeable future and precede parent company Harris Blitzer Sports & Entertainment’s plans to announce a new diversity and inclusion initiative in the coming weeks. 
  
  
• The American Athletic Conference officially moved into its new HQ in Irving, Texas, today after seven years in Providence, R..I. The AAC said conference staff members will begin working in the new space this month while adhering to state and local health guidelines.
  
  
• KT Tape is sponsoring a new virtual head-to-head 5k race between Olympian Jared Ward and Olympic qualifier Jake Riley, reports SBJ’s Chris Smith. The race will be broadcast live on professional running group Team Boulder’s Instagram on July 4, with Ward running in Provo, Utah, and Riley in Boulder, Colo. The two runners’ coaches will provide live commentary. The winner will donate the prize money to local charities supporting frontline healthcare workers; the charities will be announced Friday. 
  
  
• A new Olympic surfing documentary from Newsy, “Breaking Waves,” was released today. The film, made in partnership with Marie Claire, documents last year’s three-way Olympic qualifying race between Carissa Moore, Lakey Peterson and Caroline Marks; Moore and Marks are currently slated to represent Team USA in surfing’s Olympic debut at the Tokyo Games. The 21-minute doc will be distributed on Newsy’s digital channels in addition to airing four times on its cable network this weekend. 
  
  
• SBJ is happy to report that sports facilities vet Bill Squires continues to make big strides in his recovery from a grueling battle with COVID that kept him on a ventilator for nearly five weeks. Squires texted SBJ’s David Bourne today to say, “I just finished walking four miles, unassisted, without any stops.” Want to read about Squires’ journey? Click here.

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. Select stories from Sports Business Daily are free, outside the paywall, for the foreseeable future. Below are today's headlines:
  
  
  • Canceled Season Paints Grim Financial Picture For MiLB's Future
  • NBA Paying More Than $150M For Disney World Bubble
  • TNT's Marv Albert Won't Be On Site For NBA's Orlando Return

SBJ UNPACKS -- THE ROAD AHEAD

• Check out the most recent editions of our "SBJ Unpacks" podcasts around COVID-19:
  
  
  • NWSL Commissioner Lisa Baird joins Bill King to discuss their journey as the first U.S. team sport to return from the stoppage.
  • Oura CEO Harpreet Rai on his company’s advanced technology ring and how the NBA plans to utilize it in the Orlando bubble.
  • SponsorUnited Founder & President Bob Lynch talks about how the sports sponsorship industry is navigating the treacherous waters the pandemic has caused.

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.