Unpacks

For the first time since last fall, four of the big five pro leagues will be in action on the same day this weekend. The fifth, the NFL, is proceeding gently with its modified training camp.

As we finish another work week, that’s worth celebrating. Behind each of these leagues’ return is months of hard work from dedicated, creative people, and they deserve credit. But the headlines this week kept a lid on the celebratory mood, with several top NFL stars opting out of this season and MLB postponing games as infections keep popping up.

-- Ben Fischer

LAKERS-CLIPPERS DELIVERS OPENING NIGHT-TYPE AUDIENCE

• TNT's return doubleheader for the NBA last night (2.9 million viewers) was well above its single-game season average prior to the pandemic, but the marquee game -- Lakers-Clippers - did not deliver any record-setting viewership, SBJ's Austin Karp reports.
  
  
• Lakers-Clips on Thursday night averaged 3.4 million viewers in the late window (but still one hour earlier than a normal TNT late game). That figure is below the 3.6 million viewers that the same matchup drew on opening night for TNT back in October -- but it comes with a caveat. TNT last night for both of its games had to compete with RSN blackouts in the local markets, something it does not normally compete with for its normal NBA telecasts. When figures for Spectrum SportsNet (Lakers) and FS Prime Ticket (Clips) are added to TNT’s figure last night, the game tops opening night.
  
  
• In the early tilt last night (also an hour earlier than normal), TNT averaged 2.1 million viewers for Jazz-Pelicans (does not include RSN figures for FS New Orleans or AT&T SportsNet Rocky Mountain). On opening night, TNT averaged 2.3 million for Pelicans-Raptors -- a game the lacked Zion Williamson as well as any audience figures for a non-measured Toronto market. The doubleheader last night averaged 2.9 million viewers without RSN numbers included. TNT for a typical NBA game before the pandemic was averaging just 1.4 million viewers per game. That was down around 12% from the same average at the same point of the 2018-19 season.
  
  
• Some other bright spots? TNT's “Inside the NBA” averaged 1.3 million viewers, which is the pregame show’s best figure since the opening week of the 2018-19 season and up 101% from the show’s average earlier this season. Bleacher Report also had its best site traffic since April and saw a 107% increase over NBA opening night. Social content across handles for the NBA, NBA on TNT and NBA TV also saw video views jump 36% compared to opening night.
   
• Meanwhile, advertisers spent an estimated $6.87 million during TNT’s two games last night, according to iSpot.tv data analyzed by SBJ's David Broughton. Below are the top five spenders last night, as well as the top five brand advertisers from the regular season before games were suspended.
  

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SOURCES: MANFRED THREATENS SHUTDOWN IF ANOTHER OUTBREAK OCCURS

• Late Friday afternoon, ESPN's Jeff Passan cited sources as saying that MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred told MLBPA Exec Dir Tony Clark that "if the sport doesn't do a better job of managing the coronavirus, it could shut down for the season." Should another outbreak materialize, Manfred, who has the power to shut the season down, "could move in that direction."
  
  
• Bleacher Report's Scott Miller reports an MLB internal investigation "found the Marlins were very lapse in following protocols during (their) Atlanta trip last weekend," which included "players going out, players in hotel bar, etc.."
  
  

• This news comes as COVID-19 continues to wreak havoc on MLB's shortened season, writes SBJ's Eric Prisbell.
  
  
• Tonight, 20% of the league's 30 teams will not play because of the postponement of games related to positive tests within the Marlins, Phillies and most recently the Cardinals. Two Cardinals' players have tested positive, which prompted MLB to postpone their game today in Milwaukee. It has been rescheduled as part of a doubleheader Sunday. MLB believes the rescheduling is consistent with protocols to allow enough time for additional testing and contact tracing to be sufficiently conducted.
  
  
• The Cardinals said they learned of the positive tests last night from testing that had been conducted Wednesday prior to their game against the Twins. They have instructed players to self-isolate in their Milwaukee hotel rooms; the team is currently conducting rapid testing of the entire traveling party.
  
  
• While the health of infected players and staff clearly remains the top priority, the reconfiguration of schedules on the fly only accentuates the challenges of playing 60 games in 67 days. MLB intends to make up some lost ground with doubleheaders in the coming weeks, but questions are already arising about potentially compromising the integrity of the season. To that end, the Marlins, who saw an 18th player test positive today and whose return to the field won't be until Tuesday at the very earliest, will enter next week having played three games while many teams will have already played 10. 
  
  
• The Marlins will transport infected players and coaches on multiple sleeper busses from Philadelphia, where they have been in quarantine, to Miami, according to ESPN's Jesse Rogers. The rest of the team is expected to remain in Philadelphia, where it undergoes daily testing. 

PAC-12 GOING WITH 10-GAME, CONFERENCE-ONLY SCHEDULE

• The Pac-12 this afternoon confirmed it will shift to a 10-game conference-only football schedule that starts on Sept. 26, joining the SEC in "pushing back its season by nearly a month because of the coronavirus pandemic," per the AP.
  
  
• Earlier today, university presidents "approved a model that adds an additional cross-divisional game to each team’s slate and pushes the start back three weeks." In the Pac-12, several of its schools, including USC, UCLA and California, are "operating under restrictions set by local authorities to slow the spread of coronavirus that would prevent football teams from practicing."
  
  
• Yahoo Sports' Pete Thamel noted the Pac-12 "plans to start with aggressive scheduling -- with USC vs. UCLA, ASU vs Arizona and Washington vs Stanford planned for Week 1." The conference also will "give schools the option to delay the start of the season by a week." Week 1 opponents "could push back the game to Dec. 12, for example, if playing that week doesn't appear realistic."

BETTMAN CONFIDENT BUBBLE PLAN WILL WORK OUT

• NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman on Friday said he is confident the bubble can keep players safe, because “we went through a variety of phases to get to the point that we could actually start playing.” Bettman, appearing on NBC's "Today," said, “The players are being tested every day in the bubble, as are all the other personnel in the bubble. All tests have been negative and so we are feeling good about the fact that we've got a contained environment.”
  
  
• Bettman noted one of the "reasons that we’re playing in Toronto and in Edmonton in Canada is because of the availability of testing and the fact that the amount of COVID-19 is very limited in those places and frankly, throughout Canada." Bettman noted the league is "paying for our own tests, they’re commercially available and we certainly wouldn’t do anything that puts ourselves and our needs in front of the medical needs of a community.” 
  
  
• The Ringer's Katie Baker noted the Stanley Cup Playoffs get underway tomorrow, beginning an "improvised, isolated, and ambitious" postseason slate. Teams in the markets are suited with "multiple hotels ... numerous permanent and pop-up restaurants; and access to amenities like pools, cornhole, movie theaters, and, in Toronto, a professional soccer and football stadium." 
  
  

MSG NETS LOOKS TO EVOLVE WITH NHL RESTART

• MSG Networks is finalizing preparations for the NHL’s restart tomorrow. With plans to carry at least the first three games of the Rangers and Islanders’ respective series, MSG today unveiled a comprehensive plan for fan-engagement initiatives and increased original programming meant to get fans ready and keep them watching. These include Zoom watch parties integrated into the broadcasts, a free lunch reward program through sponsor Postmates and “Around the NHL,” a new weeknight hockey program.
  
  
• There also is the matter of producing and broadcasting remotely. MSGN Senior VP/Marketing & Content Strategy Kevin Marotta joined SBD’s Andrew Levin to discuss that, and more, on the latest SBJ Unpacks podcast. 
  
  
• “It’s been at times challenging and at times super interesting,” Marotta said. “People are used to having a producer in their ear talking to them and that’s not something that’s happening, so that’s a change that has to be made. We are reliant on set direction remotely … adjusting how things are framed without necessarily being able to grab it ourselves and move it ourselves. And then also the flow of content, uploading and editing content remotely without all the benefits of being in our office.” 

UBS: ISLES' NAMING-RIGHTS DEAL CHANCE TO CAPITALIZE ON N.Y. MARKET

• While the pandemic continues to rock the sports business, especially the sponsorship market, Swiss investment bank UBS thought it was still the right time to lock into its $350 million-plus naming-rights deal with Oak View Group for the Islanders’ new Belmont Park arena. It’s the largest such deal to date for a standalone NHL arena.
  
  
• UBS sees the deal as an opportunity to show its commitment to New York and its North American business. And for OVG, the deal could open the doors to USB’s high-end clients who may want to invest in the company’s future arena and stadium projects in the U.S. and throughout the world.
  
  
• “When OVG said ‘You know, look our business is going and doing these big stadium arrangements and running the stadium,’ it just became clear that if there's more to come, let’s have a look,” UBS Group Chief Marketing Officer Johan Jervoe told SBJ’s Karn Dhingra this week.
  
  
• While the 20-year deal includes many of the typical premium elements for UBS to entertain clients at Belmont, it also includes marketing opportunities to amplify its brand through traditional media channels, social media and any future media distribution platforms. 
  
  
• “It's a multiple year deal that includes all channels, both the ones we know of today and then ones we don't know of today,” Jervoe said. “And when you look at the location, when the planes are up flying again, you will have 55,000 planes flying over that stadium every year. If you look at the top shot of the arena from above, you'll see the branding is extremely prominent, but also, you know it's clearly a premium location and a premium branding.”  

BINGE WATCHING WITH RICH LISK & JENE ELZIE

• With 2020 forcing everyone across the industry to shift their calendars around, SBJ's Kody Timmers is catching up with execs, talent, team personnel and more to see how they are making the most of an unprecedented summer. Below, N.Y. Riptide & GF Sports Exec VP Rich Lisk and Athletes First Partners Chief Growth Officer Jene Elzie dish on what they're reading and binge watching. 
• Rich Lisk:
  
  
  • Reading: "Atomic Habits" by James Clear.
  • Binge watching: Netflix' "Outer Banks" (with my younger son), HBO's "Run" (with my daughter) and "The Newsroom."
    
    
• Jene Elzie:
  
  
  • Reading: "Red at the Bone" by Jacqueline Woodson and "The Hate U Give" by Angie Thomas.
  • Binge watching: "Watchmen," "Normal People" and "Cheer." 

Lisk has been taking in "Outer Banks" with his son; while Elzie is binging "Watchmen" on HBO

OUTSIDE CONTRIBUTORS: LASTING IMPACT

• Tonight's op-ed contribution is from L.A.-based consulting firm Rebel Ventures Founder & CEO Craig Howe, who writes under the header, "Transformational Trends In The Sports Business."
  
  
• "Watching games unfold on the court, pitch, field, octagon, etc., across our many different screens may look somewhat the same, albeit minus the passionate crowd energy. However, in the front offices of sports organizations across the globe, the lasting impact and changes created by COVID-19 will be felt for years to come."
  
  
• To read the full contribution, click here.

WORKING FROM HOME WITH THESCORE’S AUBREY LEVY

• TheScore VP/Marketing & Content Aubrey Levy and his wife have been splitting time between the Catskills and their N.Y. apartment the past few months, and Levy says he’s remained busier than he originally thought he would overseeing the Toronto-based media and betting company, without live sports. Levy: “Our guys spun up a ton of new formats -- long form reads, interactive content, polls, quizzes, contesting. … Social content continued to perform fairly well during this period, driving engagement from our social feeds back towards our app. And as a result, fortunately, we were able to keep just shy of 75% of our app user base around.”
  
  
• Levy spends most of his days video conferencing on Zoom or Google Hangouts. “We have a couple different moving pieces and all of them have to be so heavily integrated between content and product and analytics and marketing and comms,” he said. “There are elements where you're off doing your own thing, but by and large, you need to move in lockstep with other teams.” Levy: “There’s a pretty heavy level of communication.”
  
  
• The return of the NBA and NHL is certainly welcomed news for theScore, which is focused on having a successful finish to 2020 by rolling out a new betting app -- currently only available in New Jersey -- in Indiana and Colorado. With a big focus on betting, Levy is certainly watching how each sport continues to combat the coronavirus. “Each league is going to have their own set of circumstances they have to deal with,” he noted. “I'm pretty optimistic that most of the major leagues are going to go and hopefully figure out a path through.”
  
  
• When Levy isn’t huddled up in his living room workspace, he likes to get outside for a run or quick workout before his day starts. “There’s a bonanza of Netflix going on,” he said of his content consumption. And Levy has even ventured for a U.S. history lesson via the HBO series “John Adams,” partly inspired by his wife’s reading habits. “My wife is reading the biography of Eliza Hamilton (and) like everybody we watched ‘Hamilton’ when it came on Disney+,” Levy said.

Levy and his wife have been splitting time between the Catskills and their N.Y. apartment the past few months

SPEED READS

• NBA action resumed Thursday night in Orlando, and there was no shortage of sponsorship activation, per SportsAtlas' Will Cavanaugh. With the Pelicans and Lakers acting as the home teams, each was able to provide marquee partners with significant exposure via virtual signage throughout the games. The Pelicans’ venue naming rights partner, Smoothie King, was featured most noticeably via on-court signage, while the team’s practice facility sponsor, Ochsner Health, also appeared in front of both teams’ benches. The most noticeable absence during the Clippers-Lakers game was prominent signage featuring Staples, which serves as the naming rights partner for the teams’ shared facility. The Lakers’ two primary activations were occupied by practice facility sponsor UCLA Health (on-court) and jersey sponsor Wish (bench area).
  
  
• When the NHL returns to play tomorrow, the league and its players will be actively and openly supporting social justice initiatives, health professionals and other essential workers during the pandemic, writes SBJ’s Mark J. Burns. Players will be sporting #WeSkateFor decals on their helmets to support Black Lives Matter and other social movements. Additionally, prior to both tomorrow’s Oilers-Blackhawks game as well as Penguins-Canadiens game, 24 healthcare professionals and others will be honored for their courage via a virtual ceremony. 

• CFRA research analyst Tuna Amobi on CNBC today noted the absence of live sports during much of the pandemic lockdown “accelerated cord cutting in the paid TV ecosystem,” but the “return of sports will likely have the opposite effect.” Amobi: “In other words, more and more people are likely to subscribe to pay TV when you have the NBA back and all of the other leagues.” Amobi added that as a result, there could be some “deceleration in the growth of streaming services.”
  
  

• From the beginning of the NBA bubble on July 7 through July 28, the league, teams and players generated $63 million for 53 brand partners, which include all the jersey sponsors, many top league sponsors, and a handful of athlete sponsors, according to data provided to SBJ's David Broughton by Hookit. Approximately $22 million of that value was generated for Nike and $40 million (64%) of the total value was generated on Instagram. Meanwhile, the NWSL, teams and its players athletes generated over $1.8 million for the 20 corporate partners over the Challenge Cup. Secret ($670k) and Nike ($640k) accounted for 70% of that total value.

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:
   
  
  • NBA TV Broadcasts Off To Solid Start, But Some Tweaks Needed
  • SEC Opts For Late September CFB Start, Adopts Conference-Only Slate
  • MLB, Union To Shift Doubleheaders To Two Seven-Inning Games
  • Cautious Optimism For LPGA's Return After First Positive Test

SBJ UNPACKS -- THE ROAD AHEAD

• Check out the most recent editions of our "SBJ Unpacks" podcasts around COVID-19:
  
  
  • MSG Networks’ Kevin Marotta on the net’s new fan-engagement initiatives.
    
    
  • Snap's Anmol Malhotra on how the sports industry can create more effective content catered to young people.
    
    
  • Epidemiologist Dr. Zach Binney on the fallout from the Marlins' positive COVID-19 tests.
    
    
    
    

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.

As we ready for tonight’s eagerly anticipated resumption of the NBA, live from the sanitized seclusion of the Disney bubble in Orlando, in comes news from the cradle of college football, where the SEC has announced its intention to begin a 10-game conference-only schedule at the end of September.

It feels a bit like buying time. Which is not a bad thing, considering what we’ve learned about the havoc wreaked by an outbreak, even one contained to a single soccer side or baseball club.

So far, it appears to be better to bubble than not to bubble, though, to be fair, the math and the calendars of baseball and football aren’t at all like those of basketball and hockey.

One of the nice things about these games is that while they initially will draw attention to the unsightly furniture -- be they empty seats or cardboard cutouts or phony sights and sounds -- we eventually forget about all that and turn our attention to things familiar, like bases loaded in a tie game, or a last-second shot.

However it may look, sound or feel, tonight counts.

-- Bill King

NFL ADDS SUBWAY TO ROSTER OF SPONSORS

• Subway has signed what it is calling a long-term deal as the NFL’s new quick-service restaurant sponsor, reports SBJ’s Terry Lefton, filling the void in the category left by the exit of McDonald’s after the 2018 season. Activation plans include in-store promotions, and advertising with NFL on-air talent. Subway will underwrite NFL youth platforms, including Play 60 and flag football. Momentum Worldwide, N.Y., negotiated the deal for Subway and will handle activation. The agency would not comment.
  
  
• Subway receives exclusivity in the QSR and fast-casual restaurant categories. Pizza Hut retains its rights in the pizza category. While Subway was the presenting sponsor of NFL games in London for the past three seasons, this deal does not include overseas NFL rights. One potential conflict is that Subway pours Coca-Cola, while Pepsi has held NFL sponsorship rights since 2002. However, Subway does sell snacks from PepsiCo’s Frito-Lay brand.
  
  
• Subway has dozens of local sports sponsorships, primarily college, largely driven by franchise owners. But it does have NFL team deals with the Ravens and Chargers, according to SportsAtlas. However, the NFL league sponsorship is the chain’s first large rights deal in years, as its national marketing had become increasingly product- and price-focused following the 2015 Jared Fogle scandal. However, Subway continued as a heavy ad buyer of NFL and other sports media. In March, it debuted a TV spot with J.J. Watt and his brothers T.J. and Derek.
  
  
• Subway CMO Carrie Walsh, who joined the company last October, has years of experience with sports-marketing heavy brands, including Pizza Hut, Pepsi, and Frito-Lay. Subway hopes the NFL will be a lifeline, as the chain itself was already declining before the pandemic. According to Nation’s Restaurant News, Subway’s U.S, sales were $10.2 billion last year, down from a high of $12.5 billion in 2013. Another trade estimate pegged the number of U.S Subway locations declining from 27,000 in 2015 to 23,800 last year.

Subway activation plans include in-store promotions, and advertising with NFL on-air talent

SEC ADOPTS CONFERENCE-ONLY FOOTBALL SCHEDULE

• The SEC is moving to a 10-game football conference schedule after university presidents and chancellors met virtually earlier today, per the Birmingham News' John Talty. The move, which comes one day after the ACC moved to a 10 conference game and 1 non-conference game schedule, "eliminates marquee non-conference games like LSU-Texas, Oklahoma-Tennessee and Auburn-North Carolina." 
  
  
• SI's Ross Dellenger reports the SEC "will kick off the season Sept. 26, three weeks later than the scheduled Labor Day weekend start." While the SEC’s divisional structure is "expected to remain the same -- winners of two seven-team divisions playing in a Dec. 19 championship game -- league teams will play two more opponents from their opposite division."
   
• Dellenger cautioned the SEC’s decision "doesn’t mean a season is imminent." Virus case numbers, "on the rise over the last month nationally, are still high, with many hotspots in the SEC’s 11-state footprint." The "hurdles to playing a season amidst a pandemic are a plenty: testing availability and delays in testing turnaround time; the return of thousands of students onto a college campus; a mandatory 14-day quarantine for positive contacts; and maybe most of all, the lack of a college sports bubble like the NBA has created."
  
  
• The SEC now joins the Big Ten and Pac-12 by going to conference-only schedules, with the Big 12 expected to do the same.
  
  
• Look for more analysis on the SEC's move from Michael Smith in tonight's SBJ College newsletter.

SAFETY FIRST WITHIN NBA BUBBLE

• The spotlight shines on the NBA’s ambitious restart tonight with the league and the players union going to great lengths to protect and provide health care inside the Disney bubble. Dr. Benedict Nwachukwu, an orthopedic sports medicine surgeon in N.Y. who has previously worked with the Bulls and the NBPA, has been selected to be part of the league’s physician team. He arrived in Orlando today to begin his month-long assignment inside the bubble, and spoke to SBJ’s John Lombardo on his role and responsibilities.
  
  
  • On how he was chosen to work at Disney: "Through my involvement with the league, I understood the processes and that they were actively vetting and interviewing physicians. Given my experience with the Bulls and the players association, they felt it was a good fit. There are more than 15 doctors and people are going to Disney at different times. I’ll be down there for the month of August during the highest density of games. Part of it is that it’s a great opportunity, but I appreciate the opportunity to provide service.  There is a stipend associated with the assignment. I will also be trying to keep my practice going virtually. I’ll have tele-medical visits throughout the month of August."
    
    
  • On his specific duties: "The NBA has a cadre of sports medicine physicians and they have a suite of physicians in other specialties. I’ll be providing orthopedic coverage. I will be covering all the teams down there. We are working as a unit. Assuming everyone is negative, you still maintain social distancing and wear a mask. If someone tests positive and still needs orthopedic care, we will still provide it wearing barrier protections."
    
    
  • On his level of concern for injuries given that players haven’t played a NBA game since mid-March: "The guys are aware of the risk of a return to sports but teams and trainers are attuned to ramping things up safely and increasing minutes appropriately. That is what this ramp up period in the bubble is all about. It is one of the things that we as physicians are attuned to and we know that recovery after a game is critical and making sure that the players are conditioned up to the point of game performance fitness.  These guys are elite athletes and it is part of their preparation and their mindset. I do think they will ramp up appropriately without seeing a rash in injuries, but we always prepare for the worst.” 
    
    
  • His concerns for contracting the virus: "I am appropriately cautious but I am not overly concerned about it. I have tested negative and I will be tested every day that I am down there. I think the NBA should be commended when you compare them to other leagues as far as safety measures. A lot of thought has been put into this. The players are also aware of it. I’ve been impressed by the safety measures." 

NBA READY FOR MOVING PARTS ON SIDELINES

• The sidelines will look a bit different when the NBA restarts tonight as the league changes its policies for health and safety reasons, including a wider border around the sidelines and a revised setup for team benches, writes SBJ's John Lombardo.
  
  
• According to the league, team benches will consist of multiple rows of seats (with appropriate distance between each) and are divided into three sections: players; coaches and team staff; and unassigned seats.
  
  
  • The 17-seat players section is divided into three rows, with each player assigned a seat by his team.
    
    
  • The 12-seat coaches and team staff section, slightly separated from the players section, is divided into three rows of four seats, with each person assigned a seat. 
    
    
  • The unassigned seats section is located near the baseline and reserved only for temporary use to enable player-to-player, coach-to-player or trainer/physician-to-player communication during the game. The unassigned seats are promptly cleaned and disinfected after each use.  
    
    
• During timeouts, players and coaches can huddle like normal “except they must sit in or congregate around movable chairs separate and apart from the team benches." The movable chairs used during timeouts or period breaks are "cleaned and disinfected after each use."     
  
  
• The court’s sideline border is also wider to help with court visibility and to adjust for not having courtside fans. To help define the boundaries, the border around the court has been widened to 8 inches from 2 inches. Other changes include a provision that prohibits photographers and camera operators from their typical baseline areas on the floor. Instead they must shoot away from the floor. The scorer’s table will be surrounded by plexiglass.
  
   

Team benches are divided into three sections: players; coaches and team staff; and unassigned seats

YAHOO SPORTS PARTNERS WITH NBA IN NEW BETTING-CENTRIC DEAL

• Yahoo Sports will add sports betting and fantasy overlays and integrations to its distribution of the NBA’s out-of-market streaming service as part of a deal announced today that makes it an official marketing partner of the league, writes SBJ's Bill King. The new-look streaming content is designed to appeal to NBA League Pass viewers who also bet on sports or play in fantasy contests, giving Yahoo Sports the opportunity to drive them to its BetMGM-powered sportsbook referral site and its daily fantasy contests.
  
  
• Though not quite “watch-and-bet,” which allows sportsbooks to stream games on their own betting sites, this gets the league and its official sports betting sponsor, BetMGM, one step closer to it. Watch-and-bet is popular in Europe but has seen resistance from U.S. broadcast rightsholders who worry that it will cannibalize the streaming audience. Thus far only NHL has offered it to U.S. sportsbooks.
  
  
• For the full story, 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 NBA headlines:
   
  
  • NBA Finally Set For Tip From Orlando In Season Unlike Any Other
  • Mavericks Forcefully Rebut SI's Latest Story On Alleged Misconduct
  • Report Details Alleged Abuse At NBA Academies In China
  • Heat Exec Woolworth Bullish On Prospect Of Fans Next Season
  • New T'Wolves Owner Would Face Penalty For Leaving Target Center

NFL PROMISES "RADICAL TRANSPARENCY" ON COVID TESTING, EVENTUALLY

• NFL Chief Medical Officer Dr. Allen Sills promised “radical transparency” about the league’s COVID-19 testing procedures and results, but declined Thursday to release current stats because they’re still figuring out which positive results actually constitute new cases.
  
  
• “We’ve been trying to divide those into people who are truly newly-infected versus those who have been infected in the past,” Sills said. Through Thursday, 65 players were on COVID injured lists, but those can include suspected cases and positive results, writes SBJ's Ben Fischer. NFL teams are conducting tens of thousands of tests this week as players report for camp.
  
  
• Sills said the promise to share testing results extends to public health officials and the media. When asked if the NFL would follow the NBA’s lead in opening community testing, Sills demurred, but said the NFL will help by sharing information. “We're going to have an enormous amount of very important and instructive medical data in a very short period of time, and we think it's important that we share that for the benefit of everyone,” Sills said.

DIGITAL EXPERT DISHES ON TRENDS IN COLLEGE SPACE

• The past five months have illustrated just how important a robust digital staff in the college ranks can be, writes SBJ's Michael Smith. COVID-19 took away games across the board last spring. Now the pandemic threatens the football season, yet the content continues to flow out of athletic departments and team accounts.
  
  
• Smith caught up this week with Jason Matheson, founder of SkullSparks, a collegiate-focused digital/social shop, and asked him to identify trends he’s seeing in the college digital space.
  
  
• One is that schools are embracing the branding of the individual athletes much more than ever before, a by-product of the name, image and likeness movement. “They really are putting resources behind their personal brands,” Matheson said. “You saw schools like Texas and Oklahoma on signing day build logos into their graphics that were specific to the signees. We’re going to see more of that. … It’s part of the power shift in college athletics to the athletes.”
  
  
• For more from Matheson, see tonight's issue of SBJ College and Monday's print edition of SBJ.

PENGUINS TOP NHL FACEBOOK VIDEO VIEWS DURING SHUTDOWN

• The Predators posted an average of more than three videos per day on the club’s Facebook page since the NHL shut down on March 12, the most in the league, according to data from Tubular Labs analyzed by SBJ's David Broughton. The Hurricanes, Wild, Senators and Flyers were on the other end of the spectrum, posting an average of one every other day.
  
  
• When it came to actual video views, the Penguins (17.6 million) topped the list, while the Panthers, Coyotes and Senators were the only clubs to draw less than 1 million views over the 20-week period. The league’s Original Six clubs all finished in the top 10 among overall views, although the Red Wings did not make the playoffs.
  
  
• The most-watched video of the COVID-19 era was the Preds’ “Do your part. Stay apart” (899,000 views), a PSA by the Tennessee Department of Health which featured former Pred Mike Fisher and Carrie Underwood.

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SUMMER PLANNING WITH CHAMP KELLY & CHRISTINE FRANKLIN

• With 2020 forcing everyone across the industry to shift their calendars around, SBJ's Kody Timmers is catching up with execs, talent, team personnel and more to see how they are making the most of an unprecedented summer. Below, Bears Assistant Director of Player Personnel Champ Kelly and Octagon Exec VP/Marketing Christine Franklin dish on how they've been spending their free time and what future vacation they'd most like to take.
• Bears' Champ Kelly:
  
  
  • Working on: "My wife and I started a nonprofit called Heart Power where we typically host youth football camps in the summer. However, due to COVID-19 precautions, we cannot physically meet with our campers. We are working to host a virtual camp with speakers that would serve to invest in our campers from multiple states. Heart Power also recently hosted a Black Lives Matters Cookout & Movement Discussion on June 28 in my hometown of Campbellton, Fla."
  • Future vacations: "I’m biased: I’m from North Florida and believe the Gulf beaches are some of the best in the world. We love Mexico Beach. It is small and serene. It is known as the forgotten coast. It was hit extremely hard by Hurricane Michael, but I love the resiliency and love of the people. It is family friendly and a great spot for our crew."
    
    
• Octagon's Christine Franklin:
  
  
  • Working on: "Home improvement has a new meaning these days. My projects have been centered around people and my family. Embracing life as it is right now with my three children, husband, dog, parents, colleagues, clients and friends. ... Early on in the quarantine we started taking family hikes exploring the many local trails. Exercise and nature have been great remedies for all that we are confronting on a daily basis.”
  • Future vacations: "We enjoyed a fun-filled long weekend skiing at Mont-Tremblant (in Quebec) last winter with several friends from our town. The village, the skiing, the food and the people made the trip unforgettable. We just have to pack more glove warmers next time.”

Kelly's nonprofit hosting a Black Lives Matters cookout in Florida; Franklin and her family exploring some local trails

SPEED READS

• The Cowboys and Buccaneers became the latest NFL teams to eliminate season tickets for the 2020 season in light of the pandemic, a further sign of pessimism growing around the potential for fans inside NFL stadiums, writes SBJ's Ben Fischer. Eight teams have now done away with season tickets altogether, asking those customers instead to opt in to possible single-game sales if allowed. The Cowboys and most other clubs have asked those fans if they want to opt in to those one-off sales or sit out entirely until 2021. The Bucs, however, automatically are rolling over accounts to ’21 and giving those fans access to single-game seats this year. If fans want refunds, they have to opt out by Aug. 9 and won’t have access to this year’s games.
  
  

Download the NFL Team Ticket Refund Policies

• The three-game Blue Jays-Phillies series scheduled to begin with a doubleheader Saturday "will not occur" after a Phillies coach and clubhouse attendant tested positive for the coronavirus. The Phillies "have been off all week," as they had their four-game home-and-home series with the Yankees postponed. The Phillies had been having "scattered workouts at Citizens Bank Park this week" after hosting the Marlins on opening weekend, per NBC Sports Philadelphia. All activity at Citizens Bank Park is canceled until further notice.

• The PGA Tour is "reporting no positive COVID cases among players or caddies" at this week's WGC event in Memphis and opposite field event near Lake Tahoe. ESPN's Bob Harig notes that is "approximately 425 players and caddies combined." Through 8 weeks, there have been 10 reported positive cases (7 players 3 caddies) on tour.
  
  
• The NHL, NHLPA, Hockey Canada and Bauer Hockey are partnering to launch the Hockey Equipment Relief Program, an initiative that’ll include $2 million worth of hockey gear being donated to help families and kids financially impacted by COVID-19. The country’s seven NHL teams along with Hockey Canada and provincial governing bodies will carry out the new equipment program, writes SBJ’s Mark J. Burns. 

SBJ UNPACKS -- THE ROAD AHEAD

• Check out the most recent editions of our "SBJ Unpacks" podcasts around COVID-19:
  
  
  • Snap's Anmol Malhotra on how the sports industry can create more effective content catered to young people.
    
    
  • Epidemiologist Dr. Zach Binney on the fallout from the Marlins' positive COVID-19 tests.
    
    
  • John Ourand and Bill King on the broadcasting plans being utilized during MLB’s return.
    
    
    
    

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.

The 22 NBA teams at Disney are off today as the league gets set for its restart tomorrow night in a bubble environment that is proving effective. The league and the players union reported this afternoon that zero of the 344 players at Disney tested positive for the virus.

Those results could give MLB and the NFL second thoughts about playing without some type of bubble protection. Doubts are increasing about baseball being able to play its full 60-game regular season due to the Marlins' virus outbreak, while the number of NFL players opting out of the coming season is likely to grow. 

-- John Lombardo

QUESTIONS SURROUND MLB'S HANDLING OF MARLINS OUTBREAK

• As MLB investigates the source of contagion that led to at least 18 members of the Marlins testing positive in recent days, leading epidemiologist Dr. Zach Binney of Oxford College at Emory University told SBJ's Eric Prisbell that the most alarming scenario is if all Marlins' players and staff did in fact follow proper protocols.
  
  
• If MLB and the Marlins can't find an obvious reason why the virus transmitted through the traveling party, Binney said, then perhaps "we have too much virus here in the U.S. for a plan like Major League Baseball's to withstand the sheer assault that they are going to get from just interacting with the community and the virus' ability to infiltrate the league." Binney: "It would suggest that Major League Baseball's protocols are insufficient in some way or another. You would like to identify something that happened."
  
  
• While MLB's operations manual is very specific about testing protocols and player behavior, it lacks specificity about how to handle an outbreak. Binney said he understands a league's resistance to draw a "specific red line" ahead of time about what circumstances would warrant suspending play of a team of league. But he added that it was concerning to see MLB "struggle for a couple days" as it grappled on the fly with the ramifications of the issue, saying that in retrospect it was an "enormous, reckless mistake" for the Marlins to play against the Phillies on Sunday after a handful of the Marlins tested positive.
  
  
• As recently as last week, several executives told SBJ that they were cautiously optimistic that smaller gatherings of fans would be permitted to attend baseball games in some markets at some point during this 60-game season. The only responsible choice, Binney said, is "no fans, not unless our situation ends up improving to the point of Taiwan or New Zealand." Binney: "There is just too much virus. When we are struggling to open schools, why are we talking about fans in the stands of sporting events?"
  
  
• For more from Dr. Binney, check out the latest episode of the SBJ Unpacks podcast.

ACC GOES WITH MODIFIED FOOTBALL SCHEDULE

• After meeting today, the ACC announced its "intent to play football this fall, with a modified schedule that includes 10 conference games and one out-of-conference," per the Richmond Times-Dispatch. ACC Commissioner John Swofford in a statement said the decision "presents a path, if public health guidance allows, to move forward with competition." He added that member institutions are "committed to taking the necessary measures to facilitate the return in a safe and responsible manner."
  
  
• The season’s first games will take place the week of Sept. 7-12. All non-conference game opponents, "selected by the respective school, must be played in the home state of the ACC institution, and all non-conference opponents must meet the medical protocol requirements as agreed upon by the ACC." 
  
  
• Notre Dame will also play a 10-game conference schedule and be eligible to compete in the conference championship game. All television revenue for the 2020 season, including Notre Dame’s home games broadcast by NBC, "will be shared equally by all 15 institutions." 
  
  
• SBJ's Austin Karp notes an appearance by Notre Dame in the conference championship "would obviously be a TV boon for the game, which was the least-viewed of Power 5 title games in 2019." The ACC title game has "drawn over 10 million viewers only once since starting in 2005." Meanwhile, the SEC Championship has drawn over 10 million viewers every year since 2007.

USGA MAKES IT OFFICIAL: NO FANS AT U.S. OPEN

• It comes as no surprise, but the USGA made it official today in announcing that the U.S. Open -- set for Sept. 14-20 at Winged Foot in N.Y. -- will be played with no fans in attendance, writes SBJ's John Lombardo.
  
  
• Fans who bought tickets will be given full refunds. The move comes after the USGA on March 1 announced a major rebranding campaign called “From Many, One” to increase fan engagement around its signature event. The campaign was centered around celebrating the nearly 10,000 golfers who attempt to qualify for the major in a typical year. All qualifiers have since been canceled due to the pandemic. The decision to hold the event with no spectators or hospitality also will hurt the USGA’s bottom line given that the U.S. Open accounts for 75% of its revenue. 
  
  
• No doubt that USGA officials and executives at NBC, which this year takes over broadcast rights from Fox, will be paying close attention to next week’s PGA Championship in San Francisco that also will be played with no fans on-site. 
  
  
• USGA Chief Brand Officer Craig Annis acknowledged that while the organization "can’t replicate the on-site experience," it will do its best to "bring the championship to life" for fans through its partnership with NBCUniversal and other digital platforms. 

NBA EXTENDS COMMUNITY TESTING PROGRAM IN ORLANDO

• One day ahead of the league's restart, the NBA announced it will continue to help provide free COVID-19 testing in the Orlando area through the end of August. 
  
  
• The league in a statement said it "collaborated with UnidosUS and the National Urban League as well as several private laboratories to identify communities most in need and provide access to no-cost testing programs in addition to communicating public health information to community members."
  
  
• The NBA is also working with The Fight Is In Us, a nationwide coalition of health officials and other partners, to encourage COVID-19 survivors to donate plasma for virus research and treatments and to share the latest health and safety information and resources regarding the pandemic.
  
  

LAKERS TOP NBA FACEBOOK VIDEO VIEWS DURING SHUTDOWN

• The Rockets and Warriors posted an average of nearly four videos per day on their respective Facebook pages since the NBA season shut down on March 12, leading all teams, according to data from Tubular Labs analyzed by SBJ's David Broughton. The T'Wolves, on the other hand, posted an average of every eight days, the fewest of the clubs.
  
  
• When it came to actual video views, the Lakers (185 million) topped the list, while the T'Wolves and Hornets were the only clubs to draw less than 2 million video views. Additionally, the Warriors (110 million) and Bulls (52.6 million) were each left out of the league’s restart, but ranked No. 2 and No. 4, respectively, among most video-viewers.

Download the nba

WORLD SURF LEAGUE CEO BULLISH ON SAFE RETURN

• The World Surf League will make its return for a one-day event on Aug. 9, reports SBJ’s Chris Smith. The spectator-less Michelob Ultra Pure Gold Rumble at the Ranch will feature a tournament bracket of eight mixed-doubles teams, including Kelly Slater, Carissa Moore, Caroline Marks and Kolohe Andino. Prize money will be awarded to the charity of the winning team’s choice. 
  
  
• The event is the first stop on the WSL Countdown, a new series of regional exhibition events modeled loosely on the bubble concept being used in other pro leagues. “We actually believe we’re one of the safest sports,” said WSL CEO Erik Logan. “If we can get (surfers) tested and into a location, we think it’s fairly safe to run.” Athletes and staffers will be tested before being quarantined in a local hotel, from which they’ll be directly transported to the event area. On-site safety protocols include mandatory masks and distancing. 
  
  
• Next month’s contest will take place at WSL’s Surf Ranch, an artificial wave pool in Lemoore, Calif. Logan says the venue not only offers plenty of space, but that the environmental control allowed WSL to work with broadcast partner Fox to nail down exact timing of the event to best fit in Fox’ broadcast plans. “You can’t do that if you’re surfing at an ocean location because we have to wait for the waves,” said Logan. “With the Surf Ranch, we just hit a button.”   

NFL TEAMS READY TO PLAY OFFENSE AGAINST PANDEMIC

• One day after Giants President & CEO John Mara said he believes the NFL is "positioned to manage" positive coronavirus tests, more team leaders began to express confidence in a 2020 season. Broncos President Joe Ellis told the Colorado Springs Gazette, "We're not in a bubble, but we're going to have to behave and act like we are." Broncos President of Football Operations & GM John Elway: "We can't sit here and bitch about it. We've got to realize it's part of it, and we've got to deal with it and stay with our nose to the grindstone."
  
  
• Raiders Owner Mark Davis spoke on how his late father Al Davis would have viewed the current situation. "The virus would be something that would concern him. He felt he could dominate anything except maybe life and death. I do know he would have been calling every doctor in the country and person trying to come up with an answer for it, that's for sure."
  
  
• Meanwhile, the Texans and Lions both unveiled facility changes to minimize the pandemic threat. The Texans' NRG Stadium now has "facial recognition systems to automatically open doors without touching them, hand sanitizer at every table, socially distanced chairs for team meetings inside their practice bubble and limited seating in the team auditorium," per the Houston Chronicle. The Lions have installed glass barriers in between each locker at the team’s Allen Park training facility, among other pandemic-related innovations. 

The Lions today unveiled new barriers in the locker room to adhere to safety protocols

OUTSIDE CONTRIBUTORS: CHARITABLE GIVING

• Tonight's op-ed contribution is from Harrie Bakst, a founding partner of WCPG, a N.Y.-based agency focusing on cause and social impact. He writes under the header, "How Can We Replace Over $300 Million For Charity?"
• "Often overlooked by the loss of revenue teams and leagues are incurring, charitable organizations are missing out on fundraising dollars that are tied to these events to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars. Additionally, despite the major professional leagues getting the overwhelming majority of the media’s attention, most of these lost donations come from mass-participatory sporting events such as runs, walks and rides. ... And with the potential for no vaccine ready until summer of 2021, and a growing fear of a second surge of cases in the fall, events that are planned in the first and second quarters of 2021 such as Cycle for Survival and the Boston Marathon (April) present more questions than answers at this point."
• To read the full contribution, click here.

SPEED READS

• NBC Sports Boston's Tom Curran delved into the fallout of three longtime Patriots starters opting out of the 2020 NFL season on Peter King's latest podcast. Curran said of Patrick Chung, Dont'a Hightower and Marcus Cannon, "Each of these guys, when we ask what’s the common denominator, they’re over 30 years old. They’ve all made more than $30-45 million plus in their careers. They all have three Super Bowl rings. What do they have left to conquer? … You come to a point where you’re like, ‘I’ve won Super Bowls. I’ve made money. I’m in my thirties. Do I want to deal with this in 2020 to have a rebuilding season and go 7-9? 8-8?’ … That to me is what we’re looking at."
  
  
• Virginia Tech CB Caleb Farley, a projected first-round pick in next year's NFL Draft, is the latest college player to "opt out of the coming season," a source told ESPN's Adam Schefter.
  
  
• Turner Sports has "sold out of commercial time" for the remainder of the NBA season, which restarts tomorrow in Orlando, according to Ad Age's Jeanine Poggi. Turner Sports CRO Jon Diament said that while the playoffs, which begin Aug. 17, are not yet sold out, "most regular season advertisers do end up buying commercial time in the playoffs, so he is confident that will also move quickly." Diament said that nearly 100% of the advertisers who had previously made commitments for NBA inventory before COVID-19 shut down the season "kept their money in place." SBJ's John Ourand earlier today gave his insights on what this quick sale really means for Turner and other sports networks.
  
  

• The National Women’s Hockey League will begin its sixth season in January 2021, writes SBJ’s Mark J. Burns, after this most recent year’s Isobel Cup Final had to be canceled due to COVID-19. Each team is slated to play 20 regular season games next season before a champion is crowned sometime before the end of March. The six-team league, which now counts Toronto Six as an expansion club, said it’s aiming to hold its All-Star Game after the playoffs conclude.
  
  
• Citing “unprecedented times," Nike confirmed that it will close its facility in Goodyear, Ariz., which was "supposed to create more than 500 jobs," per the Phoenix Business Journal. The Goodyear plant was "supposed to begin operations this year, but a Goodyear spokesperson confirmed the company had not moved in, with tenant improvements still underway."
  
  
• As lockdown measures continue to be implemented worldwide, revised predictions to the global esports economy in 2020 are forecasted to increase only 1.7% from 2019, according to data from Newzoo analyzed by SportsAtlas’ Michael Cupello. The projected 2020 bottom line becomes more and more negatively impacted as esports events continue to be postponed and cancelled, and many leagues and tournaments are switching to an online format. See more in today's SBJ Esports newsletter.

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:
   
  
  • MLB's Schedule Seemingly Stretched To Limits After Marlins Outbreak
  • Marlins Move To Daily COVID-19 Testing After Outbreak Halts Season
  • NBPA's Roberts: Bubble Might Be Needed For '20-21 NBA Season
  • CFL Could See Quarantine Rules Similar To What NHL Utilizes

SBJ UNPACKS -- THE ROAD AHEAD

• Check out the most recent editions of our "SBJ Unpacks" podcasts around COVID-19:
  
  
  • Epidemiologist Dr. Zach Binney on the fallout from the Marlins' positive COVID-19 tests.
    
    
  • John Ourand and Bill King on the broadcasting plans being utilized during MLB’s return.
    
    
  • ESPN's Amy Rosenfeld and Mike Foss on the net's MLS production inside the Orlando bubble.
    
    
    
    

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.

The sports world continues to witness in real time the extent of the challenges involved in playing a season outside of a bubble environment.

Today brought the significant, yet not unexpected, move by Major League Baseball to temporarily suspend the Marlins' season through Sunday after at least 17 members of the organization tested positive for COVID-19 in recent days. The Phillies' series with the Yankees has also been postponed.

MLB had first explored playing a shortened season in bubble environments in Arizona, Texas and Florida. Once a large number of players balked at the possibility of being in quarantine for a long period of time away from family, the league moved to playing in all 30 home markets.

Now the precarious nature of that model is on full display.

-- Eric Prisbell

MARA CONFIDENT NFL WILL HANDLE PANDEMIC HURDLES

• Giants President & CEO John Mara told SBJ’s Ben Fischer that the Marlins’ outbreak is “obviously something we’re paying attention to.” But he defended the NFL’s plan to minimize the pandemic’s effect on teams and players, and said it’s prepared to adjust based on new information as camps open and the facts emerge.
  
  
• Asked if MLB’s struggles just four days into the season is proof that COVID-19 trouble is inevitable, Mara said: “I’m sure the perception is out there among some people, but we have had a whole second round of CBA-like negotiations with the players, with the joint medical committee, and those took a long time. ... We came up with these protocols, and we believe they’re going to work and protect players and staff.”
  
  
• Mara continued: “We think there will be some positive tests, because that’s what we’ve been told, but I think we’re positioned to manage it well.”

NFL SEES FIRST WAVE OF PLAYER OPT-OUTS

• The rash of player opt-outs reported today -- in particular six Patriots (and three longtime starters in Patrick Chung, Dont'a Hightower and Marcus Cannon) -- spooked some other team executives around the NFL who have expected few or none on their own roster, SBJ’s Ben Fischer reports. “It’s really strange,” one said. “We haven’t had any so far. So maybe it is an outlier.”
  
  
• Another exec also used the word “strange,” adding: “I don’t think we’re anticipating any, and certainly not a high number.” Of course, the NFL and NFLPA bothered to negotiate terms of opt-outs fully expecting some players to take advantage, but few if any thought there would be a critical mass.
  
  
• If that expectation was wrong, or if the first wave of opt-outs spurs others at scale, then teams will have to scramble -- both for the roster and for the marketing side if more stars follow through. NFL Network reported this afternoon that “dozens” of players have informed teams they will opt out, but the actual legal document encompassing the union agreement hasn’t been finalized yet.

Patriots defensive starters Patrick Chung (23) and Dont'a Hightower (54) both opted out of the NFL season today

WHAT'S NEXT FOR MLB AFTER MARLINS OUTBREAK?

• MLB's 100-plus page operations manual is exhaustive in its health and safety protocols related to testing, ballpark behavior and how to handle an individual who tests positive, writes SBJ's Eric Prisbell. What's less clear? How to handle a significant outbreak within an organization.
  
  
• MLB is now grappling with the challenges an outbreak presents in full view of the sports world, making the dramatic move today to temporarily suspend the Marlins' season through Sunday in the wake of at least 17 positive cases. Throughout the drafting of the manual, baseball officials stressed that the document was fluid and the need to be nimble was paramount as circumstances warrant. That is being tested now.
  
  
• MLB also decided, out of an abundance of caution, to postpone the remainder of the Phillies' series with the Yankees, who were scheduled to play the next three nights. The Phillies, who finished a three-game series with the Marlins on Sunday, have not had a player test positive afterwards. But epidemiologists caution that the incubation period for COVID can be two to five days, so early testing of Phillies' players this week may not be a conclusive indication of contagion.
  
  
• In its announcement to pause the Marlins' season, MLB also defended its health and safety protocols, saying that its response was triggered immediately upon learning of the spate of positive cases. That response included contact tracing, quarantining and testing of all close contacts. Marlins' personnel who tested positive remain in isolation and are receiving care. MLB also said that more than 6,400 tests conducted since July 24 produced no new positive cases among on-field personnel from any of the other 29 teams. 
  
  
• Had MLB not moved to pause the Marlins' season, the Nationals were not expected to make the trip to Miami this weekend. Manager Dave Martinez said that the players voted nearly unanimously not to make the road trip. 

MLB VIEWERSHIP SEES UPS & DOWNS ON UNIQUE OPENING WEEKEND

• The COVID-shifted TV schedule to start the MLB season led to more overall exposure across Fox Sports and ESPN, but that opening weekend shift also made for a mixed bag in terms of comparisons to the start of past seasons, per SBJ's Austin Karp.
  
  
• ESPN had four exclusive games from Thursday through Sunday, beginning with record opening night viewership for a rain-impacted Yankees-Nationals game (4 million viewers), as well as its best late-night game on record with Giants-Dodgers. The net’s “Sunday Night Baseball” opener, featuring the Braves’ 14-1 win over the Mets (1.39 million viewers), did not fare as well, seeing a 25% drop compared to the Braves-Phillies opener last season. ESPN also had a late-night “SNB” tilt -- Giants-Dodgers -- which drew 1.33 million (no comparison). When two non-exclusive ESPN games from Friday are included, the net averaged 1.78 million viewers over six telecasts.
  
  
• Fox Sports averaged 1.72 million for four games on opening weekend. Three games aired on Fox on Saturday. Last year, the broadcast network did not air an MLB game until around a month-and-a-half into the season. Those three Fox games averaged 2.21 million viewers, down 8% from Fox’ first three games last year. Fox for the entire 2019 season averaged 2.4 million viewers for a slate of regionalized windows on Saturdays and some Thursdays. Yankees-Nationals on Saturday in primetime was Fox’ best game of the weekend, averaging 2.79 million viewers, 19% better than Fox’ primetime MLB average last season.
  
  
• FS1 carried one game late on Saturday night, drawing 279,000 viewers for the Padres’ win over the D-backs. That figure was well below FS1’s average of 340,000 viewers in 2019, and even 16% lower than the net’s average last July (333,000).

SUNS LAY OFF STAFF MEMBERS ACROSS MULTIPLE DEPARTMENTS

• The Suns have laid off an undisclosed number of staff across a variety of departments due to internal restructuring, reports SBJ's John Lombardo. Suns Chief Marketing & Communications Officer Dean Stoyer confirmed the job cuts but refused to disclose the specific number of layoffs or positions.
  
  
• “The impact of COVID-19 was not a factor but we are looking at how the sports and entertainment landscape is changing moving forward and how our structure is set up to address it,” Stoyer said, adding that the layoffs were caused by a combination of role redundancy and some outdated roles.

• Stoyer would not discuss whether there are other layoffs to come in the future. 

SO FAR, SO GOOD IN NBA BUBBLE

• The NBA "appears safe, secure, and comfortable in its Walt Disney bubble," as the consensus from players and coaches there is that they are "being well taken care of, even if some of the players aren’t exactly pleased with all of the medical protocols required for the season to resume," according to the Boston Globe's Gary Washburn.
  
  
• Clippers C Joakim Noah said, "It’s very repetitive, but overall I think the NBA is going a great job. They’re keeping us safe, that’s for sure." ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski said there is a sense that the NBA "got it right early" with deciding on the bubble concept. He added NBA players and the league are "far different than what you’ve seen in baseball and I think it is at the root of the NBA's ability to put a bubble together." There is a "sense among players and the league that they're in this together and for the future of the league financially, on a lot of levels, they've got to work to make this thing get to October."

CAA IMPLEMENTING SIGNIFICANT LAYOFFS

• CAA confirmed to SBJ's Liz Mullen that it is implementing workforce reductions, including laying off 90 agents and executives across all departments of the company and furloughing 275 assistants and other hourly employees. 
  
  
• CAA will continue to pay the health care premiums for those being furloughed, the company said in a statement. “CAA began working remotely earlier this year due to the pandemic," the company said. "Everyone at the company participated in reducing compensation with the hope that we could keep all employees financially whole through the end of our fiscal year, September 30th, 2020. We are honoring that commitment, including for those impacted by today’s announcement."
  
  
• It was not immediately clear how CAA Sports was affected by the workforce reductions, but reports earlier in the day said the division is expected to be among the hardest hit.

CANADIAN NHL CLUBS DROVE TWITTER MENTIONS DURING HIATUS

• Toronto and Edmonton are the two hub cities for the NHL’s return to play, and it’s those same two teams -- the Maple Leafs and Oilers -- who were the most-mentioned clubs on Twitter in Canada during the pause in action, writes SBJ’s Mark J. Burns. Others listed include the Canucks, Canadiens and Flames to round out the top five, according to data provided by Twitter to SBJ. The timeline spanned March 13 to July 25, and the rankings were only based on mentions of teams’ Twitter handles.
  
  
• The top-five mentioned teams in the U.S. during the stop in play were the Bruins, Flyers, Seattle Kraken, Penguins and Rangers. During just the regular season, the Golden Knights had the top spot. The Blues and Hurricanes came in second and third, respectively, followed by the Avalanche and Penguins. 
  
  
• Meanwhile, the top mentioned NHL players on the platform globally during the same period included Connor McDavid (Oilers), PK Subban (Devils), Auston Matthews (Maple Leafs), Alex Ovechkin (Capitals) and Mitch Marner (Maple Leafs). During the regular season, the rankings were completely different, as the top mentioned NHLers globally from Oct. 2 to March 12 were Marner, John Tavares (Maple Leafs), Ovechkin, David Pastrnak (Bruins) and Matthews.    

SUMMER READING WITH KATIE LAVIN & FRANK VUONO

• With 2020 forcing everyone across the industry to shift their calendars around, SBJ's Kody Timmers is catching up with execs, talent, team personnel and more to see how they are making the most of an unprecedented summer. Below, NLL VP/Marketing Katie Lavin and 16W Marketing co-Founder Frank Vuono dish on what they're reading and binge watching.
• NLL's Katie Lavin: 
  
  
  • Reading: “'Daring Greatly' by Brené Brown (a mix of life, lessons, leadership, and growth); 'Big Summer' by Jennifer Weiner (good ol’ millennial murder mystery summer read). Next up: 'Rodham,' by Curtis Sittenfeld."
  • Binge watching: "Billions," "Love Life," anything HGTV.
    
    
• 16W Marketing's Frank Vuono:
  
  
  • Reading: "'The Last Stand of Payne Stewart' by Kevin Robbins; 'The Beatles From A to Zed' by Peter Asher; 'Three Days At The Brink (FDR’s Daring Gamble to Win WWII)' by Bret Baier; 'NFL Century (The One-Hundred-Year Rise of America’s Greatest Sports League)' by Joe Horrigan.
  • Binge watching: "Everything! 'Money Heist,' 'The Wire,' 'Ozark,' 'Bosch,' 'Jack Ryan,' 'The Man in the High Castle' and 'Shameless' (second time around)."
    
     

Vuono is making his way through a Payne Stewart biography, while Lavin has opted for a murder mystery

SPEED READS

• Both ESPN and Fox say their involvement in a future XFL under new ownership can’t be counted on, even though the defunct league had at one point hoped to include those contracts in a bankruptcy sale, reports SBJ's Ben Fischer. Bids are due Thursday, with an auction for XFL parent Alpha Entertainment’s intellectual property set for Aug. 3. While neither contract included a rights fee, the robust promotional and programming commitment made by ESPN and Fox were seen as key to the XFL’s initial success before its abrupt cancelation and bankruptcy at the start of the pandemic. Read more here.

• Yahoo Sports' Charles Robinson writes if there is "anything the NFL is taking away" from MLB’s situation with the Marlins, it is that an outbreak preceding a game "isn’t going to be taken lightly." Especially if it "means an NFL team would take the chance of sending out a team on Sunday that might have multiple infected players taking the field." “Definitely a ‘no’,” said one NFL GM, when asked if he’d risk playing with a swath of potentially infected players. “No way,” said another. “Never.”
  
  
• An update in the ATP's rulebook late last week makes “repetitive or blatant” breaches of COVID-19 precautionary measures a violation of the players’ code of conduct. A major violation could result in a fine of up to $20,000. An ATP spokesperson told SBJ’s Bret McCormick that the addendum was published last week, part of a gradual process to update procedures that have been impacted by the pandemic. The 19-page addendum also spelled out a new requirement for events to appoint a Tournament Infection Control Officer (TICO), to be submitted to the ATP well before the tournament for the tour’s approval. The addendum spells out criteria the TICO candidate must meet, including (but not limited to) at least two years’ experience with infection control. 
  
  
• Beginning Thursday in Memphis, there "will no longer be COVID-19 pairings on the PGA Tour for players who continue to test positive for the virus after 10 days of isolation and 72 hours without any fever or respiratory symptoms," per Golf Digest's Brian Wacker. Golfers Dylan Frittelli, Harris English and Denny McCarthy have been "subject to the 'timed out' policy in recent weeks and were required to play as a single or in a group of other players who tested positive for COVID-19."
  
  
• Ohio State "will likely limit capacity for football games at Ohio Stadium this season to 20%" according to Bill Rabinowitz of the Columbus Dispatch. Tailgating also will be "banned, concessions will be limited and spectators must wear face coverings." The school has "sold 44,320 season tickets to donors, faculty members and the general public, a renewal rate of 87%."

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:
   
  
  • Manfred Says MLB Protocols Working; No Plans To Cancel Season
  • NFL Not Currently Planning For Bubble, Will Rely On Testing
  • Green Bay's Economy Will Be Greatly Affected With No NFL
  • NHL Enters Unknown With Pandemic-Related Telecast Changes

SBJ UNPACKS -- THE ROAD AHEAD

• Check out the most recent editions of our "SBJ Unpacks" podcasts around COVID-19:
  
  
  • John Ourand and Bill King on the broadcasting plans being utilized during MLB’s return.
    
    
  • ESPN's Amy Rosenfeld and Mike Foss on the net's MLS production inside the Orlando bubble.
    
    
  • The best of Adam Silver and Don Garber from the latest SBJ: The Road Ahead virtual event.
    
    
    
    

THE FUTURE OF FACILITIES

Lead Up Webinar
Tuesday, July 28 – 1-2pm ET

These executives will discuss how venues are preparing for live games. They will share what new design elements, ingress/egress patterns and safety procedures will be implemented when fans return to live events.

• Bobby Sloan, Associate Principal, Populous
• Gerardo Prado, Sports Practice Leader & Vice President, HNTB 
• Justin Wood, Principal, Sports Practice Director, Dimensional Innovations

The webinar is complimentary to all SBJ/SBD subscribers, click here to register.

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.

Well, it was fun while it lasted.

Just days into its long-awaited restart, MLB is now contending with a full-blown COVID-19 outbreak, as a reported 14 members of the Marlins’ traveling group have tested positive since Friday. Tonight’s home opener against Baltimore is postponed, as is Yankees at Phillies (Miami played in Philly yesterday, even after four players tested positive).

This is the harsh reality of playing sports during a pandemic, and all eyes will be on MLB as it scrambles to avoid an even wider fallout that could put the season in jeopardy. That may already be the case if the Marlins face a prolonged shutdown, as one leading epidemiologist suggests to SBJ’s Eric Prisbell below. 

Also under the microscope? The NFL. The league is moving full speed ahead with neither a bubble nor even baseball’s on-field spacing. No wonder league execs are keeping such close tabs on MLB’s handling of the outbreak.

-- Chris Smith

MLB FACES FIRST OUTBREAK

• MLB owners today held a regular conference call, and there was reportedly "no talk of canceling the season" in the wake of the Marlins' positive tests and multiple game cancellations, per Bleacher Report's Scott Miller. The Marlins news is "sobering for the game," but the "plan remains to try & manage pandemic." The league office will "redouble health directives, e.g. players must wear masks in clubhouses," and it will "reinforce on-field behavior prohibitions against high-fiving, spitting."
  
  
• Dr. Zach Binney, an epidemiologist at Oxford College at Emory University, told SBJ's Eric Prisbell that the Marlins "need to shut down for the next two weeks while they quarantine everyone who was in the club's traveling party to Philadelphia." Binney: "You have over a dozen people in your organization sick with a potentially very serious virus that they could spread around to teammates, staff members or, if you send them back home, to their families. ...  We need to take a moment to deal with this on a human level, not just trying to push forward as business as usual. I guess you can fill in those spots, but I think you can assume every Marlin that was a member of the traveling party is potentially infected right now."
  
  
• It remains to be seen what the next steps are for the Phillies, whose home game tonight against the Yankees has also been postponed. Binney believes that, if MLB wants to be cautious, those within the team’s organization who are deemed as potentially high risk of infection, based on their proximity to any Marlins during last weekend's series, should be immediately placed in a five-day probationary quarantine. While he did not believe the Phillies need to shut down for a period of time at this point, he said that just one round of testing today will not be a conclusive indication of which players, if any, could have been infected during the series.
  
  
• The baseball world continues to process the gravity of the situation. When asked about his level of concern considering the fact he had heart issues last September, Nationals manager Dave Martinez told reporters, "I'll be honest with you, I'm scared. I really am." 
  
  
• For more on MLB's situation, click here. Also, check out SBD's breakdown of the league's strong viewership over its opening week.

NFL EXECS CLOSELY MONITOR MARLINS AFTERMATH

• The Marlins’ outbreak came as a stark reminder for NFL executives of how quickly their COVID-19 mitigation plans could all unravel without rigorous discipline from everyone involved, writes SBJ's Ben Fischer. Like MLB, the NFL has eschewed the bubble concept and intends on flying teams around the country to play in each others’ stadiums, and to allow players to come and go from team facilities. That’s the weakness in the NFL’s hopes of staying on track, said one AFC club executive, who worries about player behavior when they’re not at work.
  
  
• “We’re doing everything the league is telling us to do to prepare accordingly, but we can’t be their babysitters as well,” the exec said. “We can’t live their lives for them. They have to be a part of it.” This same exec also said he and others around the NFL are watching closely for how MLB adjusts its season, and for how the public reacts to MLB’s decision to cancel two games but maintain the rest of the schedule despite concerns the outbreak could be wider than currently known.
  
  
• This afternoon, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell wrote a letter to fans, telling them to prepare for a season full of unpredictability. “Adaptability and flexibility will be needed for the foreseeable future,” Goodell said. “After all, even the best game plan changes as new challenges arise.”
  
  
• See more here.

MLS, NHL CONTINUE POSITIVE MOMENTUM

• MLS has now released eight consecutive reports of zero positive COVID-19 cases for those players, coaches, staff and other personnel staying at the host hotel in Orlando as part of the MLS is Back Tournament, writes SBJ’s Mark J. Burns. Late Sunday evening, the league announced it tested 884 people from July 24-25 with no positive cases. It’s a streak that stretches over two weeks.
  
  
• Earthquakes coach Matias Almeyda told SBJ, "MLS has always stood out due to their way of organizing everything. ... They have taken the right measure to prioritize the health and safety of the players and everyone else in (the bubble). ... We get tested every two days. We eat and then head back to our rooms. We train and then head back to our rooms. We have an hour to go to the pool outside. So, we have tried to take care of ourselves, but the league has also protected every one of us."
  
  
• Meanwhile, the NHL -- which is prepared to resume play Saturday in Edmonton and Toronto -- announced earlier today that there were no positive cases for players from July 18-25 after 4,256 tests were administered to 800-plus individuals. During the league’s two-week training camp period, just two players tested positive for the coronavirus. Both occurred in the July 13-17 window.

ESPN EXECS ON NAVIGATING MLS PRODUCTION AMID PANDEMIC

• As the production services provider of the MLS is Back Tournament inside the Orlando bubble, ESPN production execs Amy Rosenfeld and Mike Foss are charged with leading through a number of pandemic-related complexities. These include managing and safely spacing personnel on site, a workload of up to three match slots per day in the scorching central Florida heat and implementing and developing new broadcast technologies designed to bring the games -- and advertisements -- closer to fans who cannot attend in person.
  
  
• Rosenfeld told SBD's Andrew Levin, “It’s hard because we all came off of sort of this layoff where we were all working, but we’re at our homes. You’re in your normal routine. You’re attempting to get eight hours of sleep. The first couple of days -- that getting back at 2:00am and being back at 5:00am, 6:00am -- you have to sort of gear yourself up for that.” 
  
  
• Foss said of broadcasting live sports amid the pandemic, “We don’t know what we don’t know. It is an ever-changing landscape. … With ESPN in particular, we have resurrected, invented, managed new models that put a whole variety of tools on the pallet for us.”
  
  
• For more on the net’s role in Orlando, check out the latest episode of the SBJ Unpacks podcast.

WORKING FROM HOME WITH DUKE BASKETBALL’S DAVE BRADLEY

• Duke men’s basketball Creative Director Dave Bradley has been tasked with carving out an appropriate social media strategy for the program during the pandemic and the shifting times related to social justice.
  
  
• Bradley told SBJ's David Rumsey, “The biggest thing I tried to do was not rush to anything. … Of course we wanted to say things as well and enter the conversation when it was appropriate. But when we're going to do so, it needed to be -- more important than ever -- that what was put out was representative of how the program felt.”
  
  
• Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski’s video on Black Lives Matter last month, while only a few minutes long, took a lot of work to set up and make sure the message was accurately delivered. Bradley: “Even to get to that point, it was multiple Zooms with former players -- a couple of them with a hundred-plus former players – coach having a lot of conversations. … Although it was a pretty simple video, it wasn’t a rushed statement, a lot of thought went into it.”
  
  
• One new initiative for Duke this summer is an educational series, for now virtual, called The Brotherhood CEO, for players to learn about branding, communication, and social media. Bradley: “It's an opportunity for us to help educate our players and assist them no matter what happens on court. …  Some of the changes that are coming down with name, image and likeness, it makes branding and social media even way more important to an incoming Duke basketball player than it was even 12 months ago.”

Bradley has been tasked with carving out an appropriate social media strategy for the Duke program during the pandemic

OUTSIDE CONTRIBUTORS: WORTH THE RISK?

• Tonight's op-ed contribution is from Arcadia University professor Larry Atkins, who writes under the header, "Filling Stadiums With Fans Is Shortsighted And Dangerous."
  
  
• "It's true that fans are an essential part of sports. They add to the energy and passion that fuels sports. They inspire the home team, intimidate the visiting team, and can influence the referees. There is a distinct home field and home court advantage that is reflected in point spreads and final scores. ... (But) the health risk isn't worth the three hours of sports fans' pandemonium at the stadium."
  
  
• To read the full contribution, click here.

SPEED READS

• The Class AA Rocket City Trash Pandas’ strong merchandise sales blasted even higher this weekend following the release of a T-shirt that sums up the MiLB season, per SBJ's David Broughton. More than 800 shirts have been sold since pre-orders began Thursday evening, generating more than $40,000 for the club. The item was conceived by Lisa Nelson, who runs the club’s retail operation, and will be made by Brimm Ridder. Team president & CEO Ralph Nelson (yes, Lisa’s husband) said the team sold $11,400 Friday night, just $500 short of their top record-setting day in 2018. Also, you can read in this week's print edition of SBJ how the club helped propel MiLB to a record year in merchandise sales last year.

• The San Jose Mercury News' Jon Wilner notes while Cal, USC and Washington State have approved plans to shift to remote-only instruction this fall, "football planning rolls on," seeming to contradict Pac-12 Commissioner Larry Scott's previous stance on fall sports' viability being tied to students in the classroom. Wilner: "Is the conference’s resolve to prioritize the health of the athletes weakening as the season approaches and the economic imperative of football take center stage?"
  
  
• Kyrie Irving is "making sure WNBA players can sit out the season and not stress about a paycheck," per the AP. The Nets guard is "committing $1.5 million to supplement the income of players who choose not to play this season, whether because of coronavirus concerns or social justice reasons."
  
  
• In this week's SBJ, Bret McCormick goes deep on Charlotte's 15-month come-from-behind race to land a MLS franchise  The team’s name, Charlotte FC, and color scheme, a Panthers-like blue, black, white and silver, were announced last week after several delays caused by COVID-19, while renovation work on Bank of America Stadium also reportedly fell behind due to coronavirus-related interruptions. That was one factor in MLS’ decision to delay expansion plans by a year, moving Charlotte’s debut season from 2021 to 2022.  In some ways, though, having 20 additional months to build and launch the team is a blessing, especially after a faster-than-usual bidding process.
  
  
• The Vikings revealed that head athletic trainer Eric Sugarman -- "who is also in charge of the team’s COVID-19 prevention strategy as its infection control officer -- has tested positive." Sugarman and his family are in "self-quarantine." The team "found no additional cases in the front office and that no players have been in contact with Sugarman." 
  
  
• SI's Pat Forde reports Arizona State is "redshirting its entire swimming and diving teams for 2020-21" due to the pandemic. ASU coach Bob Bowman told his team Sunday afternoon in a Zoom call. Bowman: "The hardest part is no clarity, about anything. All our swimmers lost their NCAA (championships) last year. I'm not willing to let them lose two."
  
  
• Golfer Christina Kim is "on her way to Toledo, Ohio, for the first event of the LPGA's restart, and as she put it, she isn't taking any chances," per Golf Channel's Nick Menta.

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:
   
  
  • NFLPA Memo Details Plans For Virus-Altered '20 Season
  • NFL Player Salaries Will Be Prorated Under '20 Season Deal
  • Silver Bullish On NBA's Bubble As League Heads Toward Restart
  • Dr. Fauci Talks Sports' Return, Testing, Fans At Stadiums

SBJ UNPACKS -- THE ROAD AHEAD

• Check out the most recent editions of our "SBJ Unpacks" podcasts around COVID-19:
  
  
  • ESPN's Amy Rosenfeld and Mike Foss on the net's MLS production inside the Orlando bubble.
    
    
  • The best of Adam Silver and Don Garber from the latest SBJ: The Road Ahead virtual event.
    
    
  • 16W Marketing co-founder Frank Vuono on the upside down nature of the sports world.
    
    
    
    

THE FUTURE OF FACILITIES

Lead Up Webinar
Tuesday, July 28 – 1-2pm ET

These executives will discuss how venues are preparing for live games. They will share what new design elements, ingress/egress patterns and safety procedures will be implemented when fans return to live events.

• Bobby Sloan, Associate Principal, Populous
• Gerardo Prado, Sports Practice Leader & Vice President, HNTB 
• Justin Wood, Principal, Sports Practice Director, Dimensional Innovations

The webinar is complimentary to all SBJ/SBD subscribers, click here to register.

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.

A lot of good news this week for sports. The NFL appears back on track for an on-time training camp thanks to a tentative deal reached with the NFLPA just a couple hours ago, and we see continued good COVID-19 test numbers from MLS and the NBA. 

Meanwhile, my wife and I are celebrating our MLB Opening Day tonight with a few beers, a Bluetooth speaker, and the MLB app, which will give us the Reds-Tigers radio call from the banks of the Ohio River -- where the season always should start, as far as this old-timer is concerned.

-- Ben Fischer

NFL CAMPS TO OPEN ON TIME, PENDING PLAYER REP APPROVAL

• A deal between the NFLPA and NFL on how to spread the pain of the pandemic is close at hand this afternoon, SBJ’s Ben Fischer reports, keeping the league on track to open training camps on time next week. The headline deal point: Salary cap cuts as a result of this year’s expected $3-4 billion pandemic losses would be spread over four years starting in 2021, with no cuts now. 
  
  
• Under the deal approved by NFL owners and the NFLPA’s executive committee, next year’s salary cap will go no lower than $175 million, sources said. That is still a deep cut compared to what it might have been without any pandemic -- probably around $210 million -- but is far better than the calamitous dropoff (down to $120-$130 million) that would have occurred without alterations to the union contract.
  
  
• Whatever other losses to overall revenue occur due to the pandemic will then hit the cap in 2022, 2023, and 2024. Both sides are hopeful that new revenue from media rights deals and the expanded 17-game season will be in place by then, further offsetting the pandemic. Owners had reportedly wanted to cut $8 million off this year's cap, forcing players to take the pain now, while players originally wanted to spread it out over a decade.
  
  
• Owners did win a crucial change: Players will get prorated salaries if games are canceled this year. The standard player contract strongly suggested players are entitled to full salaries as long as the season starts, regardless of later disruptions. But with the pandemic making every day touch-and-go, owners pushed hard for a change.
  
  
• The deal isn’t totally wrapped until the NFLPA’s 32 player reps agree to the deal, which could come within hours. But the executive committee was unanimous, so there is little drama expected there. Barring a major backlash within the union, you can count on the Chiefs and Texans reporting to camp on Sunday. 

NBA TOUTS BROADCAST BELLS & WHISTLES

• The NBA revealed a multidimensional plan for in-venue and broadcast enhancements it will introduce when its season resumes in Orlando, placing an emphasis on an immersive experience intended to bring fans closer to the game even though they won't be physically in attendance, writes SBJ's Eric Prisbell.
  
  
• The most unique element is that, while games will be played in empty venues, some 320 fans for each game will be invited to appear live on the "Michelob ULTRA Courtside" 17-foot video boards surrounding the court. Those fans will have the opportunity to digitally interact with each other throughout the game using Microsoft’s “Together mode” to create a virtual experience by removing fans from their individual backgrounds and bringing them together in a shared visual space that will be seen both through the broadcast and in the venue. 
  
  
• This new experience -- the first to go live as a result of the NBA’s alliance with Microsoft -- gives participating fans the feeling of sitting next to one another at a live game, while players experience their energy in-venue. The fans will be selected by home teams, and the overall process used to select fans will be determined by each team. 
  
  
• For more on the NBA's plans, click here. 

Fans for each game will be invited to appear live on the "Michelob ULTRA Courtside" video boards surrounding the court

MLS CLUBS PREPARE ATTENDANCE POLICIES POST-ORLANDO TOURNEY

• Some MLS teams won’t have fans in stadiums if and when the league continues with its 2020 season following the bubble tournament in Orlando, reports SBJ’s Mark J. Burns. The Sounders today notified season-ticket holders that -- based on local health guidelines -- the club won’t be allowed to have fans in attendance at CenturyLink Field.
  
  
• Meanwhile, LAFC Chief Business Officer Larry Freedman told Burns earlier this week that he could envision a “mixed bag” of fan attendance at MLS matches, if and when play resumes post-Orlando. Freedman: “Look, I’m watching on one ESPN channel. I’m watching our bubble with no fans in Orlando. On ESPN2, they’re airing USL games in various markets where there are fans in the stands. I think it’s going to be interesting when we get back to our home markets, how it all unfolds.” 
  
  
• MLS Commissioner Don Garber earlier this week at part two of SBJ: The Road Ahead virtual event reiterated his desire to return to home markets later this summer.

MLB SPONSORS ROLL OUT AD CREATIVE AROUND SEASON'S START

• Nine different MLB sponsors are breaking a total of 12 new pieces of creative this week around the league's return, more than any opening week in recent memory.
  
  
• The list includes long-standing league partners like Chevrolet and Mastercard, as well as newer sponsors like Doosan and Hankook. The spots, some of which have already been released widely, are running in national and regional early-season TV broadcasts, on MLB Network and in social media campaigns.
  
  
• The chart below lists the new ads.

Download the New Ads From MLB Sponsors

NHL'S TECH PLANS TAKE SHAPE FOR RESTART

• The NHL does not intend to use its puck and player tracking technology, powered by Durham, N.C.-based SportsMEDIA Technology (SMT), for the first two rounds of the playoffs, writes SBJ’s Mark J. Burns. However NHL Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly did say the league is considering utilizing the technology in the Conference Finals and Stanley Cup Final. Daly did say the league is "committed to having that technology available to use on a full-time basis starting next regular season.”
  
  
• Meanwhile, NHL Chief Content Officer Steve Mayer said virtual advertising in both hub cities of Edmonton and Toronto “is not a piece of our overall design,” which includes eight LED monitors and screens around the ice. Mayer: “The RSNs will also have the opportunity to do some virtual signage on the glass, and they’ll take advantage of that in the early rounds.” He added that “there are possibilities as we get to later rounds to add a virtual component to the environment for the Conference Final and the Final.”

WORKING FROM THE MLS BUBBLE WITH JEFF LEMIEUX

• Revolution Senior Staff Writer & Editor Jeff Lemieux has been with the MLS team in the Orlando bubble since July 2, but he says the weeks have gone by quicker than expected. He told SBJ's David Rumsey, “We didn't know exactly if the time would feel like it was going to drag on because you're living in a hotel and you're kind of with the same people all day every day, but we’ve been so busy” he said.
  
  
• Practice days include a team breakfast, morning training session and then back to the Walt Disney Swan & Dolphin Hotel -- where the entire MLS contingent is staying -- for lunch and content production. “Our afternoons is when the schedule changes a little bit from day to day because there are some days I would come back to the room and I would write two or three stories … or I would come back and I'd have to do a sit down with our head coach in the studio.”
  
  
• The nighttime starts have been pretty standard for the Revs, aside from Lemieux moving his now-virtual pregame show with fellow host Elizabeth Pehota (back in New England) up to 3:00pm ET. However, the Revs’ 9:00am match on Tuesday was a shock to the system. “It was weird being down in the team meal room at 6:30 for a kickoff,” he said. “It’s a completely different prospect getting up and going to the training facility and practicing for an hour as opposed to getting yourself in the right head space to go play an actual regular season game in 85-90 degree heat.”
  
  
• While Lemieux hasn’t had all that much free time, he’s been able to work out occasionally in his hotel room and catch a few rays down at the pool. He’s also seen plenty of players and referees playing beach volleyball or hanging out at the ping pong and pool tables. “They did set up a lot of random leisure activities … just little things to go down and do for an hour or so, just to kill a little bit of time.”

Lemieux (r) in a socially-distanced sit down with Revolution coach Bruce Arena

OUTSIDE CONTRIBUTORS: PROJECT RESTART

• Tonight's op-ed contribution is from Robert J. Caldwell, counsel in Fox Rothschild’s Las Vegas office, where he concentrates his practice on business litigation and transactional matters, including sports and entertainment. He writes under the header, "What North American Sports Can Learn From The German Bundesliga."
  
  
• "In completing the full 2019-20 season, German soccer dodged a financial bullet. Although Germany managed the human costs of COVID-19 efficiently, the pandemic still threatened the existence of several professional soccer clubs. ESPN reported that German clubs would have lost $350 million in broadcast revenue if the season had been abandoned in March. According to Transfermarkt, 12 of the 36 teams in Germany’s top two leagues had pledged their final broadcast rights payment to creditors, leaving fears of insolvency and unemployment. The focus was not only on saving the season, but on saving the system."
  
  
• To read the full contribution, click here.

SUMMER PLANNING WITH JULIE ALEXANDRIA & ADAM RICHMAN

• With 2020 forcing everyone across the industry to shift their calendars around, SBJ's Kody Timmers is catching up with execs, talent, team personnel and more to see how they are making the most of an unprecedented summer. Below, LaVida Baseball Live co-host Julie Alexandria and Strat-o-Matic President Adam Richman dish on how they've been spending their free time and what future vacation they'd most like to take.
• LaVida Baseball Live's Julie Alexandria:
  
  
  • Working on: "I have hosted the (digital media) show remote, from my study in San Diego, with co-hosts Jennifer Mercedes and Ozzie Guillen Jr. both in the Chicago-based studio for the past eight months. ... La Vida Baseball never took a break, never went off air and continued to tell the stories of Latinx ballplayers and influential icons in the industry."
  • Future vacations: "I would love to get back to my place in NYC once the quarantine restrictions are lessened and it's deemed (more) safe to fly. I'm hoping to introduce my one-and-a-half year old son, Kingston, to his extended family, whom he has never been on the East Coast."
    
    
• Strat-o-Matic's Adam Richman:
  
  
  • Working on:"Many home improvement projects as we finish up the house we just moved into in New York, including some landscaping in the backyard, painting and having our basement finished."
  • Future vacations:"Mexico would be great.  But that feels like a couple of years away." 

SPEED READS

• ESPN averaged 4 million viewers for the 5-inning Yankees-Nationals season opener last night -- an opening game record for the network (previous was 3.7 million for Cubs-Cardinals in 2017). It was also the most-watched MLB regular-season game on any network since 2011, per SBJ's Austin Karp.
  
  

• The MLS is Back Tournament and the wave of soccer matches throughout the past month has resulted in increased digital metrics for the league, writes SBJ’s Mark J. Burns. The league’s digital audience on MLSSoccer.com is up 22% in the U.S. and 40% in Canada, compared to July 2019. Additionally, Twitter and Instagram interactions have seen an uptick of 48% and 35%, respectively, during the same time period while video watch time during the 24-team tournament on MLSSoccer.com is up 20%, too.
  
  

• The NWSL Challenge Cup heading into Sunday’s Chicago Red Stars-Houston Dash championship game has generated more than $1.1 million for brand partners, over half of which went to Procter & Gamble’s Secret brand, according to data provided to SBJ's David Broughton by Hookit. Meanwhile, NWSL Commissioner Lisa Baird appeared on "CBS This Morning," where she talked about what she has learned as commissioner during the pandemic. Baird: "Make sure that you come up with an end-to-end solution and that’s what we did when we designed the tournament. I talked about the health and wellness of the players and we spent a lot of time with our doctors doing that."
  
  
• NBA Kings owner Vivek Ranadivè is launching a company – BowX Acquisition -- to invest in tech companies that can benefit from the rush to digitization due to COVID-19, per the Sacramento Business Journal. Ranadivè is seeking to raise $403 million for the effort. BowX will target businesses with enterprise valuations between $1-3 billion.
  
  
• The fall season for LigaMX begins tonight, and all matches across Univision networks (including UniMas and TUDN) will feature virtual fans in the stands, SBJ’s Austin Karp notes. The network tested virtual fans during some matches of the recently-concluded Copa por Mexico preseason tourney. Univision also will deliver recreated fan noise during games that will be taken from previous matches involving whichever clubs are playing on a given telecast. This season will also see Monday night LigaMX games for the first time.
  
  
• The clock is ticking on college decision-makers as the football season nears kickoff, and according to Yahoo Sports' Pete Thamel, one conference commissioner's actions will have a domino effect across the nation: Thamel, on the Yahoo College Sports Podcast, said, "At the end of the day, this is Greg Sankey's call. You can talk about president this, and board of governor that, ultimately everyone is going to follow the SEC. ... They'll be some synergy and some cohesion. It'll all sound good in the press release. But ultimately, what Sankey does -- folks are going to end up following. And it's a fascinating, pressure-filled situation."
  
  

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:
   
  
  • Blue Jays Will Call Buffalo Home For '20 MLB Season
  • Soto's Positive Test Reveals MLB's Looming Risk On Opening Night
  • WNBA To Hit The Court After "Big Sacrifice" From Players, Coaches
  • Report: Pac-12 Eyes 10-Game, Conference-Only Football Schedule

SBJ UNPACKS -- THE ROAD AHEAD

• Check out the most recent editions of our "SBJ Unpacks" podcasts around COVID-19:
  
  
  • The best of Adam Silver and Don Garber from the latest SBJ: The Road Ahead virtual event.
    
    
  • 16W Marketing co-founder Frank Vuono on the upside down nature of the sports world.
    
    
  • SBJ's Eric Prisbell joins Bill King to discuss the start of the MLB season.
    
    
    

2020 SBJ THOUGHT LEADERS RETREAT (VIRTUAL)

• Aug. 13, 2:00-7:00pm ET (by invitation only)
  
  
• The road ahead has never been more challenging -- and it has never been more important for executive leadership to pause, learn, reflect and relax in order to prepare themselves to step up and navigate what the future holds. This year, we are continuing the tradition of Thought Leaders, creating the industry’s most intimate, senior-level event with a virtual program.
  
  
• Content will include:
  
  
  • Mindful Leadership with Pandit Dasa
  • The C-Suite Imperative: Corporate Responsibility & Social Impact
  • The New Fan Experience: A 360-degree approach; a 365-day Journey
  • Reinvented: A Conversation with Agent Leigh Steinberg
  • Supporting Social Justice Reform: Backing Words with Action
  • Navigating the Road Ahead: Fundamental Shifts We Can Expect in the Sports Business (group discussions)
    
    
• In addition to the compelling content, we will have plenty of time for some of the best virtual networking activities of the year, including:
  
  
  • Jack Daniel’s whiskey tasting
    • Aquimo golf (live challenge)
    • Aquimo cornhole (live challenge)
    • Cooking demo with "Iron Chef" Marc Forgione
    • A private set from John Popper and Brian Wilson of Blues Traveler
    
    
• For more information please visit, www.Thought-Leaders-Retreat.com.

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.

Today is a bizarre MLB Opening Day as baseball finally begins its 60-game sprint of a season with no fans in the stands.

Many questions surround the season but none more important than whether MLB’s lengthy list of health and safety protocols will be protective enough. Players are competing not in a tightly controlled bubble as their MLS and NBA brethren but in cities and stadiums across the country, carrying greater risk.

This afternoon came a report that Nationals star Juan Soto has tested positive for the virus and won’t play in tonight’s opening game against the Yankees.

Still, baseball finally is back, signaling at least some semblance of a summer sports calendar.

-- John Lombardo

REPORT: MLBPA AGREES TO EXPAND PLAYOFFS

• The MLBPA, just hours before the season's first pitch,has "agreed to a plan to expand the playoffs to 16 teams for the 2020 season," sources told ESPN's Marly Rivera.
  
  
• All second-place teams in the six divisions "will qualify for the playoffs," sources said. Then the seventh and eighth teams in both leagues "will be chosen by best record among other teams."
  
  
• Sources said an "important aspect for the players was player and family housing and access to the stadium during the playoffs." If a 16-team format is officially adopted by club owners, it "would include a televised postseason-seeding show in which top-seeded teams pick their first-round opponents." 

MLB NETWORK TEAMS UP WITH PEARL JAM

• MLB Network and Pearl Jam have formed a content partnership timed to the start of the season, reports SBJ's Eric Prisbell. 
  
  
• A new MLBN promotional spot began recently that features Pearl Jam's song "Who Ever Said," from the group's new "Gigaton" album, and highlights the net's live games, extensive studio programming, and wall-to-wall Opening Day coverage. Social media activation, and a new piece on the phenomenon of MLB’s season featuring the song “Superblood Wolfmoon” debuted this week on “MLB Tonight.”
  
  
• Diehard Pearl Jam fans and MLBN analysts Sean Casey and Ryan Dempster also participated in a recording session on Pearl Jam Radio on SiriusXM, scheduled to re-air Friday at 6pm. ET. There will also be a new piece highlighting MLB players and their favorite Pearl Jam songs, scheduled to debut on “MLB Central” this Monday at 10am ET.
  
  

Sean Casey (l) cutting loose with Pearl Jam's Eddie Vedder and his MLB Net colleague Ryan Dempster

PADRES, TIGERS TOP TEAMS FOR POSTING FACEBOOK VIDEOS DURING SHUTDOWN

• The Padres and Tigers posted an average of more than two videos per day on their respective Facebook pages since MLB shut down on March 12, leading all teams, according to data analyzed by SBJ's David Broughton from Tubular Labs. 
  
  
• The Cardinals and Rockies, on the other hand, posted an average of just two per week, the fewest of the clubs. When it came to actual video views, the Yankees (29.3 million) and Red Sox (28.3 million) not surprisingly topped the list, while the Marlins were the only club to draw less than 1 million video views. 
  
  
• The most-watched video of the COVID-19 era was “TBT: Max Muncy Sends One Deep to the Bay” (1.6 million views). It served as a reminder from the Dodgers (presumably to Giants fans) of a 2019 into-the-ocean home run launched off Madison Bumgarner. A similar rivalry stoked the AL’s highest viewership -- the Red Sox-provided “2004 ALCS Gm 7: Johnny Damon Grand Slam” clip drew 1.4 million views.
  
  
• The Padres told SBJ that they did not reduce social media staff during the shutdown, but they did launch a daily Padres Social Hour multimedia show right after the stay-at-home orders were implemented in California, which certainly included lots of videos.
  
  
• For more on MLB's return, check out SBD's special preview section from earlier today.
  
  
  

Download the MLB Facebook Video Chart

NFL-UNION NEGOTIATIONS TAKE A TURN

• The potential for labor strife to derail the NFL’s return became much more real on Thursday, reports SBJ’s Ben Fischer, with brinkmanship emerging late in the day amid ongoing NFL-NFLPA negotiations. Citing league sources, the NFL Network reported that owners are prepared to halt training camp without an economic agreement by Sunday, when the Chiefs and Texans players start working out.
  
  
• The sudden threat of a deadline in three days lends a new, ominous tenor to the talks. While the league clearly wants some kind of agreement with the NFLPA on how revenue losses will affect player salaries, it hadn’t been clear until how urgent the matter was. Without a separate agreement, the 2021 salary cap would be adjusted in one fell swoop to account for losses this year -- possibly by $70M or more per team. Owners want players to take cuts now, while players want to spread out the cuts over the next decade.
  
  
• Union spokesman George Atallah took to Twitter after the league threat emerged. “Let me get this straight,” he said. “When players wanted to wait until the safety protocols finished to come in, management set reporting dates before that was all done. Now that coronavirus protocols are done, they leak a threat to shut down because they don’t have players’ money.”
  
  
• Along with the broader salary-cap issue, owners want clarity on whether payers would be paid if the season starts but does not finish. It’s not clear exactly what would happen without a deal by Sunday. The union contract has a no strike-no lockout clause, but NFL Network reported the teams could just make training camp virtual-only.

OLYMPIC SPONSORS MAKE MOST OF ONE-YEAR MARK TO TOKYO

• Today officially marks one year out from the rescheduled Tokyo Games, and Olympic sponsors are rallying around the milestone to roll out long-held announcements and new initiatives, reports SBJ’s Chris Smith.
  
  
• Coca-Cola revealed its full roster of 14 athletes, which includes the original “Six Pack” of endorsers announced in September and an additional eight athletes who have partnered with Coke’s subsidiary brands. The athletes signed on over a year ago, but were kept under wraps as COVID-19 disrupted initial announcement plans. All 14 contracts have been extended through the end of 2021.
  
  

• Official USOPC outfitter Ralph Lauren today also debuted its new One-Year-Out Collection. Earlier this week, IOC global partner Airbnb introduced a five-day schedule of online experiences with Olympians and Paralympians. Yesterday, Procter & Gamble extended of its IOC sponsorship and announced the newly created Athletes for Good Fund.

• IOC Director of Digital Engagement & Marketing Christopher Carroll also joined AdAge’s “Ad Lib” podcast to discuss marketing a delayed Olympics. Carroll: “We need to engage with people now. … That gave birth for us to do real-time marketing. We basically created a global user-generated marketing and digital led campaign called ‘Stay Strong, Stay Healthy, Stay Active.’” 
  
  
• Carroll said the campaign empowered Olympians to use their voice to “provide council to people around the world that were confronted with physical as well as mental challenges” amid the pandemic. That included the Olympic Channel carrying live workouts of its athletes, as well as strategic content across the Olympics’ Instagram, TikTok and Twitter handles to “motivate and inspire people to stay active in these times.” 
  
  
• Ben Fischer and Chris Smith take an in-depth look at major issues facing Tokyo organizers, sponsors and athletes one year out in Monday's print edition of SBJ.

SEATTLE NHL FRANCHISE CELEBRATES NEW NAME, BRANDING

• Seattle’s incoming NHL franchise today unveiled “Kraken” as its name, with team CEO Tod Leiweke saying the organization "considered everything" before zeroing in on the unique moniker. 
  
  
• Leiweke: "Many of the names had plusses and many had minuses. But at the end of the day, like an endearing friend, this name just kept hanging in there.” Leiweke added that the team "closely monitored fan polls" and understood that Sockeyes, Totems and others "had staying power as well." But Kraken "kept finding its way into the discussion -- especially in focus groups the team put together."
  
  
• The name and branding received praise on social media this afternoon after the unveil. ESPN’s Mina Kimes: “Very good name. … 1. fun to say out loud 2. a little weird 3. good colors.” TSN's Frank Seravelli: "Love the Space Needle anchor." Seattle-based KOMO-TV's Eric Johnson: "Wasn't sure at first... now I DIG it! I'm on board!" The Undefeated's Clinton Yates: "Dope name." Actor/director Kevin Smith: "FINALLY! A tiny bit of good news in 2020! ... The most metal sounding name in Hockey since the @NJDevils!" The Miami Heat: "Another pro team whose name doesn't end with S. ... Welcome to an exclusive club."

SUMMER READING WITH PACKERS' MARISSA MELI & FAMER'S RICH ABEND

• With 2020 forcing everyone across the industry to shift their calendars around, SBJ's Kody Timmers is catching up with execs, talent, team personnel and more to see how they are making the most of an unprecedented summer. Below, Packers corporate transactions counsel Marissa Meli and coaching/mentoring mobile platform Famer CEO Rich Abend dish on what they're reading and binge watching.
• Packers' Marissa Meli: 
  
  
  • Reading: "My dad and I have our own book club, and we just started Walter Isaacson’s Leonardo da Vinci biography. I am also reading James Baldwin’s 'Go Tell It On The Mountain' and Erik Larson’s 'The Splendid and the Vile.'"
  • Binge watching: "Just finished rewatching 'Seinfeld.' It really holds up. 'The Last Dance' was amazing, of course. Now it’s on to 'Documentary Now!' and 'Luther.'"
    
    
• Famer's Rich Abend:
  
  
  • Reading: "Currently reading two books. 'The Power Broker' by Robert Moses and 'This is Now Your Company' by Mike Rognlien, the former head of people at Facebook. It's a great book about 'building culture.'"
  • Binge watching: "I started with the old school programs that I missed the first time around and always wanted to watch ('The Wire' and 'The Americans'). Both fantastic but I know I'm a little late on that opinion. I also started watching 'The Man in the High Castle.'"

SPEED READS

• The USOPC today announced the launch of the COVID Athlete Assistance Fund, reports SBJ’s Chris Smith. The fund, launched in partnership with the USOPC’s Athlete Advisory Council and national governing bodies, will provide a one-time stipend to American Olympians facing financial hardship. Earlier this week, more than two dozen NGBs joined to launch the Giving Games, a fundraising effort to support member athletes.
  
  
• The shutdown has been a double-edged sword for Twitter. User growth in Q2 was up 34% from a year ago and marked Twitter’s biggest year-over-year gain since first reporting that metric four years ago. However, Twitter’s ad business was hit hard again by a sharp drop in revenue amid the pandemic. The company is exploring other lines of business, including a possible subscription offering. CFO Ned Segal also noted Twitter is optimistic ad growth will improve with the return of live sports, which typically drive consumers to the platform.
  
  
• Much of the talk around attendance at college events in the fall has centered on football. But what about other sports? Illinois AD Josh Whitman has said there will be no fans for women’s volleyball this season. The program was No. 8 in NCAA attendance in 2019 with 3,000 fans per match. But the Champaign News-Gazette’s Bob Asmussen had an interesting idea: “Plenty of room exists to put down a court at Memorial Stadium. The home of Red Grange, Dick Butkus and Dana Howard has hosted wrestling matches and a basketball scrimmage in the past. The school can bring in a portable court, net and all. Depending where it is placed, you can put fans in the stands without violating any social distancing guidelines.”
  
  
• USTA Chief Revenue Officer Lew Sherr said all systems are go for the start of the U.S. Open next month. Sherr, speaking during Part II of SBJ: The Road Ahead Virtual Series, said, “We feel great about the health and safety plans and operating manual that we put in place. ... Having said that, there's still uncertainty and we're trying as best we can to deal with some of that.”
  
  

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:
   
  
  • MLB Season Begins With Presence Of Coronavirus At Every Turn
  • Blue Jays Now In Talks To Play Home Games At Camden Yards
  • NFL Officials Likely Will Avoid Training Camps Due To Pandemic
  • Football Committee Wants Time As NCAA Ponders Fall Sports' Fate

SBJ UNPACKS -- THE ROAD AHEAD

• Check out the most recent editions of our "SBJ Unpacks" podcasts around COVID-19:
  
  
  • 16W Marketing co-founder Frank Vuono on the upside down nature of the sports world.
    
    
  • SBJ's Eric Prisbell joins Bill King to discuss the start of the MLB season.
    
    
  • Dodgers President Stan Kasten on the unique conditions around the upcoming MLB season.
    
    

2020 SBJ THOUGHT LEADERS RETREAT (VIRTUAL)

• Aug. 13, 2:00-7:00pm ET (by invitation only)
  
  
• The road ahead has never been more challenging -- and it has never been more important for executive leadership to pause, learn, reflect and relax in order to prepare themselves to step up and navigate what the future holds. This year, we are continuing the tradition of Thought Leaders, creating the industry’s most intimate, senior-level event with a virtual program.
  
  
• Content will include:
  
  
  • Mindful Leadership with Pandit Dasa
  • The C-Suite Imperative: Corporate Responsibility & Social Impact
  • The New Fan Experience: A 360-degree approach; a 365-day Journey
  • Reinvented: A Conversation with Agent Leigh Steinberg
  • Supporting Social Justice Reform: Backing Words with Action
  • Navigating the Road Ahead: Fundamental Shifts We Can Expect in the Sports Business (group discussions)
    
    
• In addition to the compelling content, we will have plenty of time for some of the best virtual networking activities of the year, including:
  
  
  • Jack Daniel’s whiskey tasting
    • Aquimo golf (live challenge)
    • Aquimo cornhole (live challenge)
    • Cooking demo with "Iron Chef" Marc Forgione
    • A private set from John Popper and Brian Wilson of Blues Traveler
    
    
• For more information please visit, www.Thought-Leaders-Retreat.com.

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.

It might not count in the standings, but it was refreshing to see the NBA return to the hardwood this afternoon for exhibitions. We’re a little over a week away from basketball and hockey returning to play inside their own separate bubbles, while the NWSL is in the final stages of its Utah-based tournament. MLS enters the knockout round later Saturday. 

MLS in particular has had four consecutive reports of zero positive COVID-19 tests in Orlando where they’ve tested over 1,000 individuals in each cycle. The NBA has had similar news in recent days, proving that the bubble concept can potentially work. 

Meanwhile, the second installment of SBJ: The Road Ahead virtual series continued today, with Adam Silver and Don Garber addressing their leagues' return to play, with Garber optimistically saying that teams will return to their home markets post-MLS is Back. Fingers crossed. … 

Be kind to one another.

-- Mark J. Burns

SILVER PROMISES TO "STAY HUMBLE" SHOULD OUTBREAK OCCUR

• As the NBA begins team scrimmages at Disney, Commissioner Adam Silver today was typically open and direct in offering his perspective on the upcoming July 30 season restart, writes SBJ's John Lombardo. Silver, speaking at the SBJ: The Road Ahead virtual series, stressed that while owners and players were determined to find a way to continue the season, it “wasn’t as if we were determined to play no matter what.”
  
  
• Silver continued his message that despite testing protocols that so far have been effective, a virus outbreak on the Disney campus could halt the season that isn’t scheduled to end until mid-October. “Obviously we're hoping that time doesn't come, but we learn things all the time. We learn how this virus spreads in ways we might not have understood. On a relative basis, to me, there's no doubt it's safer on the campus than off.  And one thing we've learned with this virus is to stay humble.”
  
  
• Silver plans to arrive at Disney in time for the July 30 tip-off, though he acknowledges that the more people that enter the bubble, the greater the risk of an outbreak. Silver: “There are other people who enter the campus, they get tested, but not at the same extensive protocol as the players who are on campus. And I'm one of those examples. ... I'll in essence be in a section in the arena far from the court in contact with anybody where I could infect them. But the more sort of outside elements you introduce onto this campus, the greater risks you take. And we bring in food, we bring in packages. So as I said, it's not sealed. It's still a living campus with people who go on and off, including, incidentally, players."
  
  
• Social justice will be a major platform around the restart, with the league and the players union nearing an effort to create a foundation "focused on ultimately empowerment in the black community." Silver: "We are taking a bit of time to make sure we get it right. Not months away, weeks away, but we wanted to ensure that we put an infrastructure together so that we could set clear targets, have measurable results and I think we can really make an impact in that particular area.”
  
  
• See more from Silver in tonight's issue of SBJ Media.

MLB CLUB PRESIDENTS ON THE CHALLENGES AHEAD

• MLB will begin its regular season tomorrow night in D.C., and the pandemic has brought health and safety to the forefront of the league's concerns like never before. D-backs President & CEO Derrick Hall during today’s SBJ: The Road Ahead virtual series said, “We're not playing in a bubble, of course, as an industry, but I think we've done a nice job of creating 30 bubbles for ourselves. And I can tell you, our players have never felt as safe as they do when they're together playing, because they know that everyone around them is also being tested frequently. It's every other day for our players.”
  
  
• Red Sox President & CEO Sam Kennedy admitted that despite his optimism that the 60-game regular season will be completed, there is a level of anxiety. The pandemic has created a situation where much is unknown, which runs counter to the experiences of front-office executives. Kennedy: “Our job in these roles is to see around corners and see what's coming. And usually we feel like we have a good grip on what we need to do, but this is unlike any challenge that anyone has ever seen, whether it's elected officials, or leaders of institutions, schools, hospitals, sports teams, whatever. It's uncharted territory.”
  
  
• While social justice has been an issue MLB and its players have mostly steered clear of in years past, players and managers have taken the initiative to use their platform by taking a knee during the National Anthem prior to exhibition games this week. 
  
  
• Pirates President Travis Williams said, “From our perspective, obviously when George Floyd was killed, we debated internally on how to respond and how to be that agent of change, if you will. We were obviously outraged and appalled by what happened, but we didn't want to make just an empty statement. We wanted to have a plan of action that came behind that, and like all good plans that we develop in our businesses, we wanted to start with listening to our employees, and really our partners in our community, and learning from them more about the issues surrounding both his killing and, in particular, the systemic racism that came out from that.” Hall added, “The end goal is the same, I think, for all of us. We want more diversity on the field. We want more diversity in the front office. And it can't just be lip service. It has to be real.”

CHARLOTTE FC LOOKS TO DRIVE ENGAGEMENT IN HOME MARKET

• Tepper Sports & Entertainment CMO Meredith Starkey said it has been a journey getting to today, which saw her organization unveil the name, crest and colors for Charlotte FC, the expansion MLS club that will begin play in 2022. Speaking during today’s SBJ: The Road Ahead virtual series, Starkey said: “It's not often in one's career that we get to introduce or be a part of introducing a new-to-world brand in sports. That's the opportunity we've been given here, and one in which we've taken with a lot of care."
  
  
• That process for the MLS club centered largely around "taking fan input, studying the history of Charlotte and also where Charlotte is headed," noted Starkey. The team had hoped originally to make its grand unveiling earlier in the year, but as with many things, the pandemic pushed that date back. The pandemic also pushed the team’s inaugural season from 2021 to 2022. Starkey: “In the end, it will give our fans an opportunity to be a part of firsts and milestones fully as they deserve and give us more time to prepare.” 
  
  
• Charlotte FC will share Bank of America Stadium with the Panthers, and that played a role in deciding the team’s color scheme. “We play in a stadium that obviously has a lot of blue in it. So, I think that was something we had to really take a hard look at. We also wanted to look at how the two brands could complement one another." The team was helped by N.Y.-based Doubleday & Cartwright during the branding process.
  
  
• Starkey has also been tasked with the job of finding ways to keep Panthers fans excited for the season amid the uncertainty caused by the pandemic, which already forced the cancellation of the team's annual fan fest event. Starkey: “We need to think about how we create opportunity for our partners who potentially are losing opportunity there, and how do we create opportunity for fans and the fan experience at home?”
  
  
• SBJ's Bret McCormick will have the behind-the-scenes story of Charlotte's 15-month road to becoming an MLS city in Monday's print edition of SBJ.

SOURCES: INDYCAR LOOKING INTO ADDITIONAL DOUBLEHEADERS

• IndyCar is looking into hosting additional doubleheaders at some of its upcoming event weekends, sources tell SBJ's Adam Stern, as the remaining West Coast races in 2020 are in question amid the coronavirus pandemic. 
  
  
• The open-wheel racing series, which just wrapped a doubleheader in Iowa this past weekend, has two event weekends left on the West Coast this season -- one race at Portland and a doubleheader at Laguna Seca in California. However, U.S.-based racing series have largely had to cancel races this year in that region of the country due to strict coronavirus protocols, and IndyCar’s ability to pull off those events this year remain in doubt. 
  
  
• As a result, sources say that IndyCar has been talking with other upcoming venues about possibly hosting a doubleheader if it needs to make up for newly canceled races. Upcoming tracks that the series will visit include Mid-Ohio and World Wide Technology Raceway near St. Louis. The series has yet to comment.

HBO'S "REAL SPORTS" GOES DEEP ON LEAGUES' RETURN

• On HBO’s “Real Sports” last night, host Bryant Gumbel welcomed SI's Tom Verducci, The Athletic’s David Aldridge and NBC Sports’ Peter King for a virtual round-table on the return of sports.

• With COVID infection numbers still climbing in so many states, Gumbel questioned whether leagues like MLB, the NBA and NFL will be able to finish their respective seasons.
  
  
  • Verducci on MLB: “They have some of the most rigorous testing protocols in place of any population of employees in the country. Now, that's working fine, if you will, right now while teams have been training in their individual ballparks. The next phase is going to be more difficult, though. I call it the mobility phase. They are playing a season that's based on regional rivalries so there’s less travel, but there is travel. So once teams start moving, then I think the challenges get even greater.” 
    
    
  • Aldridge on the NBA: "The problem to me is not going to be this initial phase because they've only had a couple of positive tests. The problem’s going to be when you start allowing families in, frankly, and the problem’s going to be what happens a month from now when guys are bored and when guys want to bring friends in proximity to or inside the bubble itself, and I think that's where the rubber’s going to meet the road.” 
    
    
  • King on the NFL: "I've got a lot of skepticism. In football you’ve got so many more people … and we’re talking about a five-month period. ... Whether the NFL can play a season or not is going to be totally dependent on the maturity of 20-something-year-old people."

OUTSIDE CONTRIBUTORS: EMBRACING AT-HOME FANDOMS

• Tonight's op-ed contribution is from streaming platform Kiswe President & CEO Michael Schabel, who writes under the header, "What Live Sports Can Learn From Esports About Fandom."
• "The vast majority of audiences experience live sports at home, just like esports audiences. However, unlike esports, which deeply engage and embrace at-home fandoms, at-home fans of live sports are largely invisible to the players, leagues and broadcasters."
• To read the full contribution, click here.

SPEED READS

• One nugget that stood out from MLS Commissioner Don Garber's interview at today's SBJ: The Road Ahead virtual series: a bullish attitude towards returning to the league's home markets this summer. Garber: "Oh, no doubt. We will be back in our home markets. We're working through those protocols now, working through the schedule now, working through that start date. But without doubt, we will be playing games in our home markets sometime later in the summer. If not, the end of August." Read more from Garber here.
  
  

• An ESPN roundtable asked its MLB experts whether they were surprised by the Dodgers extending Mookie Betts for 13 years at more than $380 million. Sam Miller: "At this stage of the pandemic, I'm surprised when I see somebody manage to get a decent haircut, so, yeah, I'm surprised to see human achievement. From the Dodgers' perspective, this is a bet that they're going to be able to sell 3 million tickets next year. I think that's probably likely, but it's a bet on something that is even bigger and even more out of their control than the typical stuff -- player health, aging curves, etc."
  
  
• It appears that one of MLB’s media partners will not be carrying games this season. Sources tell SBJ's John Ourand that DAZN will not produce its whiparound show “ChangeUp” for the shortened season after the two sides butted heads over rights fees. A blog called The Streamable was the first with this news this afternoon. See more in SBJ Media.
  
  
• NFL VP/Communications Brian McCarthy today confirmed via Twitter that in "stadiums where fans are allowed to attend games in 2020, they will be required to wear face masks." The news is "not surprising, given that the country is still grappling with the coronavirus." The NFL "does plan to allow fans to attend games, though attendance will be based on local authorities" in each market.
  
  
• There were nearly 87,000 Twitter posts featuring the combined terms “Fauci” and “Nationals” this past Monday, the day the announcement was made that Dr. Anthony Fauci would be throwing out the first pitch at tomorrow night’s game at Nationals Park, according to Block Six Analytics. The firm analyzed the 7,697 original Twitter posts featuring “Fauci” and “Nationals” to determine the sentiment of fans, media, and sponsors on the team’s decision. Per SBJ's David Broughton, an increase in sentiment scores means that the probability of revenue growth rises. “Teams generate an average range of sentiment scores in the 10-20% range and Fauci-related Nationals’ conversation is at the upper edge of that range,” according to Block Six CEO & Founder Adam Grossman. Overall, the original posts generated 18.4 million impressions with a sentiment score of 19.86%.
  
  
• Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf today officially "rejected the idea" of the Blue Jays playing their home games at PNC Park, ruling that the team "would not be allowed to play here because of the coronavirus pandemic." Logistics had been coordinated to allow the Blue Jays to play in Pittsburgh, including a setup where the Pirates "would turn the left-field lounge into a clubhouse" and the Blue Jays "would potentially rent out one of two hotels across the street." Nevertheless, Wolf "shut down the plan," meaning the Blue Jays "will have to look at other options."
  
  
• USA Fencing has announced a new three-day celebration to coincide with the one-year countdown to the Tokyo Games, reports SBJ’s Chris Smith. Virtual panels and interviews with past Olympic medalists will highlight a digital series across the NGB's social platforms, beginning tomorrow, as part of an effort that will also celebrate USA Fencing’s 125th anniversary.
  
  

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:
   
  
  • Player Safety Main Reason Behind Cutting Preseason, Trimming Roster
  • Glen Taylor Open To Selling T'Wolves If Team Kept In Minnesota
  • NBA Launching New Campaign To Promote Season Restart
  • SEC's Greg Sankey Gets Into Tense Discussion About Sports' Return

SBJ UNPACKS -- THE ROAD AHEAD

• Check out the most recent editions of our "SBJ Unpacks" podcasts around COVID-19:
  
  
  • SBJ's Eric Prisbell joins Bill King to discuss the start of the MLB season.
    
    
  • Dodgers President Stan Kasten on the unique conditions around the upcoming MLB season.
    
    
  • Calm app Chief Medical Officer Omar Dawood on his company’s deal with LeBron James and other mental health dynamics amid the pandemic.
    
    

2020 SBJ THOUGHT LEADERS RETREAT (VIRTUAL)

• Aug. 13, 2:00-7:00pm ET (by invitation only)
  
  
• The road ahead has never been more challenging -- and it has never been more important for executive leadership to pause, learn, reflect and relax in order to prepare themselves to step up and navigate what the future holds. This year, we are continuing the tradition of Thought Leaders, creating the industry’s most intimate, senior-level event with a virtual program.
  
  
• Content will include:
  
  
  • Mindful Leadership with Pandit Dasa
  • The C-Suite Imperative: Corporate Responsibility & Social Impact
  • The New Fan Experience: A 360-degree approach; a 365-day Journey
  • Reinvented: A Conversation with Agent Leigh Steinberg
  • Supporting Social Justice Reform: Backing Words with Action
  • Navigating the Road Ahead: Fundamental Shifts We Can Expect in the Sports Business (group discussions)
    
    
• In addition to the compelling content, we will have plenty of time for some of the best virtual networking activities of the year, including:
  
  
  • Jack Daniel’s whiskey tasting
    • Aquimo golf (live challenge)
    • Aquimo cornhole (live challenge)
    • Cooking demo with "Iron Chef" Marc Forgione
    • A private set from John Popper and Brian Wilson of Blues Traveler
    
    
• For more information please visit, www.Thought-Leaders-Retreat.com.

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.

It remains an open question when the first football game of note will be played at any level this fall.

The NFL and NFLPA are discussing the possibility of playing no preseason games before the league opens the season on Thursday, Sept. 10. We await decisions by the ACC, Big 12 and SEC to see if they’ll join the Pac-12 and Big Ten in playing conference games only, if they play at all. And it was announced just today that major high school football in the hotbed of Texas will postpone the start of games for its two largest classifications, Class 6A and 5A, until Sept. 24.

With many schools moving to virtual learning in the fall, the sight of football games at any level would normalize things just a bit. But it remains to be seen how much football we will see ... and how soon.

-- Eric Prisbell

WOODS' RETURN FUELS STRONG VIEWERSHIP FOR MEMORIAL

• The Memorial saw a big uptick in TV viewership last week on both CBS and Golf Channel, fueled by Tiger Woods’ return to PGA Tour play for the first time since the pandemic halted sports in the U.S., SBJ’s Austin Karp notes. Despite Woods finishing tied for 40th at the event in Ohio -- held in late May last year -- CBS averaged 3.23 million viewers for Jon Rahm’s three-stroke win. That’s the best figure for Sunday at The Memorial since 2015 and up 9% from 2019.
  
  
• Golf Channel on Sunday from 12:58-3:34pm ET averaged 1.47 million viewers, which is the network’s best lead-in figure for The Memorial on record (dating back to 2007). Lead-in coverage also was up 40% from 2019. CBS on Saturday averaged 2.64 million viewers for Round 3, up 28% from last year. Golf Channel’s lead-in on Saturday averaged 1.24 million viewers, also up 39%.
  
  
• For early round coverage on Golf Channel, the network saw its two most-watched days of 2020 to date. Thursday’s opening round averaged 1.08 million viewers, which is the best figure for The Memorial since 1997 on ESPN (1.18 million viewers). Thursday also was the most-watched weekday Tour telecast for the network since the opening round of the 2018 Tour Championship (1.25 million). Even the Thursday primetime replay on GC averaged 337,000 viewers, which marked the best Tour replay on the network in over five years. Friday’s second round averaged 937,000 viewers, helping GC to its best Friday total-day audience since last year's Presidents Cup.
  
  
• Meanwhile, since the return of live PGA Tour action in June, CBS has seen TV viewership increase 28% from comparable events in 2019. For Golf Channel, that live Tour viewership is up 61%.

RAMS ANTICIPATE NFL WILL CANCEL ALL PRESEASON GAMES

• The NFL has not officially confirmed reports that the preseason will be canceled altogether, but at least one team is telling their fans that’s the case, SBJ’s Ben Fischer reports. The Rams told season-ticket holders in an email today, “We anticipate that the NFL will cancel preseason games.”
  
  
• In the email, the Rams became the fifth team to completely cancel season-tickets this year, instead telling stadium seat license holders they will get first dibs if any ticket sales are allowed. Because of the preseason cancelations, the Rams’ first game at the new SoFi Stadium is now the week one Sunday Night Football matchup with the Cowboys. “In hopes of having fans at the opener, we ask that you please join us in wearing a mask to help stop the spread of COVID-19,” the Rams said.

PACKERS INCOME SOARS ON NFL MEDIA RIGHTS GROWTH

• The pandemic will deliver a financial body blow to the NFL this season, but the gravy train kept rolling last year as broadcast revenue continued to climb, according to financial statements released today by the Packers. The Packers posted $34.9 million net income on $506.9 million in total revenue in the fiscal year ending March 31, a bottom line more than four times larger than 2019. Excluding investment results that reflected the market’s plunge at the start of the pandemic, the team’s operating profit stood at $70.3 million, nearly 100 times last year’s $700,000 figure and double its 2018 operating profit.
  
  
• Most of the revenue growth came from the team’s share of national NFL revenue -- mostly media rights, writes SBJ's Ben Fischer. That revenue grew from $274.3 million to $296 million, or 7.9% year-over-year -- meaning that the NFL booked nearly $9.47 billion to share across all 32 teams, up from $8.78 billion from one year ago. “As we look to the future, we feel very good about those continuing to grow at a very healthy pace,” said Packers President & CEO Mark Murphy. Every major media deal is up for negotiation in the next two years, and most industry experts expect increases of nearly 50%.
  
  
  

Download the Packers Financials

• Murphy pointed to the team’s reserve fund, now at $411 million, and expected growth in income from Titletown, its development adjacent to Lambeau Field, as bulwarks against pandemic losses. “Looking ahead, obviously things are going to be very different,” Murphy said. “This year, we anticipate revenue will drop significantly, and there’s a lot of uncertainty as every business and organization has. We do feel the organization is well-positioned to weather the pandemic.”
  
  
• Read more here.

DODGERS PRESIDENT STAN KASTEN ON MLB RETURN

• On Thursday night, the Dodgers will open the 2020 baseball season against their storied rivals, the Giants, in the second half of a long-awaited ESPN doubleheader. Having made it through the ups and downs of an uncertain four months, the Dodgers finally get to take the field with a roster favored to win the National League. Cardboard cutouts will replace fans, crowd noise will be manufactured and Dodgers radio voice Charlie Steiner will call the game from his home.
  
  
• Dodgers President Stan Kasten told SBJ’s Bill King, "It was not that long ago that we had real doubts about whether anything like this was going to work. But we think it is going to work, we think the steps that we have put in place -- together with our union -- have been effective so far. Keep your fingers crossed. … We always have great anticipation leading into every year, but there’s an extra measure of exhilaration because the challenges that we had to overcome were far, far greater than every year’s challenges."
  
  
• For more on the negotiations that led to MLB’s return, health and safety protocols, how Dodgers games will look and sound and more, check out the latest SBJ Unpacks podcast.

NEW PRIVATE EQUITY FIRM ADDS NOTABLE SPORTS BUSINESS LEADERS TO BOARD

• Arctos Sports Partners, the new private equity firm planning to acquire minority ownership stakes in pro teams, has announced the first of two planned advisory boards, reports SBJ's Chris Smith. The Arctos Sports Advisors, Fellows & Executives Council is comprised of nine sports business leaders.
  
  
  • TJ Adeshola (Twitter Head of U.S. Sports)
  • Caryn Seidman-Becker (Clear Chair & CEO)
  • Akshay Khanna (StubHub GM of North America)
  • Tim Leiweke (Oak View Group Founder & CEO) 
  • Stephen Master (former Nielsen Global Head of Sports Media)
  • Angela Ruggiero (Sports Innovation Lab co-Founder)
  • Ari Segal (Immortals Gaming Club CEO) 
  • Sara Slane (former American Gaming Association Senior VP)
  • Malcolm Turner (former Vanderbilt AD)
    
    

• Arctos launched earlier this year and is being led by former MSG CEO Doc O’Conner and former Landmark Partners board member Ian Charles. The firm plans to raise more than $1 billion to invest in sports team limited partnerships. 

ROCKETS SUE INSURANCE PROVIDER OVER DENIAL OF COVID-RELATED CLAIM

• The Rockets "filed suit in Rhode Island against the team’s insurance provider, which last month rejected the team’s claim for damages related to the shutdown of NBA games and concert performances" in the wake of the pandemic, according to David Barron of the Houston Chronicle.
  
  
• The lawsuit, filed in Providence County Superior Court on behalf of Clutch City Sports & Entertainment and Rocket Ball Ltd., "accuses Affiliated FM Insurance of breach of contract by refusing last month to honor a policy that provides a maximum of $412 million in coverage for which the team paid $790,490." The Rockets are believed to be the "first NBA team to file suit over insurance claims related to losses after the NBA season was halted."
  
  
• The Rockets "did not specify the amount of the claim but note in the lawsuit that the policy provides 'a substantial portion ... in coverage for business interruption losses on a per occurrence basis.'"

CITI OPEN CANCELLATION STALLS TENNIS' MOMENTUM

• The ATP’s planned return to action was dealt a blow today with the cancellation of the Citi Open, SBJ’s Bret McCormick notes. The event in D.C., which would have re-started ATP play, was set to begin 23 days from now, but tournament operator Mark Ein said that “there are too many unresolved external issues, including various international travel restrictions as well as troubling health and safety trends, that have forced us to make this decision now.”
  
  

• The cancellation raises more questions about how many international players will come to the New York for the Western & Southern Open and U.S. Open, being held back-to-back at the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center beginning Aug. 20. Travelers from most of Western Europe are prevented from entering the U.S. under current CDC travel restrictions. Additionally, Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s list of travel-restricted states now includes Virginia and Maryland, meaning anyone that stayed in either of those states and was then traveling to New York would have had to quarantine for 14 days.

• European players’ reluctance to travel to the U.S. is likely compounded by the fact that the six tournaments after the U.S. Open are back in Europe, including the French Open in late September. The USTA said the Citi Open cancellation “in no way impacts" the U.S. Open or the W&S Open.
  

• Meanwhile, Tennis Australia CEO Craig Tiley "cannot see any situation" where the 2021 Australian Open is "held anywhere other than Melbourne Park." Tiley and his team have "laid out six scenarios, ranging from best case to worse, of how the Australian Open would operate given the significant hurdle of COVID-19." See more in SBD Global.

WORLD TEAMTENNIS SENDS PLAYER HOME FOR BREAKING QUARANTINE BUBBLE

• World TeamTennis last night had to send a player home after she broke the organization’s quarantine bubble at The Greenbrier resort.  A statement from the WTT said Danielle Collins, a member of the Orlando Storm, left not only the resort but the state of West Virginia. WTT’s quarantine bubble contains 245 people involved with the league’s three-week competition.
  
  
• "She just put me in a position where I really had no choice,” WTT CEO Carlos Silva told SBJ’s Bret McCormick. “We’re trying really hard to keep everyone safe and do the right thing. That was a mistake she made and I think she understood it and we had to dismiss her last night.”
  
  
• WTT did get positive news Tuesday, though, in the form of its viewership from weekend matches. CBS averaged 484,000 viewers for a WTT match on Sunday from 1:30-3:30pm ET, marking the league’s best figure in its 45-year history, per SBJ's Austin Karp. The previous WTT record was on July 21, 2019, when the league debuted on CBS (409,000 viewers). CBS will also air the WTT title match on Aug. 2.
  
  
• Compared to some other sports on TV last weekend, WTT was still short of the 731,000 viewers for AVP volleyball on NBC or the 509,000 viewers on ESPN for UFC Fight Night prelims. WTT beat out a Yankees-Mets exhibition on Saturday night on ESPN2 (410,000), but the cable net was blacked out in N.Y. It also topped both IndyCar telecasts on NBCSN on Friday and Saturday night from Iowa Speedway (334,000 and 356,000, respectively).

SUMMER PLANS WITH DRAFTKINGS' JASON PARK & USA WRESTLING'S RICH BENDER

• With 2020 forcing everyone across the industry to shift their calendars around, SBJ's Kody Timmers is catching up with execs, talent, team personnel and more to see how they are making the most of an unprecedented summer. First up is DraftKings CFO Jason Park and USA Wrestling Executive Director Rich Bender, who dish on how they've been spending their free time and what future vacation they'd most like to take.
• DraftKings' Jason Park: 
  
  
  • Working on: "I’ve been spending a lot of time with my two daughters, ages 4 and 1. For the most part, it’s been summer vacation for them since COVID-19 turned the world on its head, but we’ve found a silver lining and I’ve really enjoyed spending time with them instead of commuting to and from the office."
  • Future vacations: "My family has a particular affinity for mountains during the summer months. Perhaps a vacation in Colorado when it’s safe to travel again and restrictions are lifted. If not Colorado, a quick trip to the Berkshires could suffice."
    
    
• USA Wrestling's Rich Bender:
  
  
  • Working on: "Have become a very experienced 'Zoomer' during the COVID crisis, but restricted travel has kept me home on the weekends and I have been able to do several home improvement projects. I installed a cedar ceiling on my outside patio, removed carpet and installed hardwood flooring in three rooms of my home (and) have my yard and pasture in shape for the first time in a long time."
  • Future vacations: "Hoping to make a trip to see our daughter in Oklahoma soon and have scheduled a trip to Ozarks later in July."

Park (l) and his family have an affinity for the mountains during summer months; Bender showing off his freshly-installed hardwood floors

SPEED READS

• The Premier Lacrosse League this weekend will be the next sports property to start a fan-less "bubble" tournament to complete its 2020 season, and it has made changes and additions to its product to pull it off, writes SBJ's Adam Stern. The tournament will be held over three weeks at Zions Bank Stadium in Herriman, Utah, airing across NBC, NBCSN and NBC Sports Gold. To pull the tournament off, PLL co-Founder Paul Rabil said that the league has done everything from add new fan elements to the stadium and broadcast to restructuring sponsor agreements. That is in addition to a coronavirus testing protocol that will involve multiple rounds during the course of the tournament.
  
  
• Indianapolis Motor Speedway today said that attendance for the Indy 500 on Aug. 23 will be approximately 25% of capacity, down from previous estimates of 50%. Ticket sales will not be permitted after Friday. IMS will release its full race protocols tomorrow.
  
  
• ESPN's Bob Harig notes Augusta National has "offered no updates" on hosting fans in the intervening three months since The Masters' postponement, and the "clock is ticking on a fall Masters" set for Nov. 12-15. A "cursory check of several hotels in Augusta, Georgia, shows that they are packed for that week, meaning that the original reservations transferred from the April date appear to remain intact." There is also "no indication that Augusta National has reached out to its patrons to offer refunds for 2020 badges or postpone 2020 practice-round tickets to 2021."
  
  
• Spotify is "rolling out video podcasts, with a feature that allows listeners to switch to audio-only mode when on the go, following a successful test of the service," per Deadline's Dade Hayes. The initial roster of shows adding video includes Bill Simmons' "Book of Basketball 2.0" and the popular "Fantasy Footballers."

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:
   
  
  • Source: NFL Owners Offer Players No Preseason Games In '20
  • NFL Testing Protocols Become More Clear As Training Camp Begins
  • Blue Jays Focusing On Five Options For Home, As Baltimore Joins Mix
  • Decision On Fate Of Tokyo Games Unlikely This Year

SBJ UNPACKS -- THE ROAD AHEAD

• Check out the most recent editions of our "SBJ Unpacks" podcasts around COVID-19:
  
  
  • Dodgers President Stan Kasten on the unique conditions around the upcoming MLB season.
    
    
  • Calm app Chief Medical Officer Omar Dawood on his company’s deal with LeBron James and other mental health dynamics amid the pandemic.
    
    
  • Aspen Institute's Tom Farrey discusses a potential return for youth sports and share a few rays of hope
    
    

2020 SBJ THOUGHT LEADERS RETREAT (VIRTUAL)

• Aug. 13, 2:00-7:00pm ET (by invitation only)
  
  
• The road ahead has never been more challenging -- and it has never been more important for executive leadership to pause, learn, reflect and relax in order to prepare themselves to step up and navigate what the future holds. This year, we are continuing the tradition of Thought Leaders, creating the industry’s most intimate, senior-level event with a virtual program.
  
  
• Content will include:
  
  
  • Mindful Leadership with Pandit Dasa
  • The C-Suite Imperative: Corporate Responsibility & Social Impact
  • The New Fan Experience: A 360-degree approach; a 365-day Journey
  • Reinvented: A Conversation with Agent Leigh Steinberg
  • Supporting Social Justice Reform: Backing Words with Action
  • Navigating the Road Ahead: Fundamental Shifts We Can Expect in the Sports Business (group discussions)
    
    
• In addition to the compelling content, we will have plenty of time for some of the best virtual networking activities of the year, including:
  
  
  • Jack Daniel’s whiskey tasting
    • Aquimo golf (live challenge)
    • Aquimo cornhole (live challenge)
    • Cooking demo with "Iron Chef" Marc Forgione
    • A private set from John Popper and Brian Wilson of Blues Traveler
    
    
• For more information please visit, www.Thought-Leaders-Retreat.com.

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.

There seems to be more at stake every week, and this one is off to a running start with news from every corner of the sports world.

The NFL nears training camp amid pushback from its top players, the Ballon d’Or -- a staple from France Football since 1956 -- won’t be awarded for the first time in its history and the Blue Jays near a restart without a field to call home. 

How about some good news? The NHL today announced that, after five days of training camp, it had just two of a total 2,618 administered tests came back positive for COVID-19. Then came word that the NBA saw zero positive tests last week in the Orlando bubble.

Maybe we can pull off this return-to-sports thing after all. Here’s hoping, at least. 

-- Chris Smith

NFL-NFLPA STRIKE TESTING DEAL, BUT STILL WORK TO BE DONE

• The NFL and NFLPA struck a deal on COVID-19 testing procedures today, a necessary step toward maintaining progress toward an on-time season, reports SBJ’s Ben Fischer. Players won an agreement to undergo tests every day for the first 14 days of camp, at which point testing will decrease to every other day if the team shows less than 5% positivity rates. The deal also covers employees with direct access to players.
  
  
• This is a win for players, who wanted daily testing throughout camp and some of whom took to Twitter on Sunday to build popular support for their cause. It will be the start of many hundreds of thousands of tests administered throughout the league this season -- if every team brings a 90-man roster to camp, the first two weeks alone will include more than 40,000. Testing will go back to daily if positivity rates go back above 5% at any point.
  
  
• The NFL expects to spend about $75 million on tests, according to a source familiar with the matter. The league will use tests from BioReference Laboratories, the same as MLS and the NBA, and expects results in about 24 hours. 
  
  
• After days of stalemate at the negotiating table while camps began to open up for rookies, today’s deal was celebrated around the league for at least allowing camps to start on time. But it may be the easy part. Still to be negotiated: The number of preseason games, rules for players who opt out, face shields, guaranteed money in the event of cancellations and the details of how players and teams will share revenue drop-offs. 

LEAGUES GAIN MOMENTUM WITH MOST RECENT TESTING RESULTS

• Earlier today, the NHL revealed that it received two positive COVID-19 tests during the first five days of teams returning to the ice for training camp (July 13-17), writes SBJ’s Mark J. Burns. Both positive tests were players. The league conducted 2,618 tests across 800+ players during the five-day period. The NHL last week had 30 tests come back positive during Phase 2, while 13 players tested positive outside of the Phase 2 protocol. Players are expected to travel to the hub cities of Toronto and Edmonton later this week with exhibition games starting July 28.
  
  
• MLS has had three consecutive reports of zero positive cases from the 24-team delegation staying at the host hotel inside the Orlando bubble. Most recently, the league tested 1,114 people from July 16-17.
  
  
• Meanwhile, the NBA and NBPA sent out this joint release tonight: “Of the 346 players tested for COVID-19 on the NBA campus since test results were last announced on July 13, zero have returned confirmed positive tests.”

MARK MILES ON EXPECTATIONS FOR INDY 500

• Indianapolis Motor Speedway will likely need continuing government approval to run the Indy 500 with fans on Aug. 23, but IndyCar CEO Mark Miles remains confident that the race will go on “unless the COVID world crashes in on us.”
  
  
• Miles, speaking to SBJ's Adam Stern from Iowa Speedway over the weekend, said that it’s full steam ahead for now on running the race, but conceded that there are some things related to the pandemic that are outside their control.
  
  
• "Unless the COVID world crashes in on us and healthcare metrics really turn south meaningfully (in Indiana and Indianapolis), I'm quite confident we'll be able to do the race,” Miles said. “We’ve done everything that can be done. ... We continually refine those plans with outside experts -- it’s just a continuing process, and it probably will be through August until the checkered flag waves. ... We can be in a great place and have all the public approvals we need soon, and yet if Indiana became the next hotspot state or city (with Indianapolis), then things would have to adjust.”
  
  
• Miles is not ready to reveal the expected attendance, but IMS Owner Roger Penske told the Indianapolis Star recently that he’d be okay with a crowd in the 65,000-100,000 range, what he referred to as a Super Bowl-sized crowd. 

SEAT COVER PROVIDER PLEASED WITH WORLD TEAMTENNIS PARTNERSHIP

• TV viewers watching World TeamTennis over the past week got a glimpse of the 38 black-and-white seat covers with Chosen Foods branding blocking off every other row at The Greenbrier resort’s tennis stadium. They came from Toronto-based Covermaster Inc., one of the biggest providers of covers used by venues and stadiums to protect playing surfaces and cover seats, writes SBJ's Bret McCormick.
  
  
• Covermaster already handles over 90% of MLB and NFL teams and 85% of MLS teams’ seat and playing surface cover needs, including most of the tarps that are hurriedly dragged over MLB fields during rain delays. Covermaster VP Ken Curry wouldn’t discuss details of the pandemic’s impact on the company’s business, but did say they’re optimistic about 2020, largely because of the sudden widespread need to cover empty sections of seats. WTT’s use of the seat covers is a good example, allowing the league to ensure social distancing at a stadium where 20% fan capacity is allowed.
  
  

• Putting a sponsor’s logo on the seat covers also allowed WTT to create a new revenue stream to help offset the lack of paying fans. “We’re providing new branding opportunities that weren’t there before,” Curry said. “In fact, it is a positive for the stadium that’s making the best of a bad situation.” 
  
  
• One of Covermaster’s missions is to make stadiums and venues multipurpose, and that flexibility is even more key this year as pandemic public safety requirements ebb and flow. Creating seat covers that allow the owners to swap out multiple sponsors’ logos with ease is one example. Curry: "We’re adapting as we’re going along, as we see potential needs, as we’re communicating with our customers and what they’re telling us they’re looking for. And I don’t think we’ve hit the end of that.” 

WTT viewers got a glimpse of the Chosen Foods covers blocking off every other row of seats at The Greenbrier

OUTSIDE CONTRIBUTORS: OPEN TO ALL COMERS

• Tonight's op-ed contribution is from Michael Kuh, a partner in Hogan Lovells' Sports, Media & Entertainment industry sector group. Before joining the global law firm, Kuh was the lead outside counsel guiding the creation of the NWSL. He writes under the header, "COVID-19 Is Opening Up The Sports Media Landscape For Non-Marquee Sports."
• "Sports fanatics have been abandoning expensive cable sports packages that funnel millions into league coffers through rights fees and lucrative advertising and sponsorships in favor of mobile and subscription services offering popular, underexposed sports. During the lockdown, consumers’ habits changed; they have not only embraced distance learning, online grocery shopping and telemedicine, but myriad streaming services that feature live sports programming."
• To read the full contribution, click here. 

WORKING FROM HOME WITH U.S. SOCCER’S CAITLIN CARDUCCI

• With U.S. Soccer’s Chicago HQ closed the past several months, the federation’s Manager of Member Programs Caitlin Carducci called an audible early in quarantine and has been working remotely from her hometown of Columbus, Ohio. “I could either stay in Chicago in my 600-square-foot apartment by myself or I could be in my parents' basement, which is now where I've pretty much taken up residence,” she said. The move has paid off in her eyes. Carducci: “I don't think I would have been able to keep my sanity there, so I’m fortunate that I've been able to come here and be with family.”
  
  
• With 113 member organizations to oversee, Carducci is used to traveling at least once or twice a month for various games and events, which has obviously not been these case as of late. Carducci: “In my role, I'm really outward facing. … So, that was a change, and not necessarily a negative one, but definitely the interaction piece.” She added that one positive as U.S. Soccer works on guidelines for teams to safely return to the field has been being able to get input from the entire organization, as many employees’ roles have not been what they normally would be.
  
  
• U.S. Soccer has been relying on the wisdom of Chief Medical Officer Dr. George Chiampas, who Carducci said is often internally referred to as “Soccer Fauci.” She said, “He likes to tell us, ‘Always just remember the virus is in charge, we're not in charge.’ … So, we have plans, we have ideas, we’re very conservatively thinking spring 2021, we might start seeing more games, as far as on the higher level. But beyond that, if we can get some programming in this fall that would be huge.”
  
  
• Carducci is preparing for a potential return to the re-opened Chicago office after Labor Day, but knows nothing is a given at this point. “Our organization and our leadership team are being very understanding that even with all the safeguards in place, returning to an office setting is just something that some people might be a little more nervous about,” she said.

Carducci has been carrying out her work duties from her parents' basement in Columbus over the past several months

SPEED READS

• Dr. Anthony Fauci will be on-hand to throw out the first pitch at Nationals Park this Thursday as part of the defending World Series champion's Opening Day. The Nationals in a statement said Fauci "has been a true champion for our country during the COVID-19 pandemic and throughout his distinguished career."
  
  
• The MLS is Back Tournament is averaging 231,000 viewers across Fox, ESPN, ESPN2 and FS1, and the broadcast windows for several games is contributing to lower figures, SBJ's Austin Karp reports. Four of the 14 games to date have aired at 9am ET, and none of those games have topped 175,000 viewers. ESPN and ESPN2 are combining to average 236,000 viewers, while Fox and FS1 are averaging 224,000. For more on MLS viewership, see tonight's SBJ Media newsletter.
  
  
• In this week's SBJ, Mark J. Burns catches up with NWSL Commissioner Lisa Baird about being the first U.S. pro team league to return from the sports shutdown. When asked what grade she’d give herself and the NWSL thus far for the Challenge Cup, the first year commissioner said she’d wait until after the tournament and once “the health of all of the players and staff is secured.”
  
  
• There is a "good chance the college basketball season will look different this winter," and Wichita State AD Darron Boatright is "preparing for all of the what-if scenarios," per the Wichita Eagle. In the case that fans are allowed in arenas but social distancing must be followed, Boatright said that WSU has "briefly explored the possibility of hosting games at Intrust Bank Arena." The downtown Wichita arena has "about 5,000 more seats than Koch Arena, WSU’s on-campus arena."
  
  
• All-sources handle for the first four days of the Saratoga Race Course's 40-day summer meet was nearly $81 million, a 9.4% increase over last year’s figure of $73.4 million, per Daily Racing Form's David Grening. Due to COVID-19-related restrictions, "which include no fans on-site and only limited owners with no access to mutuel machines, nearly all money wagered on Saratoga came via account-wagering platforms."
  
  
• The Ballon d'Or has been "cancelled for the first time in the award's history" due to the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on the soccer calendar. Organizers of the award announced in a statement that the "conditions for the prize to take place had not been met." 

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:
   
  
  • NFLers Want Stronger Safety Protocols Before Returning To Play
  • Blue Jays Eyeing PNC Park After Canadian Government's Decision
  • MLB Gains Momentum With Small Number Of Positive Virus Tests
  • Stadiums Get More Time Following MLS Expansion Delay

SBJ UNPACKS -- THE ROAD AHEAD

• Check out the most recent editions of our "SBJ Unpacks" podcasts around COVID-19:
  
  
  • Calm app Chief Medical Officer Omar Dawood on his company’s deal with LeBron James and other mental health dynamics amid the pandemic.
    
    
  • Aspen Institute's Tom Farrey discusses a potential return for youth sports and share a few rays of hope
    
    
  • Speedway Motorsports Chief Strategy Officer Mike Burch on the logistics that went into NASCAR's All-Star race.
    
    

2020 SBJ THOUGHT LEADERS RETREAT (VIRTUAL)

• Aug. 13, 2:00-7:00pm ET (by invitation only)
  
  
• The road ahead has never been more challenging -- and it has never been more important for executive leadership to pause, learn, reflect and relax in order to prepare themselves to step up and navigate what the future holds. This year, we are continuing the tradition of Thought Leaders, creating the industry’s most intimate, senior-level event with a virtual program.
  
  
• Content will include:
  
  
  • Mindful Leadership with Pandit Dasa
  • The C-Suite Imperative: Corporate Responsibility & Social Impact
  • The New Fan Experience: A 360-degree approach; a 365-day Journey
  • Reinvented: A Conversation with Agent Leigh Steinberg
  • Supporting Social Justice Reform: Backing Words with Action
  • Navigating the Road Ahead: Fundamental Shifts We Can Expect in the Sports Business (group discussions)
    
    
• In addition to the compelling content, we will have plenty of time for some of the best virtual networking activities of the year, including:
  
  
  • Jack Daniel’s whiskey tasting
    • Aquimo golf (live challenge)
    • Aquimo cornhole (live challenge)
    • Cooking demo with "Iron Chef" Marc Forgione
    • A private set from John Popper and Brian Wilson of Blues Traveler
    
    
• For more information please visit, www.Thought-Leaders-Retreat.com.

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.

It’s funny how expectations have changed. At first, I was dismayed to learn there’d be no gallery at The Memorial, the PGA Tour stop that was something of a tradition for me growing up in Ohio.

After four months of lockdowns, and endless off-the-field drama around the return of sports, I’m pretty happy it’s happening at all, fans or not.

-- Ben Fischer

SOURCE: STADIUM DELAYS AMONG REASONS FOR MLS EXPANSION DECISION

• MLS is postponing the inaugural seasons of three expansion clubs due to the COVID-19 pandemic and its impact on stadium construction and business operations, reports SBJ’s Mark J. Burns. Charlotte’s debut will move from 2021 to 2022, while St. Louis and the Sacramento Republic FC, which currently plays in the USL Championship, will begin play in 2023 instead of 2022.
  
  
• A source familiar with the situation said that there have been delays in Charlotte’s renovation of Bank of America Stadium in addition to construction delays for Sacramento’s new 21,000-seat stadium. At this time, it’s hard to determine if St. Louis’ new stadium is still on its original projected timeline, the source said. The decision to delay was made by Commissioner Don Garber and the league’s expansion committee.
  
  
• Austin FC is still scheduled to debut in 2021 at their new stadium. Team President Andy Loughnane tweeted this afternoon: “Unwavering commitment from Club ownership, stadium+training facility progress, onboarding of key partners/staff/roster, pace of ticket sales, and pent-up demand from supporters to launch ATX's major league team serve as our compass.”
  
  
• Tepper Sports & Entertainment President Tom Glick, whose organization operates the Charlotte MLS club, said in a Twitter video interview: “This is a case where more time will be a benefit. We now have 20 months until the spring of 2022. It’s the perfect amount of time. ... This is a club that we are establishing for Charlotte and for North and South Carolina that’s going to be around for the next 100 years or more.”

NFL PROCEEDS TOWARD CAMP DESPITE UNION QUESTIONS

• The week ends without a final deal between the NFL and NFLPA on COVID-19 mitigation procedures or how pandemic losses will affect players’ salaries, but it’s all systems go for the opening of training camp, SBJ’s Ben Fischer reports. This could set the stage for a union grievance if the sides don’t come together soon.
  
  
• On a 90-minute conference call with reporters on today, NFLPA Executive Director DeMaurice Smith said: "The league has made the decision that they want to start training camp on time. The role of the union is to hold them accountable on how to make sure it's safe to open camp now.” Owners met privately today, saying afterwards they would continue to implement health and safety protocols developed so far with the union, and promised to “address additional issues in a cooperative way."
  
  
• The deadlock may come to a head as soon as Monday, when rookies and some veterans for the Chiefs and Texans have been instructed to report to camp. Others will follow over the coming two weeks. Players say they’re concerned about testing frequency, quarantining, acclimation periods, and don’t even want to discuss economics until those are settled.

TOKYO VENUES, SCHEDULE SECURED FOR 2021 SUMMER OLYMPICS

• Tokyo Olympics organizers told the 136th session of the IOC that they’ve secured the use of the Games’ planned venues, reports SBJ’s Chris Smith. Organizers have also finalized the schedule for next year’s Games, which remain nearly identical to the version originally prepared for 2020, and are now tasked with determining how to safely hold the Olympics in the midst of a pandemic.
  
  
• “We believe that COVID-19 countermeasures are the biggest issue and biggest challenge,” said Tokyo 2020 CEO Toshiro Muto. The organizing committee has partnered with the governments of Japan and Tokyo to deliberate potential countermeasures and will specifically consider areas like immigration control, enhanced virus testing and transportation, among others. Organizers expect to face an increase in costs, though Muto said the full scale of the additional expenses won’t be clear until this fall.
  
  
• In a press conference following today’s session, IOC President Thomas Bach said his organization and Tokyo organizers continue to review contingency plans, including the possibility of hosting the Games with limited or no spectators. Bach also expressed little concern over the narrow six-month window now separating the Tokyo and 2022 Winter Games in Beijing, even arguing that the short time span may prove beneficial: “The awareness of the Olympic Games from Tokyo can be transferred, at least in part, to Beijing 2022,” said Bach.
  
  
• This week’s session, the first ever to be conducted by video conference, also included the election of two new IOC VPs in John Coates (Australia) and Ser Miang Ng (Singapore), as well as two executive board members in Mikaela Cojuangco-Jaworski (Philippines) and Gerardo Werthein (Argentina). Five IOC new members were also elected, including current World Athletics President Sebastian Coe.

SPORTS PRODUCTION ROLLS WITH THE PUNCHES WITH NO FANS

• MLS has been an interesting TV experiment without fans in the stands in Orlando. Fox Sports pumps in crowd noise on linear TV, while ESPN does not (Fox does offer a no-noise option online). For games on ESPN, there is a clear sound of participants via more than 30 microphones across three fields, wireless cameras and remote-controlled transmitters buried just under the grass.
  
  
• ESPN Remote Operations Specialist Kevin Cleary told Sports Video Group News: “We’re able to hear an enormous amount of interaction between players and teams and officials on the field, more than we’ve ever heard for soccer before. We’re constantly picking up conversations between players and coaches and officials. If you’re a fan of soccer, you’ve never heard it like this.”
  
  
• Looking inside the TV booth, longtime NBA play-by-play announcer Mike Breen, on the ESPN Daily podcast, said calling games without fans will be completely different. “There are times that the crowds have chants that become part of the broadcast because they’re chanting something that either has something to do with the game or something to do with a player, and you take your cue from that and it’s something that you need to address,” he said of fans. “You really do take your cue from them a lot, and that’s why this is going to be such an intriguing thing for all of us.” 
  
  
• Breen, who will be in Orlando for the games, noted some warmup matchups will likely experiment with piping in crowd noise or music, but no final decisions have been made. “If I have to pull back and talk less, I will,” Breen said of a no-noise game. “While the ball is in play, to counter the silent ambiance, there will be certain instances where we might talk now where wouldn’t have in the past. But I think there’s something about the hearing the sneakers squeaking, the ball bouncing, guys calling out screens, coaches calling from the sidelines. If you can capture some of that, if that truly does come through for the viewer at home, then I think it would be important for us to talk a little bit less.”

An array of microphones and wireless cameras are capturing clearer sound during fan-less MLS matches

WORLD SURF LEAGUE FORMS PLANS FOR 2021, BEYOND

• World Surf League this morning canceled its 2020 season and announced that major changes to its competitive format will be enacted over the next 18 months when pro surfing restarts, writes SBJ's Bret McCormick. 
  
  
• Two of the changes will generate extra buzz and content opportunities for the WSL and its broadcast partners.
  
  
  • The 2021 institution of a one-day, scheduled world championship final is a first, enabling WSL to name the day and time that the sport’s world champs will be crowned (champions were previously determined by points standings with no set date for a resolution).
    
    
  • The second change, beginning in 2022, will see the WSL’s Championship Tour, its top level, create a mid-season cut that reduces the tour’s field by half. That gives the WSL what CEO Erik Logan called a “marketable event,” and broadcasters an interesting story to explore mid-season.
    
    
• Logan took over as CEO on Jan. 1, and the WSL was two weeks away from starting its season when the pandemic hit. By April, conversations turned to future possibilities, as well as sorting through varied solutions with some of the tour’s big name sponsors like Corona, Red Bull, Jeep, IKEA and all the major surfing brands. Logan said it was obvious to sponsors that 2020 was a no-go, but that they wanted to know that WSL had a plan to move forward.
  
  
• Logan said that he was 100% empowered by WSL ownership to consider every aspect of the business and competition. “We’re invigorating, innovating and driving the sport forward and doing the things necessary to propel us for the next 10 years.” 

MLS PROGRESSING WITH COVID PROTECTION

• After the departures of FC Dallas and Nashville SC from the MLS is Back Tournament due to too many positive COVID-19 cases, the league now appears to have a tighter hold on the Orlando bubble, writes SBJ’s Mark J. Burns. In back-to-back league disclosures on July 14 and July 16, no person as part of the delegation -- players, coaches, referees, staffs and other personnel -- staying at the host hotel have tested positive for COVID-19. That includes testing 1,227 people from July 12-13 and 1,124 people from July 14-15.
  
  
• Meanwhile, Co.Protect, a branded protective equipment provider, is now a supplier of single-use facemasks for MLS teams, including those participating in the bubble. The company, which was co-founded by LAFC co-Owner & President Tom Penn, has provided almost 300,000 custom masks to MLS to date. Its deal with MLS is the organization’s first entry into pro sports. The custom masks feature club logos for teams, the league logo for MLS staff and the Professional Referee Organization’s logo for referees.

OUTSIDE CONTRIBUTORS: ESPORTS EXPANDS PROFILE

• Tonight's op-ed contribution is from Will Deller & Alex Grigg in the London office of global law firm Bird & Bird. They write under the header, "Coronavirus And Esports -- Adapting To A New Reality." 
• "In the face of COVID-19, digital content has had to adapt and evolve like never before. But in a world where live content is scarce, esports has shown itself to be remarkably adaptable, expanding its profile both on mainstream television and on streaming platforms."
• To read the full contribution, click here.

SPEED READS

• Positive news out of the latest round of MLB-MLPBA testing through Thursday: 6 of 10,548 samples (0.05%) tested positive. The past week also "included a 5-day period in which no new positives were reported." Five of 6 the positives were players and one was a staff member, per the N.Y. Post's Joel Sherman.
  
  
• Texas A&M VP/Brand Development Shane Hinckley told ESPN that the athletic department expects to weather the pandemic better than most schools. "I saw what Arizona did," he said, referencing that school's decision to make across-the-board furloughs and pay cuts, including to athletics. "Right now, Texas A&M is not going through that process. But there are divisions that are looking at eliminating open positions, not rehiring ... and there may be some staff loss, based upon what each unit decides to do, but that's definitely not the general consensus across the board."
  
  
• Pacers Owner Steve Simon is putting his money to work during the pandemic with a recent investment in Ergatta, a Brooklyn-based home fitness startup. Simon was part of a $5 million funding round for the company which makes a connected rower product that Crunchbase notes “seems more like e-sports than fitness.” Ergatta co-Founder & CEO Tom Aulet: “It is part video game, part sports.” 
  
  
• Americans continue to find an outlet via sports amid the pandemic. Golf equipment sales in June were up 50%, while racquet sports were up more than 33%. Basketball equipment -- outside of shoes -- were also up 25%, per data from NPD Group VP & Senior Sports Industry Adviser Matt Powell.
  
  
• The Colonial Athletic Association's BOD on Friday voted to suspend conference football competition in the fall due to continuing concerns associated with the pandemic.

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:
   
  
  • Daniel Snyder Responds Following Story On Team's Workplace Culture
  • NCAA Announces Testing Guidelines In Hopes Of Saving Fall Sports
  • AAC's Aresco Calls Playing Football In Spring A "Last Resort"
  • Sources: NBA Letting More Team Execs Attend Games In Bubble

SBJ UNPACKS -- THE ROAD AHEAD

• Check out the most recent editions of our "SBJ Unpacks" podcasts around COVID-19:
  
  
  • Aspen Institute's Tom Farrey discusses a potential return for youth sports and share a few rays of hope
    
    
  • Speedway Motorsports Chief Strategy Officer Mike Burch on the logistics that went into NASCAR's All-Star race.
    
    
  • Gather Managing Director David Gaspar on the state of the agency business during the pandemic and much more.

2020 SBJ THOUGHT LEADERS RETREAT (VIRTUAL)

• Aug. 13, 2:00-7:00pm ET (by invitation only)
  
  
• The road ahead has never been more challenging -- and it has never been more important for executive leadership to pause, learn, reflect and relax in order to prepare themselves to step up and navigate what the future holds. This year, we are continuing the tradition of Thought Leaders, creating the industry’s most intimate, senior-level event with a virtual program.
  
  
• Content will include:
  
  
  • Mindful Leadership with Pandit Dasa
  • The C-Suite Imperative: Corporate Responsibility & Social Impact
  • The New Fan Experience: A 360-degree approach; a 365-day Journey
  • Reinvented: A Conversation with Agent Leigh Steinberg
  • Supporting Social Justice Reform: Backing Words with Action
  • Navigating the Road Ahead: Fundamental Shifts We Can Expect in the Sports Business (group discussions)
    
    
• In addition to the compelling content, we will have plenty of time for some of the best virtual networking activities of the year, including:
  
  
  • Jack Daniel’s whiskey tasting
    • Aquimo golf (live challenge)
    • Aquimo cornhole (live challenge)
    • Cooking demo with "Iron Chef" Marc Forgione
    • A private set from John Popper and Brian Wilson of Blues Traveler
    
    
• For more information please visit, www.Thought-Leaders-Retreat.com.

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.

NASCAR’s All-Star Race last night at Bristol Motor Speedway may have provided a glimpse of hope with the event drawing some 22,000 fans, the largest crowd for a sporting event since the shutdown, but White Sox and Bulls chairman Jerry Reinsdorf today added a dose of reality for the sports industry.

He told USA Today that the pandemic has cost his two teams and the United Center an estimated nine-figure loss. You can bet Reinsdorf’s fellow pro sports owners are feeling his pain.

-- John Lombardo

REPORT: SEXUAL HARASSMENT RAMPANT AT WASHINGTON NFL TEAM

• Fifteen former female Redskins employees have accused senior team executives of sexual harassment in a Washington Post story published today, painting a dark picture of rampant misconduct and lax oversight throughout the franchise. The story dropped shortly after 5:00pm on Thursday, culminating a week of growing speculation about the damaging story, writes SBJ's Ben Fischer. 
  
  
• Owner Daniel Snyder and former team president Bruce Allen both escaped direct implication of wrongdoing in the article, but the women “expressed skepticism the men were unaware of the behavior they allege,” according to the Post. Furthermore, they blame Snyder for an understaffed HR department that was incapable of proper employee oversight and a “sophomoric culture of verbal abuse” that trickled down into the rank-and-file.
  
  
• The primary targets of the women’s complaints are:
  
  
  • Former COO Mitch Gershman, who left in 2015.
  • Former President of Business Operations Dennis Greene, who left in 2018 after his role in selling access to cheerleaders came to light.
    
    
• Three executives who left the organization after the Post started its reporting:
  
  
  • Senior VP/Content Larry Michael (he retired Wednesday);
  • Director of Pro Personnel Alex Santos and Assistant Director Of Pro Personnel Richard Mann III (both fired Sunday.)
    
    

• The Post said that Snyder “routinely belittled top executives,” according to three former members of his executive staff. While the one anecdote about Snyder in the article was not sexual in nature, it describes Snyder ridiculing Greene for being a collegiate male cheerleader and ordering him to do cartwheels for his entertainment.
  
  
• NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell did not immediately reply to a request for comment. 

KEY TAKEAWAYS FROM NASCAR ALL-STAR RACE

• More than 20,000 race fans flowed through the gates and into their seats Wednesday night for NASCAR’s All-Star Race at Bristol Motor Speedway. Some have cheered this as progress. Others gasped at the perceived risk. 
  
  
• SBJ’s Bill King discussed the machinations required to bring thousands of fans back to a sporting event and dug into some important takeaways from it with Speedway Motorsports chief strategy officer Mike Burch on the latest episode of the SBJ Unpacks podcast.
  
  
• Chief among them: The challenge of bringing thousands into, and out of, the facility while keeping safe spacing between them. While SMI dealt with entry by assigning arrival times with each digital ticket, Burch worried that keeping fans from rushing out together would prove difficult.
  
  
•  “I thought, checkered flag falls, it’s just going to be a stampede and people are going to be climbing over the seats,” said Burch, whose company will welcome thousands of fans to another of its speedways this weekend when NASCAR runs at Texas Motor Speedway. “Everybody stayed in their seats ... and then everybody actually waited for the ushers to come and say you can go. ... I was really surprised at how conscientious the fans were. They really exceeded our expectations on that front.”

NEW STUDY IDENTIFIES PANDEMIC IMPLICATIONS FOR SPONSORSHIP

• The impact of racial and social justice issues was examined in wave six of MKTG's SRI research arm's ongoing study of the pandemic’s implications for sponsorship and event marketers, writes SBJ's Terry Lefton.
  
  
• SRI did an online survey of 493 people in June, age 18-and-above, just weeks after the death of George Floyd. The survey sample was structured to represent the U.S. population.
  
  
  • A mixed consumer sentiment was indicated. Since Wave 1 of the study in March, those feeling “hopeful,” increased from 29% to 41%. However, there were increases from those saying they were nervous (26%, up 5 points) and scared (17%, up 5 points). Those emotional indicators had been in general decline since March.
    
    
  • While 94% of those surveyed listed COVID-19 as the news story they are following “somewhat/very closely,” racial and social injustice was fourth at 86%, and ahead of the presidential election at 84%.
    
    
  • After weeks of protests, social justice and racial equity are more top of mind, but still polarizing. Around 53% of the respondents agreed that brands should “do more to combat racial and social injustice,” versus 20% who disagreed, and 27% with no opinion. Half of those surveyed said they would “support a brand that takes a stance on social issues,” with 22% disagreeing, and 28% neither agreeing, nor disagreeing.
    
    
• “Brands have to careful when marketing in this environment, but consumers are open to it. They are engaging in it,” said MKTG Senior VP Doug Hall. “But there are still a fair amount who say it's not a place for brands, so proceed with caution.”
  
   

SUN BELT DELAYING FOOTBALL CALL UNTIL "LATEST POSSIBLE TIME"

• For the time being, the Sun Belt Conference still has its sights set on a 12-game football season, writes SBJ's Michael Smith. While the prospects for that plan appear to get more challenging by the day, Commissioner Keith Gill is not ready to make any fundamental adjustments, even if COVID-19 cases are trending the wrong way in much of the Sun Belt’s footprint. Gill: “We’re focused on a 12-game regular season; that’s what we’re talking about. … I try to be an optimist even though we certainly have some tough choices ahead. But right now, we’re not going to make any decisions that we don’t have to make.”
  
  
• Two Sun Belt schools -- Arkansas State and Appalachian State -- lost games when the Big Ten decided to go to a conference-only schedule. The implications for several more Sun Belt teams could be far greater if the SEC or ACC drop non-conference opponents. Until those Power Five conferences decide on a schedule in the next 2-3 weeks, it will be difficult for the Sun Belt to proceed. Gill: “We’ll be around that same timetable. Our philosophy has been to delay making any decisions until the latest possible time.”
  
  
• A few more reactions from Gill:
  
  
  • On playing the 2020 season in the spring: “We really haven’t had many conversations about that. The spring is the last resort. Spring football is better than no football.”
    
    
  • On playing or not playing: “Everyone acts like it’s this binary choice. ‘If you play, people will get infected and if you don’t play, they won’t.’ It’s not like that. It’s a pandemic, so people are going to get infected. But you watch the data and you listen to health professionals. That’s what is really important. The virus is dynamic and ever-changing, so it’s not like you can say, ‘Do this and that will happen.’ You do your best to mitigate risk.”
    
    
  • On having athletes on campus vs. at home: “I would say, in a vacuum, you would rather have them in the collegiate environment working out with people who are hypersensitive to cleanliness, they’re inundated with medical personnel, and every day people are being educated about COVID vs. the local gym. I think there is a legitimate argument that it’s better to be on campus.”

LPGA LEANS ON NEW & CURRENT PARTNERS AHEAD OF RESTART

• The LPGA is turning to both new and current partners to help with its health and safety efforts around its restart, writes SBJ's John Lombardo. The tour will return with the LPGA Drive On Championship set for July 31-Aug. 2 at Inverness Club in Toledo, to be followed by the Marathon LPGA Classic held Aug. 6-9 at Highland Meadows Golf Club in Sylvania, Ohio.

• The tour has signed a deal with Whoop to supply all players, caddies, and staff across the LPGA Tour, Symetra Tour, and Ladies European Tour with more than 1,000 wearable bands that identify elevated respiratory rates that may indicate COVID-19 before the onset of symptoms. The deal also makes Whoop the official fitness wearable provider of the LPGA and comes after the PGA Tour provided Whoops' wearables to its players last month.
  
  
• The LPGA also signed a new deal with Theraworx Protect to become its official hygiene solutions provider, providing hand and facial sanitizers for the tour. Cambia, a LPGA sponsor since 2014, is now the tour’s official mask partner and will provide masks to all players, caddies and staff when the season resumes late this month.

ESPN PREPARES PRODUCTION CONTINGENCIES AMID PANDEMIC

• ESPN is promising that “College GameDay” will air this fall should there be a college football season, but it “won’t look like the traveling circus fans have grown accustomed to over almost three decades,” according to the AP's Ralph Russo. ESPN VP/Production Lee Fitting said, “We’re still determining what ‘GameDay’ would look like this season and, frankly, it could be different every week. ... It could be potentially on the sidelines of an early game. It could be on the concourse in a stadium. It could even still be on campus. Will there be thousands of fans behind our set screaming like we’ve known it the last however many years? Absolutely not.”
  
  
• Meanwhile, ESPN today announced that Matt Vasgersian and Alex Rodriguez will be calling "Sunday Night Baseball" games from a studio in Bristol, while the plan is to have analyst Buster Olney on-site at this point in time. Vasgersian told the N.Y. Daily News, "I'm not sure what would be weirder -- calling a game from a studio, or calling a game from inside a ballpark (with no fans)." 

STATUS OF SPORTS LEAGUES

• Two more sports leagues have started back up, albeit with one key difference, writes SBJ's Bret McCormick. World TeamTennis is playing in a quarantine bubble at a resort in West Virginia, while the USL Championship is taking the biggest risk of any American sports league yet by playing in teams’ home markets with reduced amounts of fans in stadiums.
• Check out SBJ's website for a rundown of major sports leagues/organizations and where they currently stand on the resumption of play. 

SPEED READS

• The Falcons and Panthers are the latest NFL teams to offer season-ticket opt out options for 2020. The Falcons today "started communicating" their plan for expected crowd limitations with season-ticket holders, informing them that "money already paid for 2020 season tickets will remain on their account." The Panthers in an email to season-ticket holders wrote, "In order to accommodate as many PSL Owners as possible in this reduced-capacity scenario, we plan to make a limited number of home games available to each account."

Download the Chart

• The Nationals are "unsure if they will begin this season playing at Nationals Park due to municipal coronavirus protocols," according to sources cited by the Washington Post. The team is "actively exploring alternative sites -- with Opening Day now only a week away." The "main reason for the uncertainty is that players, coaches and staff have to quarantine for 14 days if they are exposed to the novel coronavirus, per the city’s health protocols." D.C. is "unwilling to bend that requirement for the Nationals."

• ESPN's Greg Wyshynski gave his take on the new NHL CBA, and had fun with one particular aspect hitting home amid the pandemic. Wyshynski, on the "ESPN on Ice" podcast, said, "The players did really well for themselves here. … The one thing that I love about the CBA from a players’ perspective, I feel like it was written by spouses and partners. The amount of stuff that came the way of family members in this CBA is kind of incredible. … The house hunters provision -- wherein the player and his spouse or partner get round-trip business class tickets and baggage paid for where they can go to the place where they’ve been traded or signed and they go house-hunting on the NHL’s dime. … There’s more tangible stuff in this document for spouses than there are for rookies." ESPN's Emily Kaplan: "That provision I felt like was a direct response to the last 25% of this (negotiation) being done when everyone was stuck at home and they’re having to be dads and husbands."
  
  
• The NCAA issued an updated “resocialization” policy that includes protocols for testing in advance of competition. Michael Smith in the SBJ College newsletter writes essentially what you need to know is that athletes should be tested within 72 hours of competition for high-contact sports like football and basketball. If testing cannot be performed, “the competition should be postponed or canceled, or an alternative plan for testing should be developed and agreed upon.”
  
  
• The Wall Street Journal writes under the header, "Is It a Problem That Sports Gets Fast Test Results and You Don’t?" The "sharp difference in testing experiences in a state raging with coronavirus infections is the source of a moral quandary casting a shadow over the American sports restart." With a "finite number of tests and a premium on fast turnarounds, the question now is the same as it was four months ago: whether it’s possible to resume sports without damaging public health."
  
  
• Baseball America's Teddy Cahill reports that while college baseball recruiting has "gone online," it also "hasn't slowed down." Instead of coaches traveling across the country to watch players in person at events, they are "watching the events from home on live streams." One recruiting coordinator said, “Who knew it would be more difficult to get from field to field in Atlanta and building your schedule the night before than pulling up live streams? You’ve got Periscope, PlaySight, FloSports. You’ve got to have 10 different log ins and passwords. What time zone is it in?" 
  
  
• Spotted today at Citi Field: Mets employees installing fan cutouts in preparation for Opening Day, per MLB.com's Anthony DiComo.
  
  

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:
   
  
  • MLB Adds Second Testing Lab On East Coast To Expedite Results
  • MLB Clubs Begin Testing Out Artificial Noise At Exhibitions
  • Source: Some NFL Owners Push For Reducing Salary Cap In '21
  • Sources: Golf's U.S. Open Still Unlikely To Allow Fan Attendance

SBJ UNPACKS -- THE ROAD AHEAD

• Check out the most recent editions of our "SBJ Unpacks" podcasts around COVID-19:
  
  
  • Speedway Motorsports Chief Strategy Officer Mike Burch on the logistics that went into NASCAR's All-Star race.
  • Gather Managing Director David Gaspar on the state of the agency business during the pandemic and much more.
  • Michael Smith catches up with ESPN's Paul Finebaum on his expectations around the college football season.

2020 SBJ THOUGHT LEADERS RETREAT (VIRTUAL)

• Aug. 13, 2:00-7:00pm ET (by invitation only)
  
  
• The road ahead has never been more challenging -- and it has never been more important for executive leadership to pause, learn, reflect and relax in order to prepare themselves to step up and navigate what the future holds. This year, we are continuing the tradition of Thought Leaders, creating the industry’s most intimate, senior-level event with a virtual program.
  
  
• Content will include:
  
  
  • Mindful Leadership with Pandit Dasa
  • The C-Suite Imperative: Corporate Responsibility & Social Impact
  • The New Fan Experience: A 360-degree approach; a 365-day Journey
  • Reinvented: A Conversation with Agent Leigh Steinberg
  • Supporting Social Justice Reform: Backing Words with Action
  • Navigating the Road Ahead: Fundamental Shifts We Can Expect in the Sports Business (group discussions)
    
    
• In addition to the compelling content, we will have plenty of time for some of the best virtual networking activities of the year, including:
  
  
  • Jack Daniel’s whiskey tasting
    • Aquimo golf (live challenge)
    • Aquimo cornhole (live challenge)
    • Cooking demo with "Iron Chef" Marc Forgione
    • A private set from John Popper and Brian Wilson of Blues Traveler
    
    
• For more information please visit, www.Thought-Leaders-Retreat.com.

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.

The University of Michigan made news this morning by announcing that if a 2020 college football season happens, the school will only sell tickets on an individual basis to season-ticket holders and students. It was a stark reminder of where we’re at in 2020, sports and non-sports related. 

Like so many others in sports, I’ll be keeping a close eye on tonight’s NASCAR All-Star Race at Bristol where 30,000 fans are expected to attend in a 160,000-seat venue. Meanwhile, in a bit of positive news, MLS announced last night zero positive COVID-19 cases on July 12-13, when they tested 1,227 people inside the Orlando bubble.

Now, much to my mom’s delight, I’m finally off to get a much needed haircut for the first time since Feb. 27. ...

Be kind to one another.

-- Mark J. Burns

NFL OWNERS TO MEET AS TIME RUNS LOW

• An NFL-NFLPA deal on pandemic rules remains elusive as the first half of July wraps, and now team owners have scheduled a Friday meeting as the pressure builds, reports SBJ’s Ben Fischer. The combination of slow progress with the union and the soaring COVID-19 caseloads in some NFL markets are causing angst for those intent on starting training camp on time.
  
  
• There’s no actual deadline for a deal, and camp doesn’t open until July 28. But consider California as an example for why the twin issues are a problem: Facing a massive spread of the virus, Gov. Gavin Newsom has moved to shut down almost all indoor businesses in the state’s most populous counties. In that environment, the 49ers and Rams both need approval from county health regulators to start camp -- but they can’t apply for approval without sharing their plans to prevent virus spread, which don’t exist until the union deal is done.
  
  
• As the hope for meaningful live attendance declines, more than two-thirds of NFL teams have now given season-ticket holders an opt-out for 2020 or canceled season tickets entirely. The Broncos and Chargers most recently joined the list, in both cases offering fans options to roll over their current accounts to 2021 or seek a refund, but allowing fans to also sit tight as final attendance rules are developed. 

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ELENA DELLE DONNE IN "SHOCK" OVER WNBA'S DECISION 

• Mystics forward Elena Delle Donne being denied a medical exemption for the 2020 season by the WNBA's panel of doctors appears to have "one of the faces of the league ... being forced to choose between her health and her livelihood," per Ava Wallace of the Washington Post. Delle Donne, a two-time WNBA MVP, publicly has dealt with Lyme disease for 12 years, and the doctors' refusal to grant an exemption "drew widespread criticism on social media."
  
  
• Delle Donne today on ESPN's "SportsCenter" said she was in "shock" by the league's decision. She added that her being an MVP "might" have made a difference in the league's decision. Delle Donne: "I would hope they would treat me as player X and they see that I’ve been treated for something for nine years, they would see my blood work, I submitted everything, so I really hope that wasn’t the reason why this happened." Delle Donne also penned a piece for The Players' Tribune this afternoon. 
  
  
• For more on Delle Donne, check out SBJ's Instant Insight video from earlier today, where John Lombardo gives his take on the situation.

USL CLUB OFFERS TAKEAWAYS FROM UNIQUE STADIUM OPENING

• Louisville City FC over the weekend opened the $65 million, HOK-designed Lynn Family Stadium to 4,850 fans -- a third of its 15,304 capacity -- yet still a major accomplishment at a time when fans are overwhelmingly being kept away from sporting venues, writes SBJ's Karn Dhingra.

• LCFC President Brad Estes provided some advice and observations: “Look at your stadium to see how you can social distance people safely, understand your fanbase, and if they are not a conscientious fanbase, I would not have them in the building. I think our fans were conscientious, they did a good job following the rules … and I felt good about the mentality of the fans and security. I thought they did good job of managing the stress of kind of being restricted.” 
  
  
• The team was given the green light by local officials to bring in 7,500 fans at 50% capacity, but chose to host fewer fans because team officials thought it would be safer. The team has 8,000 season-ticket holders and took tenure into account when deciding who could attend the game, Estes said. The club also gave priority to fans who donated money and paid for tickets to later games that they wouldn't be able attend. 
  
  
• All fans were required to wear a mask; if they did not bring a mask, one was provided. Concessions stands were cashless and had plexiglass dividers between workers and customers. Seating configurations provided spacing between groups of fans, cleaning crews were visible wiping surfaces, and sanitizer stations were set up around the venue. 

• Eric Granger, ASM Global’s GM for Lynn Family Stadium, said the stadium’s food and beverage provider did not reduce food options nor did it limit alcohol sales. Premium fans were not allowed to congregate in those areas because of distancing protocols. “Until you open a new facility, you really don’t know how fans are going to flow through a stadium, which concession stands are going to be the busiest, and where you will need more staff. So other than those tweaks, I don’t see much changing,” Granger added. 

LCFC required all fans to wear a mask for the stadium's opening and adhere to social distancing guidelines

PGA TOUR STAGES SECOND WEDNESDAY CHARITABLE EVENT

• The PGA Tour this afternoon staged its second nine-hole charity exhibition since returning to play in early June. Today's match showcased Jon Rahm and Tony Finau against Ian Poulter and Graeme McDowell at Muirfield ahead of The Memorial Tournament. 
  
  
• Similar to the Detroit iteration two weeks ago, which saw a grouping of Bubba Watson, Harold Varner, Jason Day and Wesley Bryan raise over $1 million for local charities, Rahm and Finau played for Nationwide Children’s Hospital in nearby Columbus, while Poulter and McDowell represented the Hospital’s On Our Sleeves national behavioral health movement. All four players were mic'd up to give Golf Channel viewers further insight into the competition and banter.
  
  
• PGA Tour Senior Manager for Social Impact Adam Loberstein told SBJ's Thomas Leary the Tour had been looking to replace the usual Wednesday pro-ams with a charitable event for each city host, but largely credited Watson for coming up with the idea of a loose, nine-hole match that could play to a TV audience. Loberstein: "Bubba, in speaking with Commissioner [Jay] Monahan, came with this idea of ... supporting Detroit and the Rocket Mortgage Classic and their charities. Bubba knows and has a relationship with (Quicken Loans Founder) Dan Gilbert. … He quickly enlisted Harold to be on his team and it then came together real quick, the idea of having a two-on-two match play event." 
  
  
• Golf Channel has carried each event so far on Wednesday afternoons, with the PGA Tour Live team handling production. Loberstein expressed cautious optimism over the likelihood of more events down the line, as the first two iterations have provided a "model that can be replicated to support some great causes."
  
  
• As for the TV audience, Loberstein emphasized not "over-producing" the event for casual golf fans. "It’s a peek behind the curtain. You’re hearing these guys ribbing each other just like you would with your buddies on a Saturday morning. … We’re pretty cognizant of not wanting to overthink it."
  
  
  

Varner and Watson (pictured from l-r) won the first exhibition in Detroit over Jason Day and Wesley Bryan

AVP LANDS PORSCHE AS EVENT TITLE SPONSOR

• The AVP has signed Porsche as an individual event title sponsor for the Champions Cup Series that begins this weekend in Long Beach, Calif., reports SBJ’s Chris Smith.
  
  
• The three-event series is presented by Acer, and each tournament is individually sponsored by a different brand. As SBD previously reported, Monster Hydro and Wilson are the entitlement partners for the first two events; Porsche will be the title sponsor for the third and final tournament from Aug. 1-2. Porsche will be AVP’s exclusive automotive partner, display a Porsche Cayenne Coupe at the event and have its branding on stadium signage and digital assets.
  
  
• The spectator-free tournament will feature some of the nation’s top players, including Olympians Phil Dalhausser and April Ross, and has a total prize purse of $700,000. The series will be broadcast live across NBC, NBCSN and Amazon Prime Video. Yesterday, SBD reported that AVP has partnered with Task Force Lab to provide the event’s virus testing. 

WORKING FROM HOME WITH ESPN’S KEVIN MARTINEZ

• ESPN VP/Corporate Citizenship Kevin Martinez has been splitting time between West Hartford and the Hudson Valley during quarantine. Since going remote, many ESPN and Disney employees have used the BlueJeans video conference platform to stay in touch. Martinez: “I always want people to turn their cameras on, so I feel like I'm not missing that interpersonal piece. My job is relationship management … The way that people respond is really important to me.” Martinez has also been intrigued by the evolution of the video call. “At first it was kind of unique and exceptional,” he said. “Now, it's a form of business.”
• Martinez has been focused on making sure the company is proactively engaged on social justice matters. That started internally, listening to employees, before extending to broader, external efforts. Martinez: “I spend most of my time making sure that I'm a good learner, making sure that we’re sharing information quickly and relevantly about the relationships that we have with the social justice community, and making sure people understood that corporate social responsibility is built by the social justice space. It’s to help manage the reputation of our company and … make sure the rest of our business is working together collectively.”
• One challenge for Martinez earlier this summer was navigating the fast-moving messaging strategy around the ESPYs broadcast, which altered its format because of the pandemic. “Literally the content of the ESPYs changed up until a week, maybe three days before ... just to make sure that there weren't going to be any other ripples that we weren't accounting for,” he said.
• At home, gardening has been one of Martinez’ favorite activities over the last several months. “To be out in the sun, get a little vitamin D, put something in the ground, water it, make sure that it survived, it takes me away just enough to feel like I'm doing something more purposeful than just working every day,” he said. Martinez and his partner also recently welcomed a Yorkshire Terrier to the family, just a few months after rescuing a German Sheperd. “They’re learning how to live together. … It’s a blessing but a lot of work,” he said.

Martinez and his partner are currently training Danger, their German Sheperd, to get along with their new Yorkshire Terrier

OUTSIDE CONTRIBUTORS: SPONSORSHIP FRAMEWORK

• Tonight's op-ed contribution is from Jeff Marks, founder and CEO of Innovative Partnerships Group, a business development and consulting firm that specializes in naming rights, founding partnerships, sponsorships and B2B partnerships. He writes under the header, "Leaning On Maslow For A New Sponsorship Framework."

• "Sports and entertainment properties, rights holders and operators are in a unique situation to work with brand partners and reset the basics of sponsorships. Understanding the right mix of assets is crucial to delivering value to all parts of a company. Recognizing these needs must come in advance of selling, managing, or activating any sponsorship. Faced with challenging times to our global industry, properties must listen, innovate and right size packages to optimize current and long-term partner value. Referencing Abraham Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs provides a compelling framework for maximizing sponsor value."
  
  
• To read the full contribution, click here.

SPEED READS 

• Tonight's NASCAR All-Star Race at Bristol Motor Speedway will have up to 30,000 fans in attendance, making it the "biggest sports crowd in the country since the coronavirus pandemic called a screeching halt to practically all organized athletic events in March," per USA Today's Mike Hembree. The race is "likely to attract more attention than normal not only because it has been moved from its traditional site at Charlotte Motor Speedway and from its normal weekend scheduling but also because of how the speedway and the Bristol area will handle the influx of fans."
  
  
• Activision Blizzard is talking with owners of its Call of Duty League and Overwatch League franchises about providing some form of financial relief amid the coronavirus cash crunch, including possibly delaying franchise payments, sources tell SBJ's Adam Stern. This was due to be a big year for both leagues, as OWL was starting its first with the full homestand model that the property was predicated on, while CDL was starting its first year under a newly reformatted franchise system that also included geo-located teams and home games. See more in the SBJ Esports newsletter.
  
  
• Del Mar Thoroughbred Club is canceling racing this weekend after 15 jockeys tested positive for COVID-19, per SBJ's Liz Mullen. All of Del Mar’s jockeys and jockey room personnel were tested on Tuesday by San Diego County Health & Human Services Agency staff, the track said in a statement. None of the jockeys showed symptoms of COVID-19 and will be isolated for 10 days. Racing is expected to resume on July 24, the track said. 
  
  
• DC United sent surveys to season-ticket holders over the weekend "seeking feedback on their comfort level attending matches at Audi Field" during the pandemic, an initiative that "parallels MLS's efforts to resume the regular season in home markets late this summer." The survey, obtained by The Washington Post, asks, among other things, "how fans feel about six feet of seating separation from other groups; wearing a mask at matches; and using the stadium’s restrooms and concessions."
  
  
• The Ringer's Bryan Curtis writes under the header, "Sports Are Coming Back. Is Sports Media Coming Back With It?" Beat writers have "done a decent job of jazz-handsing their way through the last three months, pivoting to find stories in sports nostalgia, pop culture, or both." But these stories "won’t fix the American economy on their own, and the transactions stories that goose web traffic every few weeks depend on a season actually happening." Curtis: "Tom Brady to the Bucs is a great story, but only if the Bucs play football."
  
   

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:
   
  
  • NFL, Union Still At Odds In Negotiations For '20 Season
  • NFLPA Worried About Opening Training Camps In Virus Hot Spots
  • Astros Latest Team Frustrated At MLB Over Delayed Test Results
  • Asia Swing Unlikely For PGA Tour In '20 After China's No-Sports Order

SBJ UNPACKS -- THE ROAD AHEAD

• Check out the most recent editions of our "SBJ Unpacks" podcasts around COVID-19:
  
  
  • Gather Managing Director David Gaspar on the state of the agency business during the pandemic and much more.
  • Michael Smith catches up with ESPN's Paul Finebaum on his expectations around the college football season.
  • Ben Fischer joins Bill King to talk about next steps for the Washington NFL team. 

2020 SBJ THOUGHT LEADERS RETREAT (VIRTUAL)

• Aug. 13, 2:00-7:00pm ET (by invitation only)
  
  
• The road ahead has never been more challenging -- and it has never been more important for executive leadership to pause, learn, reflect and relax in order to prepare themselves to step up and navigate what the future holds. This year, we are continuing the tradition of Thought Leaders, creating the industry’s most intimate, senior-level event with a virtual program.
  
  
• Content will include:
  
  
  • Mindful Leadership with Pandit Dasa
  • The C-Suite Imperative: Corporate Responsibility & Social Impact
  • The New Fan Experience: A 360-degree approach; a 365-day Journey
  • Reinvented: A Conversation with Agent Leigh Steinberg
  • Supporting Social Justice Reform: Backing Words with Action
  • Navigating the Road Ahead: Fundamental Shifts We Can Expect in the Sports Business (group discussions)
    
    
• In addition to the compelling content, we will have plenty of time for some of the best virtual networking activities of the year, including:
  
  
  • Jack Daniel’s whiskey tasting
    • Aquimo golf (live challenge)
    • Aquimo cornhole (live challenge)
    • Cooking demo with "Iron Chef" Marc Forgione
    • A private set from John Popper and Brian Wilson of Blues Traveler
    
    
• For more information please visit, www.Thought-Leaders-Retreat.com.

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.

I keep thinking about some of the traditions of American sports that are quaking in 2020, some of which likely will not last beyond this year or the next: the remaining Native American sports team names and fan traditions; the major college sports system as we’ve known it; the many filtering layers between athletes’ voices and the fans; jerseys not totally cluttered by sponsors; and the general feeling that I had for, probably, the first 90% of my life that the sports industry is financially invincible. These are the things I think about at 4 a.m. while feeding my 4-month old.

Today’s sports news features more of the same themes that have consumed the industry for months. The Texas Rangers are furloughing 12% of their staff, while Gillette Stadium will host Patriots games with only 20% of normal attendance. Bring on 2021...

-- Bret McCormick

NEW JERSEY SPORTS BETTING POSTS STRONG REBOUND

• The sports betting handle in New Jersey rebounded strongly in June, increasing to $165 million, up 40% over the $118 million reported in May and tripling the $55 million handle of a brutal April, writes SBJ's Bill King. Even with those gains, the month fell well short of June of 2019, when the handle reached $273 million.
  
  
• Similarly to May, most of the gains could be attributed to the growth of wagering on sports that state regulators categorize as “other,” including golf, motorsports, combat sports and, interestingly, table tennis, which has emerged as a popular betting fixture in states that allow wagering on it, thanks to the volume of matches, games and points.
  
  
• The “other” category accounted for $126 million, or 76% of the state’s handle in June. Baseball -- most likely from Korea -- accounted for $7 million.
  
  
• Though New Jersey does not break “other” down by sport, reports from Colorado reveal what from the meager sports calendar was attracting betting interest in that state in May, the most recent month for which data is available. Table tennis accounted for $6.6 million of the $26.6 million wagered in Colorado in May, dwarfing the $1.4 million to $1.7 million that MMA, baseball, soccer and golf each brought in.
  
  
• State regulators have become increasingly wary of betting on table tennis in the last month, after ESPN reports called into question the integrity of matches from the Ukraine and Russia. Indiana immediately suspended wagering on matches from the Ukraine, while New Jersey and Colorado followed suit last week after receiving alerts of suspicious activity from an international integrity monitoring organization.

FINEBAUM: NEXT FEW WEEKS "CRITICAL" FOR COLLEGE FOOTBALL

• Paul Finebaum has had a front-row seat for the unraveling of the 2020 football season over the past few weeks, as the prospects for the season have gone from hopeful to downright discouraging, writes SBJ's Michael Smith. His SEC Network show could be considered ground zero for the COVID-19 debate over whether there will be a season and, if so, what it will look like. We could very well know by the start of August, prompting Finebaum to call the next few weeks the most critical in the history of college football. Here are some excerpts from Smith's conversation with him this morning:
  
  
• On talking about the fate of the upcoming season day after day on his show: “It's really an interesting balancing act. We are entering what I think is one of the most critical two-or-three weeks in the history of college football. So, it’s extremely difficult for me to say, ‘OK, let's spend 20 or 30 minutes on that and then talk about Georgia’s quarterback job.’ We go from commissioners to athletic directors to journalists -- all giving us their best opinion. It’s like diving into an endless pool.”
  
  
• On the last two to three weeks, when the coronavirus surged again: “We got to July and the numbers were spiking and the optimism for the season started to wane. And that really turned the last two weeks into where we are right now, which is an absolute and utter state of confusion.”
  
  
• On SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey, a regular guest on the show throughout the pandemic: “I told him some time ago that he’s maybe the most important figure in all of this and I wanted him to feel comfortable coming on. After one show, he was worried that he didn’t explain something well enough. And I told Greg, ‘That’s not really the point.’ I wanted him to be like FDR delivering a fireside chat with the nation. … But the last two weeks, I would say, have been remarkably solemn and sobering.”
  
  

• On whether the nation is watching the SEC’s next move: “There is some concern that the SEC might be going about this by itself, which I do not believe. I think Sankey is being sincere in trying to be as collaborative as possible. Even when I asked him about Kevin Warren’s decision for the Big Ten to go conference-only, he could have made a big deal, but he was very diplomatic. His response basically said this is no time for skirmishes.”
  
  
• Listen to the latest SBJ Unpacks podcast for the full interview with Finebaum.

RABIL'S PREMIER LACROSSE LEAGUE REWORKS SPONSORSHIPS

• The Premier Lacrosse League has extended the terms of some sponsors’ deals with the fledgling property due to the coronavirus pandemic, co-Founder Paul Rabil tells SBJ’s Adam Stern ahead of its tournament starting next week.
  
  
• The PLL is doing a two-week tournament in Utah called the “PLL Championship Series” to fulfill its sophomore season. The tournament will be fanless and carried across NBC networks, but the league is working with other vendors like Washington-based social media aggregation and display outfit Tagboard to either give viewers extra access or integrate them into the stadium in different ways.
  
  
• Rabil said that while the PLL is not doing make-goods for sponsors into next year, it has “kind of rolled over the term and extended the term of our partnership into 2021 and beyond” for a couple brands, “which is good for everyone.” Rabil, who is already in Utah, added: “For the lion’s share of our partners, we have made the contract whole through restructuring it based off of what is most important to them -- impressions, engagement, viewership, physical assets.”
  
  
• The PLL has added several new partners recently, including Chipotle and Progressive, and other partners include Gatorade, Adidas and Capital One. Rabil also said that Ticketmaster, which has presenting rights to the tournament, will get a patch on every jersey and have numerous media assets during the tournament.
  
  
• Rabil, who plays for the Atlas, says he will mostly check out of working on the business side of the league once the tournament starts and leave the rest to his exec team, which includes his brother and league co-founder Mike Rabil.

RANGERS LEADERSHIP ADDRESS FURLOUGHS ACROSS ORGANIZATION

• Faced with what he called the "severe financial consequences" from the sports shutdown and uncertainty over when fans will return to sporting venues, Rangers co-Chair & Managing Partner Ray Davis announced that the MLB club has instituted furloughs across the organization. The move affects employees both on the business and baseball side, writes SBJ's Eric Prisbell. In total, 12% of employees were furloughed, the Dallas Morning News reported.
  
  
• Davis said the furloughs "reflect the realities of playing in an empty Globe Life Field, the shutdown of minor league baseball and other considerations related to the business challenges we face." He added, "I wish there was another way, but this decision is necessary for us to endure this crisis and emerge as strong as possible on the other side. I remain optimistic that we will be able to welcome our furloughed employees back to work in the future."
  
  
• The Rangers entered 2020 anticipating high demand for tickets as they opened the $1.2 billion Globe Life Field. With the possibility now of, at best, small gatherings of fans attending a maximum of just 25 home games -- Aug. 7 would be the earliest date for fans at the ballpark -- and perhaps seeing no fans in stands at all until 2021, the financial ramifications are grave.
  
  
• In a wide-ranging Monday interview unrelated to potential furloughs, Rangers Exec VP Joe Januszewski told SBJ: "The short answer is there is no way to make up that revenue. Like all baseball teams, we are going to get hammered in 2020 ... You can't truly make that up -- it's impossible. The fact it's happening in a year that Globe Life Field was to have its debut, it's bad luck, it's unfortunate timing. There is no way to spin that." 

ATP REOPENS HEALTH INSURANCE PLAN AMID PANDEMIC

• The ATP is holding calls this week with players and agents to answer questions about a number of topics, including the tour’s recent ranking system changes, calendar adjustments and safety protocols for upcoming tournaments, writes SBJ's Bret McCormick.
  
  
• The ATP also shared two developments regarding insurance that should help players amid pandemic-ridden 2020.
  
  
  • Agent Brian Braziel, who represents two American ATP pros and was on the Monday call, said the tour reopened enrollment in its health insurance plan, something it normally only does once a year, and announced that it will cover travel insurance for any player, in addition to at least one person traveling with them, whether a physio or coach. 
    
    
  • The travel insurance, offered through AXA, will cover costs incurred due to disruption of any travel related to ATP competition, medical costs associated with travel (that aren’t covered by existing health insurance), any extra travels costs incurred while traveling, as well as medical attention and treatments related to COVID-19. The travel insurance is a new offering from the tour and is especially beneficial to players ranked outside the top-100, like the ones Braziel represents. “It’s an expense that’s handled and that’s helpful in a lot of ways,” he said.
     
• The calls are pertinent because the tour returns Aug. 14 in D.C. with the Citi Open, before the Western & Southern Open and the U.S. Open take place at Billie Jean King National Tennis Center over consecutive weeks in N.Y. The ATP’s calendar only lists seven tournaments right now, but additional tournaments following the French Open in September are supposed to be announced later this month.

WOODS "COMFORTABLE ENOUGH" TO REJOIN PGA TOUR 

• Tiger Woods will make his first start on the PGA Tour since February this week at The Memorial Tournament in Ohio. Woods told reporters today that while he considered playing earlier during the Tour's restart, he ultimately "felt it was better to stay at home and be safe." 
  
  
• Woods: "Coming back and playing the tour, in my case over the 20-some-odd years I’ve been out here … I’m used to having so many people around me or even touch me, going from green to tee. That’s something that I looked at and said, well, I’m really not quite comfortable with that, that whole idea. Let’s see how it plays out first and let’s see how the tour has played out, how they’ve started, and I feel that I’m comfortable enough to come back out here and play again, and I’m excited to do it.”
  
  
• Golf Digest's Ryan Herrington writes Woods' caution was "understandable, even commendable." Woods is a "different golfer than every other player on the tour, and has different concerns he needed to address." 

Woods said while he considered playing earlier during the Tour's restart, he ultimately "felt it was better to stay at home and be safe"

SPEED READS 

• Pacers guard Victor Oladipo is in an "unresolved situation over $3 million in salary," sources told ESPN's Brian Windhorst. Oladipo, who two weeks ago said he had decided not to play in the Orlando bubble despite traveling there with the team, has now indicated that he "may reconsider his decision." But the NBA, "largely in an effort to set a precedent in case other players who are deemed healthy want to leave Orlando and no longer play, believes Oladipo has opted out and should not be paid, sources said."
  
  
• Cancellations, postponements and other scheduling changes have led to massive financial losses for teams and venues across sports, with an estimated $6 billion lost in game-day revenue alone. David Broughton crunches the numbers in this week's SBJ.
  
  
• The San Diego Union-Tribune's Kirk Kenney makes the case for MLB this season to "take all balls hit into empty seats and convert them into cash for a charitable cause." Kenney: "MLB has an opportunity here to create some goodwill for a good cause. And after all the bickering between the teams and the players (or their union) on terms of this restart, heaven knows the game could use some good PR."
  
  
• The USTA has canceled a series of events scheduled for August, per SBJ's Bret McCormick. A statement today indicated that five youth tennis National Championships were off, including two set for the USTA National Campus on Lake Nona outside Orlando, as well as three adult National Championship tournaments, in Minnesota and Rhode Island. The decision was made with guidance from the USTA Medical Advisory Group and was based on the large size of the events, the interstate travel required for most attendees and organizers’ inability to create controlled environments.
  
  
• USA Weightlifting decided today that it will permanently allow employees to work remotely, reports SBJ’s Chris Smith. Weightlifting is the first national governing body to implement an unlimited work from home policy. By reducing its physical footprint, Weightlifting will be able to redesign its Colorado Springs HQ as a co-working and meeting space. The NGB also expects the new policy will broaden its potential hiring pool.
  
  
• USA Today's Mark Medina joined S.F.-based KNBR-AM to share his perspective on the less-than-ideal food and hospitality options in the NBA Orlando bubble. Media: "I’ve definitely been at better hotels, better restaurants. But I’m also mindful of the challenges. … Bottom line, not complaining, it is what it is. I think because we’re in this pandemic, you have to keep the right perspective. There’s inconveniences, but it’s all about just plowing through it all because at the end of the day a lot of things don’t really matter."
  
   

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:
  
  
  • Local Virus Regulations Causing Issues For Some MLB Teams
  • NBA's Orlando Start Promising With Small Number Of Positive Tests
  • Masks More Prevalent, But Not Universal, As NHL Returns To Ice
  • Many NFL Players To Wait Until Last Minute To Report To Camp

SBJ UNPACKS -- THE ROAD AHEAD

• Check out the most recent editions of our "SBJ Unpacks" podcasts around COVID-19:
  
  
  • Ben Fischer joins Bill King to talk about next steps for the Washington NFL team. 
  • SBJ's Adam Stern joins Bill King to talk about the new startup auto series Superstar Racing Experience.

2020 SBJ THOUGHT LEADERS RETREAT (VIRTUAL)

• Aug. 13, 2:00-7:00pm ET (by invitation only)
  
  
• The road ahead has never been more challenging -- and it has never been more important for executive leadership to pause, learn, reflect and relax in order to prepare themselves to step up and navigate what the future holds. This year, we are continuing the tradition of Thought Leaders, creating the industry’s most intimate, senior-level event with a virtual program.
  
  
• Content will include:
  
  
  • Mindful Leadership with Pandit Dasa
  • The C-Suite Imperative: Corporate Responsibility & Social Impact
  • The New Fan Experience: A 360-degree approach; a 365-day Journey
  • Reinvented: A Conversation with Agent Leigh Steinberg
  • Supporting Social Justice Reform: Backing Words with Action
  • Navigating the Road Ahead: Fundamental Shifts We Can Expect in the Sports Business (group discussions)
    
    
• In addition to the compelling content, we will have plenty of time for some of the best virtual networking activities of the year, including:
  
  
  • Jack Daniel’s whiskey tasting
    • Aquimo golf (live challenge)
    • Aquimo cornhole (live challenge)
    • Cooking demo with "Iron Chef" Marc Forgione
    • A private set from John Popper and Brian Wilson of Blues Traveler
    
    
• For more information please visit, www.Thought-Leaders-Retreat.com.

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.

As an anxious sports world waits to see if its top attractions can be safely staged during a pandemic, other headlines get increasingly bizarre.

What can you say when today’s biggest stories have an NFL team excising its 87-year-old name, while the NBA’s top player keeps his name on his jersey, instead of something from a list of social justice phrases.

Whenever it ends, will we echo Hunter  S. Thompson’s declaration that “it never got weird enough”?

-- Terry Lefton

SOURCES: MLS "LIKELY" TO APPROVE CBD OPPORTUNITY

• It is “likely” that the MLS Board of Governors will approve CBD as a new commercial opportunity for teams by the end of 2020, multiple sources tell SBJ’s Mark J. Burns & Terry Lefton.
  
  
• CBD is not currently an approved category across any of the other major U.S. pro sports leagues. Details are still scarce, sources said, around if CBD brands would be allowed on MLS teams’ kits, jersey sleeves or stadiums. Last year, MLS approved new commercial opportunities in both the sports betting and spirits categories, opening up new revenue streams for teams. Prior to this season, MLS teams could begin selling sponsorship rights internationally. 
  
  
• Commissioner Don Garber last month said that the league would suffer a $1 billion loss in revenue due to the coronavirus pandemic. Sources said that allowing even more commercial opportunities, like with CBD, would help teams and the league recoup some of that money, albeit only a small fraction. Questions remain about how a THC company with a CBD brand would fit into the commercial policies, sources said. 
  
  

• In recent years, the Earthquakes had an agreement in principle with an unknown CBD brand for naming rights to the team’s venue, sources said. However, the league wouldn’t budge on its policies, and effectively blocked the deal, these people said. In 2018, the USL’s Las Vegas Lights FC became the first U.S. pro sports team to secure a CBD sponsor in NuWu Cannabis Marketplace. UFC signed a deal with Aurora Cannabis’ CBD products in May of 2019. Cars in last year's Indy 500 also carried signage from CBD brands Defy and Craft 1861, as well as Liquid Gold Processing, a manufacturing company that produces cannabidiol extracts.

RANGERS: NO FANS AT GLOBE LIFE UNTIL AT LEAST AUG. 7

• Even though Texas Gov. Greg Abbott announced last month that he'd allow in-state sporting venues to fill to 50% capacity with fans, the Rangers are not planning to play in front of any fans until at least Aug. 7.
  
  
• While the team had hoped fans could attend their five regular-season games later this month at the new $1.2 billion Globe Life Field, the alarming spike in new cases in Texas prompted them -- in consultation with MLB -- to pump the brakes, Rangers Exec VP/Business Operations Rob Matwick told SBJ's Eric Prisbell.
  
  
• Rangers co-owner Ray Davis maintains communication with Commissioner Rob Manfred regarding the possibility of fan attendance, and any decision will be a "collective" one, Matwick said. MLB maintains dialogue with local and national health officials who help inform decisions. The Rangers' first regular-season game at Globe Life Field will be July 24, the first of three home games against the Rockies. They also have a two-game home series against the D-backs in July.
  
  
• On holding off on fan attendance, Matwick said, "Right now, I think it's probably a smart way to go in the short term. At this point, we're just hopeful we can get through camp and get the season started. That's really the first challenge. ... Hopefully by the time we come back for the second home-stand, which starts on Aug. 7, maybe up to 50% (capacity), but that will be dictated by where we are related to the virus and the outbreak in Texas. And we understand the possibility that we might still be in position where we can't have any fans."

Fans will be unable to attend at least the first five regular season games later this month at the new $1.2 billion Globe Life Field

NBA REVEALS TWO POSITIVE PLAYER TESTS OVER PAST WEEK

• The NBA and NBAPA this afternoon disclosed that of the 322 players tested for COVID-19 since arriving on the Disney campus last Tuesday, two players have tested positive while in quarantine, according to SBJ's John Lombardo. The league said the two players who tested positive never cleared quarantine and have since left Disney to isolate at home or in isolation housing.
  
  
• Since July 1, during in-market testing, 19 NBA players newly tested positive. These players are staying in their home markets and recovering until they are cleared under CDC guidelines and NBA rules to leave home isolation and join their teams at Disney.

THE BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT CREDITS “GROUPING” FOR LOW COVID FIGURES

• The Basketball Tournament found 43 positive COVID-19 tests (2.0%) among 2,024 total tests for this year's tournament, which wraps up tomorrow night at Nationwide Arena in Columbus.
  
  
• Tests were administered to players, coaches, staff, TV production personnel and referees. A maximum of six separate tests were administered according to TBT’s testing protocol. Vault Health facilitated on administering and reading the tests, and while TBT Founder & CEO Jon Mugar declined to give a specific cost for them, he admitted TBT’s entire health-and-safety plan cost north of $1M, including testing.
  
  
• Mugar called grouping -- not allowing certain categories of people to interact with other categories -- the “biggest defense that we had” against preventing an outbreak inside the TBT bubble.
  
  
• He told SBD's Andrew Levin, “First, you come in and you’re isolated, so you’re grouping every individual person alone. Once they graduate that phase after they pass two negatives, then they’re grouped with their team. But in that team grouping phase, nobody ever comes into contact with other people (in other categories) within six feet or without a mask on.” He credited grouping’s ability to limit direct exposure, allowing TBT to continue even after Day 3 and Day 4 tests revealed three positives among players who had already practiced with their teams. Because of grouping, only those teams affected had to be removed and replaced, saving the operation as a whole.

Download the TBT

BIG TEN'S FOOTBALL DECISION CASTS LONG SHADOW

• As the college football season approaches, will more conferences follow the Big Ten and Pac-12 in eliminating non-conference games? Fox Sports' Bruce Feldman, appearing on "The Herd with Colin Cowherd" earlier today, said the message from Ohio State AD Gene Smith last week will carry weight across the sport. 
  
  
• Feldman: "Smith is probably the most powerful AD in the country. The language he used when they announced this, he talked about when you look at the trajectory and our behavior in the country ... it’s a really downward trajectory. I think his feeling was very disturbed, very alarmed." More Feldman: "The conversations that I’ve had with ADs and coaches behind the scene … they’ll tell you something, but it’s not like they’re going on record. Gene Smith put his name on it. ... Here’s a grown-up who is basically trying to shake people and say, ‘You've gotta take this more seriously.’ And that is a tone that I’ve heard a lot from folks around the country."
  
  
• SI's Ross Dellenger told ESPN's Paul Finebaum he expects the SEC to "wait a couple weeks before making a decision on the 2020 season." Dellenger: "This may be the biggest two or three weeks in college football history."
  
  
• Meanwhile, the Patriot League, which competes at the FCS level in football, will "not play sports in the fall because of the coronavirus pandemic." The league also said that a "decision on winter sports will be made at a later date and that practice, conditioning and strength training will be permitted if 'health and safety conditions support such activities.'" Among the FBS schools impacted by the Patriot League’s decision this season are Boston College (vs. Holy Cross), Army (vs. Bucknell) and Syracuse (vs. Colgate). 

OUTSIDE CONTRIBUTORS: ASSESSING RISK

• Tonight's op-ed contribution is from N.Y.-based law firm Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman partners Richard Giller and Brian Finch, who write under the header, "Pandemic Risk Insurance Act Can Have A Positive Impact On American Sports." 
  
  
• "The insurance industry has spent the better part of 2020 selling narratives about how their existing insurance policies will not cover the untold losses caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. State legislatures, not willing to let billions in private insurance funds sit untapped as their budget coffers are bled dry by pandemic relief packages, have responded by drafting laws that will force insurers to pay out on virtually any business loss claims, regardless of what those policies actually cover."
  
  
• To read the 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

• As training camp began today for 24 NHL teams, the league issued a summary of its testing policies from Phase 2 of its return to play. The NHL revealed 30 confirmed positive cases from 4,934 COVID-19 tests, which included players voluntarily participating in optional workouts at training and practice facilities. More than 600 players participated in Phase 2, writes SBJ’s Mark J. Burns. The league noted that 13 other players tested positive for the coronavirus outside of Phase 2. 
  
  
• The NFL and Oakley today unveiled "face shields for the players' helmets" as part of the league's health & safety efforts, with training camps "set to start at the end of the month." Oakley "already provides visors for the players" via a league-level deal. So far, the face shield "has received a better response than the mask suggestion" among players. NFL Chief Medical Officer Dr. Allen Sills said, “From the start, the [NFLPA], their medical advisers, their engineers have been engaged with us. We’ve also had dialogue with players along the way trying to look at early prototypes and developments.”
  
  
• In SBJ Media tonight: How ESPN’s decision to suspend Adrian Wojnarowski for two weeks without pay created a couple of revenue opportunities for several sports media companies.
  
  

• ESPN's Jay Williams took issue with several NBA players voicing their displeasure with the food and accommodations in the Orlando bubble, saying the comments were "tone-deaf" amid the current situation across the country. Williams, on "Get Up" this morning, said, "When you think about what degree the NBA has gone to create this billion dollar bubble, the protective measures in place to protect these athletes while they make millions of dollars, I think when they make comments like that it takes away, especially from every day people who are working 9-to-5 jobs, who are working in environments where those same protective measures aren’t being taken because a lot of their employers are trying to increase the bottom line due to the money that they’ve lost throughout this pandemic.”
  
  
• The move to close down Hong Kong Disneyland is a "fresh setback for a property the entertainment giant had reopened just last month," per the Wall Street Journal. Disney’s challenges in Hong Kong "demonstrate the issues that businesses are facing in trying to operate amid ongoing fears about the pandemic while navigating government rules that can vary from one jurisdiction to another." Two main parks at Disney World in Orlando -- Magic Kingdom and Animal Kingdom -- "reopened last week with significantly reduced capacity."
  
  
• The Chicago Marathon (Oct. 11) today became the "latest major marathon to be canceled, joining Berlin, Boston, New York City," per NBC Sports' Nick Zaccardi. As of now, the London Marathon is still scheduled for this fall on Oct. 4.
  
  
  
   

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:
  
  
  • NHL Brass: "Constant" Testing Key To Avoiding Another Stoppage
  • MLB Season Takes More Hits With Posey, Kopech Opting Out
  • Pac-12's Move To Conference-Only Casts More Questions On Football
  • Source: CFL Requests About $42.5M In Federal Aid Amid Pandemic

SBJ UNPACKS -- THE ROAD AHEAD

• Check out the most recent editions of our "SBJ Unpacks" podcasts around COVID-19:
  
  
  • SBJ's Adam Stern joins Bill King to talk about the new startup auto series Superstar Racing Experience.
  • SBD's Andrew Levin unpacks the return of professional lacrosse with PLL co-Founder Paul Rabil and MLL Commissioner Sandy Brown.
  • T'Wolves & Lynx CEO Ethan Casson on how his organizations are staying active in furthering equality and social justice.

2020 SBJ THOUGHT LEADERS RETREAT (VIRTUAL)

• Aug. 13, 2:00-7:00pm ET (by invitation only)
  
  
• The road ahead has never been more challenging -- and it has never been more important for executive leadership to pause, learn, reflect and relax in order to prepare themselves to step up and navigate what the future holds. This year, we are continuing the tradition of Thought Leaders, creating the industry’s most intimate, senior-level event with a virtual program.
  
  
• Content will include:
  
  
  • Mindful Leadership with Pandit Dasa
  • The C-Suite Imperative: Corporate Responsibility & Social Impact
  • The New Fan Experience: A 360-degree approach; a 365-day Journey
  • Reinvented: A Conversation with Agent Leigh Steinberg
  • Supporting Social Justice Reform: Backing Words with Action
  • Navigating the Road Ahead: Fundamental Shifts We Can Expect in the Sports Business (group discussions)
    
    
• In addition to the compelling content, we will have plenty of time for some of the best virtual networking activities of the year, including:
  
  
  • Jack Daniel’s whiskey tasting
    • Aquimo golf (live challenge)
    • Aquimo cornhole (live challenge)
    • Cooking demo with "Iron Chef" Marc Forgione
    • A private set from John Popper and Brian Wilson of Blues Traveler
    
    
• For more information please visit, www.Thought-Leaders-Retreat.com.

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.

Early on in the pandemic, the discourse around a sports relaunch focused on returning to normal. Four challenging months later, we know better -- things aren’t going to be normal for a long, long time.

MLS is back, but not all the teams. MLB is coming back, but not David Price or Buster Posey, we learned today. The NFL is finally coming to terms with the fact it won’t be able to wait out the trouble, as its leaders once hoped. College football seems to be hanging by a thread.

Sports are clawing back, but it’s going to be a hard, uncertain slog.

-- Ben Fischer

ADIDAS REAPS BENEFITS OF VIRTUAL LOGO IN MLS' RETURN

• The size and virtual positioning of Adidas’ logo around the halfway line during the MLS is Back tournament initially caused quite a stir among soccer enthusiasts, writes SBJ’s Mark J. Burns. But for the league sponsor, the positioning has already paid off, according to Chicago-based Navigate Research. 
  
  
• The data and analytics firm tracked Adidas’ exposure for the tournament’s first two matches. Navigate estimated that the value of the logo is between $75,000 and $100,000 per match. Over the 51-match tournament, Adidas would receive $3.8 million to $5.1 million in value, Navigate found. 
  
  

• Navigate Research’s Senior MLS analyst/consultant Kevin Kane: "Virtual logo integration could be a marquee asset for regional broadcasts in which teams would now have the ability to rotate partners on prominent on-field positions and deliver higher TV exposure. The virtual logo integration is not new to sports, but the jolt from COVID-19 has brought technological advancements to center stage, some of which will continue once fans are back in seats.” 
  
  
• Heat Director of Corporate Partnerships Anthony Perez gave his take on Twitter: "Logo placement is the price of admission during a pandemic. No gate revenue & lots of deliverables outstanding means corp revenue needs to be protected. Adidas pays MLS $117 mill a year, they got center pitch. We’ll get used to it by next match."

Navigate Research estimated that the value of the Adidas logo is between $75,000 and $100,000 per match

NASCAR TELLS TEAMS TO TIGHTEN UP PROTOCOLS

• NASCAR has sent a memo to teams reminding them that they need to strictly adhere to coronavirus safety protocols in order to keep the season going, according to a memo obtained by Charlotte-based WCNC-NBC reporter Nick Carboni. 
  
  
• The memo mentioned “pockets of complacency” and read in part: "We're seeing more and more vanloads of crew members rolling up to the track without masks on, and people wearing their mask down around their chin. … More people in our industry are going to contract the virus. The key is limiting it. Maintaining the integrity of the footprint in the garage area with only essential personnel being allowed is imperative. It is important for everyone to do their part ALL THE TIME. One cluster outbreak can derail our season."
  
  
• SBJ's Adam Stern writes the memo comes almost two months after NASCAR re-started its 2020 season. NASCAR is one of the few sports leagues in America to return without uniform coronavirus testing, but the sport has enacted strict social distancing measures and mask requirements from the first day back, and it believes it holds an inherent advantage over other sports because there is no contact between drivers.
  
  
• However, driver Jimmie Johnson tested positive for the virus last week – and there also have been a handful of shop members who have tested positive, showing that the sport remains vulnerable to the virus like everyone else.

MLB TESTING NUMBERS REVEAL 71 PLAYER POSITIVES

• Fifty-eight MLB players tested positive for COVID-19 during their intake screening protocols, which were administered when players reported to training camps, reports SBJ's Eric Prisbell.
  
  
• An additional 13 have tested positive during monitoring testing since workouts began July 3. During intake screening, there were 66 positive tests (58 players, eight staff members), which amounted to 1.8% of 3,748 samples tested. 
  
  
• Also included in the MLB testing data the league released Friday: 10 teams -- one-third of the league -- had a player or staff member test positive during monitoring testing, which began after workouts started. Players and on-field personnel are tested every other day. Other staff members are tested multiple times per week. During monitoring testing, there were 17 positive tests (13 players, four staff members), which amounted to 0.2% of 7,401 samples tested. 

KENTUCKY-BASED TENNIS CLUB MAKES MOST OF WTA OPPORTUNITY

• Top Seed Tennis Club’s rapid rise in pro tennis will reach a new apex on Aug. 10 when the Nicholasville, Ky.,-based club hosts a WTA international-level tournament in the Top Seed Open, writes SBJ's Bret McCormick.
  
  
• The WTA event’s move to Kentucky was quietly confirmed a few weeks ago, as the tour looked to avoid staging both the ATP and WTA sides of the Citi Open in DC, creating too many people at one site at the same time. Bluegrass Ortho was quickly signed up as a presenting sponsor. “Since there are no fans, we’re just trying to maximize the benefit of becoming a sponsor. We’re in a media focus, so where the cameras are -- anything we can put our sponsors on is going to be our main haul,” said Haley Wilson, Top Seed Tennis Club’s head of marketing.
  
  
• The $12 million Top Seed Tennis Club is less than two years old, but it has already hosted major junior tennis and lower-level pro tournaments, as well as a recent exhibition that featured a number of WTA pros. The facility lacks stadium courts, but that won’t matter this year because the event will be made-for-TV, played without fans within a local quarantine bubble, including a completely rented-out Embassy Suites. Kentucky-based Labtox Labs is overseeing all health and safety protocols for the tournament.
  
  
• Wilson acknowledged that this event, with $225,000 in prize money, is a one-off to fill the Citi Open’s spot in the 2020 calendar. But the club is open about wanting to pursue a WTA tournament sanction for the future and is proving that interest with plans to build 5,000 and 2,500-seat stadium courts next year. That makes this inaugural event essentially a test run for the club’s hosting abilities at the highest level. “We execute this one, everything goes according to plan, we move forward,” said Wilson.

CATCHING UP WITH MONTAG GROUP'S KEVIN BELBEY AT THE BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT

• Kevin Belbey has shifted gears from his normal work schedule this week, taking part in The Basketball Tournament in Columbus, Ohio, where he is serving as GM for Boeheim’s Army. “There's the competition on the court (but) there's also the competition with the virus and us needing to stay healthy to be able to play,” said Belbey, whose day job is as VP/Sports Broadcasting for The Montag Group. “So, I'm trying to make sure that we're healthy but also trying to separate those two.” Boeheim’s Army won their first game on Tuesday and are headed to the quarterfinals on Saturday.
• All teams took two tests before traveling and arrived five days early. Belbey said he had been getting tested about every other day since arriving. Each team has its own floor at the Hyatt Regency and each individual has their own room. “There's also just a lot of guidelines here,” the Syracuse alum noted. “A lot of these players know each other -- high school, college, AAU -- but really we can't interact with any of the other teams. … All the food is grab-and-go ... There's no buffet-style.”
• Belbey feels the tournament is accomplishing its goal of having less than 50 people inside Nationwide Arena during games: “I think that there was probably less than 30 in there, certainly less than 35 or 40. It looks weird, when you take a step back, but once the game is being played and the guys are going up and down, it looked and felt as normal as it could.” Belbey said of his duties as GM: “I'm doing everything I can to make it feel like for our guys that it is a game day and to, at least for a couple hours, forget about what's going outside of bubble.”
• While three Montag clients -- Chris Vosters, Dan Dakich and Seth Greenberg -- are part of ESPN’s TBT announcing team, Belbey hasn’t had any interaction with them, as they are working remotely. Jen Hale (not a Montag client) is the only media personality on site, performing sideline reporter duties while social distancing.

Belbey (front-left) this week is working as GM of Boeheim’s Army, one of the team’s vying for the winner-take-all $1 million prize

OUTSIDE CONTRIBUTORS: COVERAGE PLAN

• Tonight's op-ed contribution is from AXIS Insurance executive James Hamilton, who writes under the header, "Insurance Needs To Keep Pace With Esports’ Growing Spotlight."
  
  
• "As traditional sports games and video gaming converge, our definition of sports is changing -- and at a rapid pace. Esports and other non-traditional sporting events have been on a rapid pace to take a noteworthy share of consumers’ attention and wallets. ... Amid the current global pandemic, the borderless nature of gaming has meant that esports are thrust further into the spotlight as fans are turning to simulated games and contests on their personal devices."
  
  
• To read the full contribution, click here.

SPEED READS

• NBA viewers will likely be getting a socially-distant view of the ESPN Wide World Of Sports complex during upcoming games, as Goodyear’s airship folks are in discussions with the league’s TV partners to provide aerial coverage of the complex from July 30-Aug. 14 in Orlando, a source told SBJ’s David Broughton.
  
  
• The Saints are the latest NFL team to "offer deferment of 2020 season tickets to the 2021 season, allowing fans to either use the money already paid toward the cost" of their 2021 tickets or to receive a refund. The Saints sent a form to season-ticket holders offering the "option to fans to cancel their 2020 season tickets and receive a refund while also keeping the option to renew in 2021." There is also an option to "rollover the payments already made" to 2021. The Bengals also made a similar announcement today.
  
  
• Sports fans in Colorado as of today can begin legally placing bets in-person & online. DraftKings and Twin River Worldwide Holdings’ Mardi Gras Casino have opened their temporary retail sportsbook in Black Hawk. The venue has implemented a number of precautions to ensure the safety of all guests amid the pandemic, including the requiring of face coverings, the use of handheld thermometers, requiring guests to utilize social distancing and increased cleaning and disinfecting of all areas.

• Details of Paycheck Protection Program loans to sports properties continue to surface as we head into the weekend.
  
  
  • Nearly $106 million in loans were approved for companies in the auto and horse racing.
    
    
  • Around 45% of the $27 million approved for college athletic departments and conferences went to three programs: Army, Navy ($5 million each) and Air Force ($2 million).
    
    
  • State-level high school athletic associations in Kentucky, Ohio, Michigan, Florida, Iowa and Indiana each were approved for $1 million loans, while 8 others each were approved for $350,000.
    
    
• Check out Monday’s SBJ for the full deep dive from David Broughton and Bret McCormick.

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:
  
  
  • Big Ten's Warren Admits Fall Sports In Jeopardy Following CFB Changes
  • Source: MLS Confident Virus Has Not Spread Inside Orlando Bubble
  • NFL, NFLPA Detail Gameday Protocols; Jersey Swaps Not Allowed
  • UFC's Fight Island Officially Comes To Life This Weekend

SBJ UNPACKS -- THE ROAD AHEAD

• Check out the most recent editions of our "SBJ Unpacks" podcasts around COVID-19:
  
  
  • SBD's Andrew Levin unpacks the return of professional lacrosse with PLL co-Founder Paul Rabil and MLL Commissioner Sandy Brown.
  • T'Wolves & Lynx CEO Ethan Casson on how his organizations are staying active in furthering equality and social justice.
  • Sports industry pioneer Donald Dell talks about the state of sports.

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.

Though the rebuilding Timberwolves were left out of the NBA’s resumption that is beginning at Orlando's Walt Disney World, the franchise intends to be engaged on the conversation of racial equity that will surround it.

On Wednesday morning, the T'Wolves and Lynx convened on a Zoom call with Minneapolis mayor Jacob Frey and police chief Medaria Arradondo, attended by players, coaches and basketball operations staff from both teams, as well as owner Glen Taylor.

The moderator was Kim Miller, a facilitator from the Ross Initiative in Sports for Equality, who was raised in south Minneapolis, not far from the site of George Floyd’s death.

The subject, of course, was racial equity.

T'Wolves & Lynx CEO Ethan Casson wants the organizations to remain at the center of that important conversation. For more from Casson, listen to the latest episode of the SBJ Unpacks podcast, and read below in tonight's newsletter for how he and his team are approaching the challenges ahead in 2021.

-- Bill King

UNPRECEDENTED DAY ACROSS COLLEGE FOOTBALL

• College football began to feel the domino effect today, as news of the Big Ten shifting to a conference-only model for all fall sports was confirmed. Now, Stadium's Brett McMurphy is reporting the ACC is not far behind, and the conference has already delayed the start of fall sports (other than football) until at least Sept. 1.
  
  
• SBJ's Michael Smith reports university leaders have about three more weeks before they need to finalize a decision on the upcoming football season. Aug. 1 is the date most conference commissioners and ADs have pegged as an unofficial deadline to determine what the 2020 season will look like. But today's takeaway is clear: ADs are becoming more skeptical as the days go by.
  
  
• Even though the SEC and Big 12 were quiet tonight, the flurry of breaking news throughout the afternoon almost felt like a coordinated effort, writes Smith. Commissioners from the P5 conferences have said they’re in contact practically every day. Even during his retirement comments, ACC Commissioner John Swofford said the collegiality between the commissioners was the best he could remember. During their commissioners call today, however, new Big Ten Commissioner Kevin Warren reportedly gave no hints that this announcement was coming. 

• For much more on the shifts across the college landscape, be sure to check out the SBJ College newsletter this evening.

T'WOLVES TURN FOCUS TO 2021 OPPORTUNITIES 

• Falling short of the cut to play at Disney will cost the T'Wolves money, but it also provides an opportunity for an early pivot into a makeover begun shortly before the shutdown, with a trade for All-Star guard D’Angelo Russell.
  
  
• "Not being there, does that hurt us from a local revenue standpoint, to not be able to move signage and have some level of engagement and activation happen in and around us? Of course it does,” T'Wolves CEO Ethan Casson said on the latest SBJ Unpacks podcast. “But at the same time for us it’s a chance to begin to think about (what) 2021 could look like. It’s a chance for us to talk to our fans about where we’re headed as an organization.”
  
  
• The pause also has provided an opportunity for Casson to join the leaders of other Twin Cities franchises in search of a unified path to bring spectators back to their arenas and stadiums. For much of the shutdown, he has been part of a weekly call with Twins President Dave St. Peter, Vikings CEO Andrew Miller, Wild President Matt Majka and United CEO Chris Wright. “We’re working locally with the Minnesota department of health -- we’re working locally with the governor’s office -- to build a task force specific to safe venues,” Casson said.

Acquiring Russell shortly before the shutdown has given the T'Wolves a blueprint to build for next season

NASHVILLE SC BECOMES SECOND MLS CLUB TO DEPART TOURNEY

• Nashville SC is the second club to depart Orlando due to positive COVID-19 cases, three days after FC Dallas had to withdraw from the MLS is Back Tournament, writes SBJ's Mark J. Burns. 
  
  
• Nashville said that one player tested positive as the individual arrived at the host hotel, while another eight players tested positive a few days after arriving. On a call with media this afternoon, Nashville CEO Ian Ayre said that a majority of players who tested positive are asymptomatic, while there are a couple with minor symptoms.

PRESIDENTS CUP EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR ON MOVE TO 2022

• The one-year delay of the Ryder Cup created several ripple effects, one of them being the next domestic Presidents Cup at Quail Hollow moving from 2021 to 2022. And while yesterday’s news had been expected for several weeks, Presidents Cup Executive Director Adam Sperling said his team in Charlotte was in a bit of limbo until the moves became official. 
  
  
• He told SBJ's David Rumsey, “We were, I would say, in a mix of planning for a 2021 event while preparing for the likelihood of a 2022 event,” he said. “What we were looking forward to … is just having a higher degree of certainty in whatever we were going to be doing.”
  
  
• Sperling said while he doesn’t have all the answers yet, all the conversations he’s had with partners and other figures around the Presidents Cup have been positive. And he feels it was ultimately the right move to delay both events. Sperling: “What's best for the game of golf is best for all of us. So, when you think about the fans of these events, you think about the players. … On the local side, you look at what's going to make the Presidents Cup stand out from the Charlotte perspective ... they all have to come together.”
  
  
• Over the next 12 months, Sperling and his team will rely on the strategy they had already been following and use the extra time to make any improvements, if necessary. “It'll give us a little bit of an opportunity to look at those plans and identify whether or not they make sense in a hopefully post-COVID world or if they need to be tweaked,” he said.

WTA STAYS FLEXIBLE AMID PANDEMIC COMPLICATIONS

• It was a busy day for the WTA, as the tour announced two new tournaments, rolled out a revised ranking system and had to deal with reports that tour-friendly China has banned all international sports events within its borders for the rest of 2020, writes SBJ's Bret McCormick.
  
   
• First, the new tournaments:
  
  
  • An event in Prague, Czech Republic.
    
    
  • With the Citi Open unable to reach an agreement to host the WTA side of the D.C.-based event in August, the WTA is taking its talents to Lexington, Ky., for the Top Seed Open from Aug. 10-17. Octagon owns the WTA sanction for the women’s half of the Citi Open, but leases the sanction to MDE Tennis, Mark Ein’s tennis outfit., which operates the Citi Open.
    
    
• The WTA also announced it will use a revised rankings system that limits damage to players who decide against traveling this year because of the pandemic. That development came as the AP today reported that China won’t host international sporting events this year. The WTA’s revised 2020 schedule included seven events in China during October and November, headlined by the WTA Finals in Shenzhen, the tour’s biggest money-making event.
  
  
• “To our knowledge, the report that has been circulated regarding a principle on international sporting events in China does not represent a final decision,” WTA VP/Global Communications Amy Binder wrote in an email. “We will advise when we have more information. We remain on track with our decision timeline regarding the 2020 WTA Tour provisional calendar, which will be (made) by the end of July.”

Today's news out of China likely jeopardizes the season-ending WTA Finals in Shenzhen, the tour’s biggest money-making event

WORLD TEAMTENNIS TAKING ALL PRECAUTIONS TO HOST FANS 

• World TeamTennis will be one of the few American sports leagues allowing fans when its season kicks off July 12 at The Greenbrier resort in West Virginia. Asked if WTT was committed to hosting fans throughout the three weeks that it’ll be playing at the resort, CEO Carlos Silva told SBJ’s Bret McCormick that the league hasn’t committed to anything the whole way through, and that it will consider every aspect of the event on a daily basis. 
  
  
• WTT organizers will require fans to wear masks, and have already added more testing for those closest to the operation. The WTT already had to disqualify one player, Frances Tiafoe, from participating after he tested positive for COVID-19 last Saturday. 
  
  
• “I don’t know that everyone understands that every minute, every hour, every day, the checklist of things that we’re trying to make sure we stay tight on,” said Silva. “You don’t want to have any mistakes and you want to stick to your procedures. You’ve got to be super diligent.”
  
  
• Silva said a Paycheck Protection Program loan of more than $350,000 ensured payroll was covered for 10 weeks, giving WTT one less thing to worry about during a time period when it was trying to decide whether to hold its 2020 season or cancel. Silva said that WTT -- which will have select matches broadcast on ESPN2 this weekend -- has event cancellation insurance, though it doesn’t have specific COVID coverage, which is unavailable in the insurance market right now.  

NONPROFIT TASTE OF THE NFL ADAPTS AMID NEW REALITY

• Few businesses have been as devastated by the pandemic as restaurants and sports, writes SBJ's Terry Lefton. As a founder and head of Taste of the NFL, a nonprofit which raises money for food banks, restaurateur Wayne Kostroski is feeling the impact as much as anyone not stricken by COVID-19. 
  
  
• “Restaurants and chefs are hurting a lot and these are the people who support and staff our food events,’’ said Kostroski, whose 28-year-old organization stages food benefits each year, culminating in an annual Super Bowl fete. So, while there’s usually close to a dozen team events every year leading up to the big Super Bowl fundraiser, this year there haven’t been any.  “Everything’s on hold,’’ he said. “And everything is changing as we’re trying to plan.’’
  
  
• Accordingly, Kostroski is holding his first virtual event this month, Tasteforethetour.com, in conjunction with the July 23-26 3M Open in Minneapolis, yet another fanless PGA Tour event. “Its tough to plan anything now,’’ acknowledged Kostroski, “but the best thing I can tell you about this year is that I’ve seen restaurant people are as giving in tougher times as they are in good times."

SPEED READS

• The Browns and Seahawks are the latest NFL teams to let season-ticket holders skip 2020 with no penalty for 2021, becoming at least the 13th and 14th teams to do so, reports SBJ's Ben Fischer. Another three have canceled season tickets altogether. In a letter to season-ticket holders, the Browns said they can either apply their current payments to 2021 or seek a refund. In neither case will their status or PSL rights be affected for the 2021 season. The team emphasized that the odds of playing in front of full crowds is very low, although if they remain confident the season will occur.
  
  
• Giants broadcaster (and avid golfer) Dave Flemming expressed cautious optimism for MLB's abbreviated season on the most recent episode of No Laying Up's "TrapDraw" podcast. Despite the Giants' recent issue with testing results, Flemming is staying positive. "I have a high-level of confidence that we’re going to see baseball. High. … It’s almost a certainty that we’re going to start, and try. Now whether we get all the way through and get to the playoffs and get a World Series in, … my confidence level would dip a little bit. But I’m optimistic that if everybody is smart about it, we can figure out a way to hopefully keep everybody safe and almost everybody virus-free."
  
  

• ESPN's Baxter Holmes & Eric Woodyard take a look at "how the NBA picked the barbers for the bubble." Six barbers from across the country will fly in and "operate out of one of three barbershops set up in each hotel teams are staying in." The plan is for "everyone to quarantine in the bubble for seven days and be ready to open individual barbershops by July 15." When Marcos Smith got the invite, the 42-year-old Dominican, who operates out of his studio in Brooklyn, immediately accepted. "This is potentially the biggest privilege of my career. It's a blessing. I feel like an astronaut."

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:
  
  
  • Opener For MLS' Return Tournament Deemed A Success
  • NHL Plans Tentative Dec. 1 Start Date For Delayed '20-21 Season
  • TV Execs Angered By Nielsen's Delay Of Out-Of-Home Numbers
  • Staples Center Receives Top Rating For Cleanliness Amid Pandemic

SBJ UNPACKS -- THE ROAD AHEAD

• Check out the most recent editions of our "SBJ Unpacks" podcasts around COVID-19:
  
  
  • T'Wolves & Lynx CEO Ethan Casson on how his organizations are staying active in furthering equality and social justice.
  • Sports industry pioneer Donald Dell talks about the state of sports.
  • D-backs President & CEO Derrick Hall discusses the return of MLB during the pandemic.

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.

There has been deep disagreement among some in America about whether sports teams should be playing at all this year amid the coronavirus pandemic, but we’re finally getting to action and facts instead of just hot-take opinions.

With MLS starting its season tonight in Orlando, and NBA teams continuing to enter its bubble at Disney World ahead of its restart in two weeks, soon enough we can let the results of these and other comeback efforts speak for themselves.

-- Adam Stern

THREE NFL TEAMS MOVE AWAY FROM 2020 SEASON TICKETS

• Three NFL teams found one way out of their ticketing morass: simply abandon season tickets for the 2020 season, reports SBJ’s Ben Fischer. Using varying language, the Chiefs, Ravens and 49ers all told season-ticket holders today that their packages won’t be valid this year -- instead, most will have a way of getting first dibs on single-game seats if local health regulators allow fans in, and that their status will be protected for 2021.
  
  
• Eleven teams had already offered fans the chance to proactively back out of 2020 with no penalty, but this step flips the entire operating perspective on its head looking toward the season. Rather than the NFL’s league-wide pandemic posture of preparing for full stadiums and adjusting downward, these three teams are now expecting limited or no capacity, and preparing to adjust upward if there’s good news from the politicians. The Chiefs said they would likely only sell the first few games at first if they sell at all, anticipating evolving conditions.
  
  
• The Chiefs, Ravens and 49ers all said they would stop selling single-game tickets and allow refunds for one-off tickets already sold, expecting any available supply to be taken up by season-ticket members (in most cases that will go through Ticketmaster or resale marketplaces). The Ravens added that they will not sell more than 14,000 tickets per game to enforce social distancing.
  
  
• The details vary in some ways. The Ravens said PSL holders will get preferred status for buying tickets; the 49ers and Chiefs both use preferred access as an incentive to keep customer money in their accounts (fans that seek a full refund won’t get first dibs.) But in all cases, the clubs promise there is no penalty for simply pushing to next year. 

ROSENHAUS: CLIENTS "IN AN UPROAR" OVER NFL'S ESCROW PROPOSAL

• Drew Rosenhaus said his clients were "in an uproar" over news the NFL might propose a 35% escrow on salaries this season to account for lost revenue due to the pandemic. Rosenhaus  told SBJ's Liz Mullen, "First of all, it was in the news; the NFL Network released it. And then it was discussed on an NFLPA call. So everybody heard about it and when that got out it was extremely unfortunate."
  
   
• More Rosenhaus: "I hope this is not something that the owners were seriously proposing to the players. It's insulting, quite frankly. ... Don't go to the players this year who are putting their careers and lives at risk. The players don't get the opportunity to go back to the owners when the franchises appreciate, and things of that nature. This is something that will have to be addressed, in my opinion, in future years, but not out of players salaries. ... The NFL and NFLPA have to work together and that type of sentiment or proposal is just not in good faith. ... Take the projected cap increases we are going to have in 2022, 2023 and 2024 and level it all out. It doesn't have to be a big drop next year and a big jump in 2022. That is what I am proposing."
  
  
• Rosenhaus said that the NFL should also look at finding ways of increasing revenue by lifting restrictions on advertising. "On a broader scale, the NFL also has to look at additional ways to make money where they have been conservative in the past, like affiliations with casinos, advertising with sports books  ... embracing that," Rosenhaus said. "The NFL has to be more aggressive with their advertising in new areas like on-the-field for games."
  
  
• Sources say the NFL does not have a National Emergency clause like MLB, or a force majeure clause like the NBA, to account for monies lost if games are cancelled due to a natural catastrophe. "Obviously if the season is canceled, there is going to be a big debate about what players will be entitled to be paid," Rosenhaus said. "We will obviously cross that bridge when we get there. But in terms of dealing with lost money right now or making moves right now to address any potential losses -- that cannot come from players' salaries this season. We have to kick the can down the road when we are in a position of strength, and we will be in a position of strength in future cap years."

Rosenhaus said the NFL's escrow proposal is "just not in good faith"

NFL MEDIA ASKS TALENT TO TAKE TEMPORARY SALARY REDUCTIONS

• NFL Media is the latest outlet to ask its on-air talent to take temporary salary reductions, for six months, from early August through January, according to SBJ's John Ourand. The request to take voluntary pay cuts of up to 15% was made to around 50 people via a conference call this afternoon.
  
  
• It was two-and-a-half months ago, on April 29, that NFL employees took mandatory salary reductions, with a portion of its employee base subjected to furloughs due to the pandemic.
  
  
• NFL Media VP/Communications Alex Riethmiller emailed SBJ: “The sports media industry hasn’t been immune to the economic consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic and in light of that we have asked approximately 50 NFL Media talent to join their colleagues across the league and take a temporary salary reduction.”
  
  
• In April, ESPN and Fox Sports asked its commentators to take voluntary 15% pay cuts over the ensuing three months at least. Almost all of them agreed to the cuts. In May, all of NBC’s on-air sports talent agreed to voluntary pay cuts in the 5-10% range. Those cuts also were described as temporary; all NBC on-air personalities agreed to them.

COMPLEXITIES AROUND RYDER CUP MADE POSTPONEMENT INEVITABLE

• News of this year's Ryder Cup postponement came as no surprise, but PGA of America CEO Seth Waugh today stressed his organization made every effort to find a way to host the event. But with little support to play in front of no fans, Waugh and the PGA of America had no choice but to reschedule to 2021 at Whistling Straits in Wisconsin, which in turn caused the PGA Tour to push back the Presidents Cup -- set for next year at Quail Hollow in Charlotte -- to 2022, writes SBJ's John Lombardo. Because of the change, the 2021 Wells Fargo Championship will be played at Quail Hollow instead of TPC Potomac in Maryland.
       
• “Obviously we always have looked at everything through the prism of acting responsibly,” Waugh said in a conference call. “We talked to everybody we could think of over the last few months. But the complexity of the fact that one of the teams, a large percentage of the fans, was also coming from Europe and what that meant in terms of travel, what that meant in terms of quarantining. ... From the beginning and certainly in the press, everyone is kind of generally if not universally agreed that a Ryder Cup with no fans is not a Ryder Cup." Waugh called the decision to postpone one of the most complicated deals he has ever worked on. “We really wanted to play this,” he said.
  
  
• The PGA of America will offer fans refunds or the opportunity to roll over their tickets to next year. Waugh would not comment on the financial impact from the shift to next year. 

Stakeholders and fans alike couldn't come to terms with a spectator-less Ryder Cup in 2020

ESPN ANALYSTS CALL FOR MORE TRANSPARENCY FROM MLB LEADERS

• As MLB training camps begin to navigate the challenges of return-to-play, do players need to hear more from Commissioner Rob Manfred and MLBPA Executive Director Tony Clark on a day-to-day basis? ESPN’s Buster Olney, on the “Baseball Tonight” podcast, called for more leadership from both parties as the league approaches Opening Day on July 23.
  
  
• Olney: “What needs to happen is -- Rob Manfred and Tony Clark, who’re at the top of the food chain in this effort to try to play baseball -- we need to hear from those two more often. And they need, in my opinion, to embrace the challenges in a very public and transparent way. When we have situations pop up like we did with the Nationals, it shouldn’t be Mike Rizzo that we hear from first. We should hear from baseball. … Just acknowledge the challenges that are there, and acknowledge the concerns of the players.”
  
  
• ESPN’s Tim Kurkjian said the “real disappointing part” about baseball’s return is the testing program “has not been perfect.” Kurkjian: “It’s been far from it. ... It was my understanding that Tony Clark was going to get out a little bit more often publicly and explain a few things, which I think would be so helpful -- not just for the public but for his own players to see him out there. And I’m sorry, I just don’t think you can hear too much from the commissioner at this point. This is the guy who said our sport is a ‘disaster’ a few weeks ago. Now he has to get everyone thinking that we’re going to make it to July 23rd. … I know he’s trying to do it, but I think he can try even more because … people need to hear from him.”

NASCAR ANNOUNCES REVISED SCHEDULE FOR AUGUST

• NASCAR announced its revised schedule for the month of August, with the top news being that Watkins Glen is being replaced by the Daytona road course, writes SBJ's Adam Stern. 
  
  
• SBD first reported earlier this week that Watkins Glen’s race was in doubt and likely to be replaced by the Daytona road course, and NASCAR has now confirmed this and noted that it will mark the first time ever that the Cup Series will race on the oval layout.
  
  
• This will mark the first time that NASCAR won’t travel to WGI since '85. The Daytona road course weekend, which will feature all three national series, will be Aug 14-16. Other highlights in August include Michigan and Dover hosting doubleheaders.

STATE OF THINGS: REALITY CHECK

• July could be one of the more interesting months in recent sports history as a number of high-profile experiments in running a league during a global pandemic get underway, writes SBJ's Bret McCormick.
  
  
• Some, including the NWSL and, as of tonight, MLS, are already underway, while bigger leagues like the NBA, MLB and NHL expect to fire up their competitions in the coming weeks. The success, or failures, of these experiments will give a good idea of whether college and pro football are feasible this fall (the Ivy League today pushed fall sports to the spring).
  
  
• Check out SBJ's website for a rundown of major sports leagues/organizations and where they currently stand on the resumption of play. 

OUTSIDE CONTRIBUTORS: DRIVING FAN ENGAGEMENT OFF THE FIELD

• Tonight's op-ed contribution is from Jake Becker, an avatar agent at Venice, Calif.-based Genies, which creates 3-D digital versions of its clients and integrates the likenesses into their social app. Genies' clients include the MLBPA, NFLPA and NBPA. Becker writes under the header, "If You Build It And They Don’t Come."
  
  
• "Sports consume us, unify us and command huge audiences -- both on the field and off. However, with COVID-19 forcing change to the physical world order with state-by-state crowd regulations -- with no real barometer on how vast these changes will be nor how long they will exist -- there is an increasing demand for sports organizations to deliver smart and fast responses across the world. How we consume sports will never be the same. The 'new normal' of tomorrow requires new methods and efforts to develop and retain fans."
  
  
• To read the full contribution, click here.

SPEED READS

• It looks like CBS is going to pick up the rights to carry UEFA Champions League a couple of years early as the two sides inch closer to a deal, according to multiple sources cited by SBJ's John Ourand. UEFA has not negotiated with other media companies in three weeks since Turner told it that it had opted out of its contract two years early.
  
  
• As the MLS Is Back tournament kicks off tonight, several teams will have new ads on their jersey sleeves, writes SBJ’s Mark J. Burns.
  
  
  • NYCFC will have two current sponsors, AT&T and Tri-State Ford, on separate sleeves for the Orlando-based tournament.
    
    
  • The Sounders FC will have locally-based WaFd Bank on both sleeves.
    
    
  • Inter Miami CF will have Baptist Health South Florida on one sleeve and Coca-Cola Beverages Florida on the other.
    
    
  • Based on reporting by SBJ's Terry Lefton, the Revolution confirmed that Gillette, current naming rights partner, will appear on one sleeve for the tournament. The other will feature Santander Bank.
    
    
  • The Earthquakes will feature payment system Clover and Wells Fargo, which will appear on a sleeve through 2020.
    
    

• The Boston Globe's Chad Finn is the latest notable columnist to advocate for a lost baseball season, writing under the header, "This Is No Time To Be Playing Major League Baseball." Finn: "The restart of Major League Baseball is a mess, and it’s barely begun. No, it’s not of catastrophic proportions, not yet -- that adjective is reserved for the real world right now. But it’s tempting catastrophe with its already faltering testing plan and desperation to sprint through the season to get that sweet, sweet postseason revenue."
  
  
• Several esports outfits were among the companies getting loans through the federal government's Paycheck Protection Program, according to The Esports Observer's Tobias Seck. The parent companies of several organizations, including Envy Gaming, FaZe Clan, NRG eSports, Complexity Gaming, Sentinels, Misfits Gaming, eUnited and Rogue were approved for a PPP loan. Several Overwatch League (OWL) teams and Call of Duty League (CDL) teams also were approved, as were publicly traded companies like Allied Esports Entertainment and Super League Gaming. For more, be sure to check out today's SBJ Esports newsletter.
  
  

• Paralympic champion Oksana Masters has become an ambassador for nonprofit organization Kindness Wins, reports SBJ’s Chris Smith. Founded earlier this year by tennis pro Madison Keys, Kindness Wins bills itself as “a collaborative engine for kindness,” and operations include live events, financial grants and, earlier this year, a sports memorabilia auction to support COVID-19 relief efforts. In May, Gold Medal-winning U.S. alpine skier Mikaela Shiffrin joined Keys as the nonprofit’s second “Champion.”

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:
  
  
  • MLS Takes Sports' Center Stage Amid Questions About Bubble
  • NBA's Silver Not Ruling Out Season Shutdown If Virus Outbreak Occurs
  • WNBA Looks To Address Player Concerns On Lodging In Bubble
  • Sports Networks Rethink Expensive Rights Deals Amid Strain

SBJ UNPACKS -- THE ROAD AHEAD

• Check out the most recent editions of our "SBJ Unpacks" podcasts around COVID-19:
  
  
  • Terry Lefton speaks with sports industry pioneer Donald Dell about the state of sports.
  • D-backs President & CEO Derrick Hall joins Bill King to talk about the return of MLB during the pandemic.
  • SBJ's Eric Prisbell on the complications that have and will arise with MLB's return to the diamond.