Coronavirus in sport: US sports set to incur massive loss

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Bengaluru, May 2: The global shutdown due to the novel coronavirus (COVId-19) pandemic has cost US sports dear with an estimated loss of $100 billion, according to a report which appeared in ESPN.

The analysis of the losses includes superstar salaries to pay for stadium workers but it might be a conservative estimate because it does not include outdoor recreational sport, gambling or such individual sports as golf, tennis and NASCAR, the most popular form of US auto racing.

Giving a ray of hope, NASCAR has promised a May 17 return with seven races set to be held in eleven days.

Patrick Rishe, sports business programme director at Washington University in St Louis, estimated the impact of the shutdown on major US pro and college sports leagues as well as youth sport for ESPN, which also had labor market analysis firm Emsi make sport-related job estimates.

Rishe estimated US pro sports would lose $5.5 billion from the shutdown while college sports would lose $3.9 billion and youth sport tourism would fall by $2.4 billion. Those figures assume Major League Baseball and Major League Soccer can finish half of their scheduled seasons with spectators while the NBA and the National Hockey League cancel the unfinished part of their regular seasons and stage play-off games without spectators with youth sports resuming in July.

None of that is assured given the stay-at-home orders remaining in place over most of the nation as a result of the deadly virus.

Figures include $3.25 billion that would have been spent by spectators on pro sports plus $371 million of income for stadium and arena workers and $2.2 billion in US television rights fees.

An NFL wipe out would cost more than $11.5 billion in television revenue while 65 major collegiate American football programmes receive about $4 billion in TV money, about half the income that finances all athletic department budgets.

There are three million jobs nationwide that depend upon sports, from ushers and guards to scouts and trainers, according to the report.

(With inputs from Agencies)