Will COVID-19 be the needle that finally bursts the sports bubble?

Mississippi starts its postseason in two weeks. Soccer playoffs start this week.
We've had plenty of games canceled and teams put in quarantine -- one of our locals had whatever slim chance they had at the playoffs nuked because two players tested positive and they had to cancel their last four district games -- but by and large we've made it through the bulk of the season intact. Same story for football and the fall sports. There have even been fans in attendance.
Our schools have also been in session since August, albeit with plenty of virtual classes and a split of in-person and virtual days.

There are ways to get all of this done relatively safely. Sure, some of it takes a "damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead" approach. But if some states can do it, it seems like the states that can't or won't mostly lack the will to even try.

 

Cactus League, Valley leaders ask MLB to delay spring training due to COVID-19 pandemic | 12news.com

 

Lifting of statewide stay-at-home orders in California means Stanford and Santa Clara teams can practice and play home games. And the Sharks can come home as well, but first two "home" games vs. VGK will be in Arizona. Santa Clara County wanted to place stricter restrictions on high school athletes than recommended by the state, but that was reversed. Link may be paywalled.

 

A follow-up to the Keyontae Johnson story.

His collapse had nothing to do with COVID.

 

This is a relief.

 

With Super Bowl ratings down - I think whatever bubble there was has burst. The idea that there will always be TV money out there to scoop up and it will keep going higher and pay for whatever bad decisions teams and conferences have committed to (SEC excepted) is going to face a harsh reality. The NFL didn't miss a game. Had minimal/muted outrage over social justice concerns. A match-up for the ages. And it resulted in the lowest rated Super Bowl in 51 years. Particularly troubling is the declining trend in the demo numbers (18-49) is the NFL becoming baseball?

Super Bowl Ratings History (1967-present)

 

Wow. 18 million fewer 18-49 viewers since 2011, continuing a trend year over year. 91 million viewers is still an impressive draw in this age of narrowcasting, but that represents a 20 million drop since 2015.

And yet AT&T can still claim to make money (or at least show it as a positive ROI) by being able to produce content with Turner and distribute over its cable and streaming platforms. Same with all the other big players (ESPN/Disney), (Viacom/CBS), Comcast/NBC Universal). And that's despite a raging pandemic.

It still feels like a gigantic Ponzi scheme.

 

Football participation is down. The NFL can thank responsible moms.

 

You guys are insane. Every other sport in this country would kill for the NFL's problems.

 

And to your point, there is not a single sport right now with elevated viewing ratings. It's not the NFL. Teenagers and twenty-somethings are not engaged in sports the way we were as kids.

I'm telling you, the expansion of betting is going to be the savior of sports. Was out at my usual (socially distanced) haunt this evening and a table across the way had four people who appeared to be of the millennial age, two men, two women. All they were talking about was if they should take the FanDuel boost on Trae Young/Luka Doncic each hitting three 3 pointers tonight. There's a reason why the leagues are pushing like hell to legalize this stuff across the country.

 

When sports resumed over the summer, I really thought ratings would be through the roof. But I really think that the lack of fans in the stands and the general knowledge that the world is not back to normal have combined to depress everything.
But remember: the NBA ratings were down because of those damned black players who whined about police brutality.