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THURSDAY, MARCH 11, 2021 US sport inching back to normalcy One year on from shutdown, leagues continue to count pandemic cost

LOS ANGELES: One year after COVID-19 sent sport day revenue and contributing to collective losses esti- across North America grinding to a halt, professional mated by MLB Rob Manfred at around leagues and tours are inching back towards normalcy $2.8-$3 billion. after absorbing a multi-billion-dollar financial hit. A full 162-game regular season is planned when the Twelve months ago on March 11, NBA commissioner 2021 campaign gets under way on April 1, but specta- sent shockwaves across the sporting tor access will vary depending on city and state health world after dramatically halting the season following regulations where each team is based. The World confirmation of Utah Jazz player ’s posi- Series champion Los Angeles Dodgers will only be tive test. allowed a maximum of 100 fans at Dodger Stadium The NBA decision triggered a domino effect, with under current rules; the St. Louis Cardinals have been baseball, soccer, golf, ice hockey and other sports approved to allow 14,500 spectators. swiftly following suit either by suspending their sea- Major League Soccer is bracing for another hefty sons or cancelling events altogether. A year after the financial loss after taking a $1 billion hit in 2020. MLS start of the shutdown, US leagues are continuing to was halted just two weeks into its new season last year, count the cost of the pandemic as they adjust to the returning with a tournament staged in a bubble in envi- new realities of sport in the age of COVID-19. ronment in Florida before the regular season resumed The NBA has reached the halfway point of its in August. “We are forecasted to lose pretty close to $1 abbreviated 2020-2021 season after losing an estimat- billion, if not $1 billion (exactly), that we have been ed $1.2 billion through its interrupted 2019-2020 cam- talking about,” Garber said in February. “When you paign, with a $4 billion loss projected for 2020-2021. don’t have fans for the majority of your season, it’s just NBA chief Silver however is hopeful that the worst may pure math.” be over, noting that next season may resemble some- The National Football League, meanwhile, provided thing like a return to normality as more Americans get a template for professional leagues in North America vaccinated against COVID-19 and fans return to are- by completing its season in February with the Super nas. Bowl in Tampa. A robust testing program and strict “I’m fairly optimistic at this point that we will be health and safety protocols allowed the league to fulfill ATLANTA: Adam Silver Commissioner of the NBA looks on during the second half in the 70th NBA All-Star able to start on time,” Silver said ahead of Sunday’s all of its 256 regular season games and playoff sched- Game at State Farm Arena on March 07, 2021 in Atlanta, Georgia. — AFP All-Star game. “If vaccines continue on the pace they ule successfully. are, and they continue to be as effective as they have A crowd of 25,000 fans, including several thousand Zach Binney, an epidemiologist at Oxford College pandemic. In almost every major sport, television been against the virus and its variants, we’re hopeful vaccinated healthcare workers invited as guests, of Emory University in Atlanta, believes that major US ratings were down sharply, sometimes by striking that we’ll have relatively full arenas next season.” Silver attended last month’s Super Bowl, but NFL sports “did some really good things” as they plotted a margins. added that despite losses he described as “consider- Commissioner Roger Goodell admits it is unclear what return from COVID-19. “The NBA, Major League The NBA finals ratings nosedived by 51 percent, able”, the “long-term health of the league is very solid.” fan attendance may look like when the 2021 season Baseball and the NFL all found various ways to bring while the battle for ice hockey’s Stanley Cup cratered kicks off next September. sports back without having a lot of cases among their by 61 percent. The US Open tennis tournament Baseball revenues hit players and staff,” Binney told AFP. “The various mod- slumped by 45 percent and even February’s dream Major League Baseball, meanwhile, is also counting ‘They got lucky’ els were quite strong on that front.” NFL Super Bowl pitting Tom Brady against Patrick the cost of coronavirus. The league slashed its 2020 “One of the things that I think I have learned and I Binney noted however that some NFL and college Mahomes drew its lowest audience since 2006. season from 162 games to 60, finally starting in late think all of us have learned is try not to project too football teams allowed large numbers of fans back into In college sports meanwhile, budget shortfalls July before wrapping the World Series in October. far in advance because it’s difficult to do,” Goodell arenas before being certain it was safe to do so. “I caused by the pandemic have led to the elimination of Although fans were allowed to return for the late said. “I know this: We’ve learned to operate in a very think they were reckless and got lucky,” Binney said. more than 350 sports programs — the vast majority in stages of last year’s playoffs, regular season games in difficult environment. We have found solutions, and Other aspects of the US sporting landscape, Olympic sports including athletics, swimming and vol- 2020 took place in empty arenas, denying clubs game we’ll do it again.” meanwhile, shifted in more profound ways by the leyball. — AFP