Habits & Contradictions

Forbes is estimating that the lost revenue from cancelled sports leagues could total somewhere between $5–10 Billion, depending on if sports leagues are postponed or completely cancelled. This “includes lost sales of tickets, concessions, sponsorships and TV rights fees”, but I think something more dangerous could be lost. And that’s the habit people have of watching and anticipating sports.

Like news, sports is now on a 24/7 news cycle, and no matter which sports are in play and which are on their offseason, there’s still always something to watch. Or rather, there was always something to watch and debate. Now that live events have to be cancelled for safety reasons, there’s a real possibility that we could no longer anticipate live sports and instead find other ways to spend our free time. That decreased fandom or support of sports could have a direct impact not only on the bottom line, but also how we as a society view, treat, emulate and/or idolize athletes.

Maybe then will we no longer care about who blew a 28–3 lead in the Super Bowl.

For U.S. Sports Leagues, The Cost Of Coronavirus Is $5 Billion — And Climbing — www.forbes.com
The coronavirus will cost major U.S. sports leagues $5 billion from lost sales of tickets, concessions, sponsorships and TV rights fees in a best-case scenario. A longer stoppage would mean more than $10 billion in lost revenue.

Soccer Is a Habit. But Habits Can Be Broken. — The New York Times — www.nytimes.com
Sports are never just sports. And it’s OK to miss them now that they’re gone, and to wonder if they’ll be the same when they return.