Coronavirus: What It's Doing to Sports and Entertainment

UPDATE #9, 3/13/2020, 7:30AM: Augusta National has announced that The Masters will be postponed due to the coronavirus. The prolific golf tournament was schedule to be held April 9-12. Also this morning, Dana White, President of the UFC, announced that some UFC events will be held without fans including this weekend’s UFC Brasilia. While UFC Brasilia will be held in Brazil, some events are currently being moved to the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. UFC Fight Night 171 scheduled for March 21 in London will be held with fans as of now.

The original blog/story and previous updates are below:

It’s the end of the world as we know it! Okay maybe that’s a bit dramatic. But the first quarter of 2020 is coming to an end and we have our current global crisis: Coronavirus. If you haven’t heard of the Coronavirus (or COVID-19), 1) where have you been and 2) clearly you don’t pay attention.

It’s been the talk everywhere. CVS, Rite Aid, Target, and all stores are running out of tissues and hand sanitizer because people are freaking out. There’s a reason to be a little more cautious than usual, but freak out may be taking it a bit too far. As of March 8th, there are 110,064 cases worldwide. Of those cases, China has the most cases with 80,735. The United States has the 8th most cases with 542 cases. Unfortunately, there have been deaths but there have been WAY more recoveries. Most cases are found to have recovered from the virus.

But I’m not here to talk about the coronavirus itself. Let’s talk about how it’s affecting what we care about in our lives: Sports, film, events, etc. These are very serious times and the organizations around the world have taken notice. China took the first measure as the virus originated from there. All schools, movie theaters, sporting events, and other high population tourist attractions (including Shanghai Disneyland and Disneyland Hong Kong) have been closed indefinitely. In Italy and Japan, major sporting events are going on as scheduled with empty stadiums. These are two of the countries that have travel restrictions on them currently in the United States. It is spooky though. Japanese baseball is in spring training, just like Major League Baseball is currently. Hearing the echo of the bat hitting the ball is very scary and something you don’t ever want to hear. Japan has also closed off other high profile areas including Disneyland Tokyo and Universal Studios Japan among others. In fact, Japan will have a major decision to make in the next couple of months. Japan, along with the International Olympic Committee, will need to make a decision about whether to keep the Olympics games on the schedule. Unfortunately, shifting the games from the July-August time frame is near impossible due to television rights, athletes schedules, and merchandising. There is a $1 billion insurance policy on the games that’ll be paid to Japan and the other countries that participate who rely on the income driven by the games. As of now, the IOC has said the games will continue as scheduled and that a decision to cancel the games doesn’t need to be made until end of May or beginning of June.

The United States is not immune to this virus. The MLB, NBA, and NHL have all instructed player-fan interaction to be limited. That includes no high-fives or handshakes from fans, not accepting pens from fans for autographs, and limit pictures. In fact, several MLB teams have started handing out pre-signed baseballs to protect the fans and players. The Los Angeles Dodgers have said they are working on plans in case the virus continues to spread fast including possibly playing in an empty Dodger Stadium. There is one player who has spoken up about playing in an empty stadium: LeBron James. When asked about the possibility of NBA games played without fans in attendance, James said, “We play games without the fans? Nah, that’s impossible. I ain’t playing if I ain’t got the fans in the crowd. That’s who I play for. I play for my teammates, and I play for the fans. That’s what it’s all about. So if I show up to an arena and there ain’t no fans in there, I ain’t playing.” Since that statement was made, the NBA has said they’ll continue to monitor the situation and plan to have all games played with fans in attendance.

Two major things have occurred in the United States: Cancellation of events and moving of movies. SXSW, the annual tech/entertainment convention held in Austin, was cancelled on March 6th after Apple, Amazon Studios, Netflix, and among others pulled out of the convention due to concerns. This was huge because these vendors were planning on premieres for upcoming shows and films including a possible first look at Stranger Things season 4. The entertainment industry will be hit the hardest. With China closing all movie theaters indefinitely, no film will be released in the country including Disney’s live action retelling of Mulan, which was supposed to break records in the China box office. The first major film to get shifted in the United States was MGM’s new James Bond film, No Time to Die. Both A24 and Universal, who handle marketing and distribution, moved the film to November due to concerns. Sony moved the UK release of Ghostbusters: Afterlife to August with rumors swirling of a full shift of the movie. It’s projected that the film industry will lose $4-5 billion dollars due to the coronavirus.

Unfortunately, there are no signs of the virus slowing down. But that doesn’t mean we have to stop living our lives. So what can you do to protect yourself? Simply follow these pre-cautions from the World Health Organization, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and your doctors: 

• Wash your hands for at least 20 seconds

• Cough and sneeze into your sleeves or tissues

• Avoid touching your eyes, nose, and mouth

• Avoid close contact near someone who is coughing and/or sneezing

• Pay attention to what countries have travel restrictions on them (China, Japan, Italy among others) if you are planning to travel. If you have returned from these countries, avoid social contact for at least 2 weeks.

• If you feel sick, do not go to work and seek medical care early

We at Popline want you to be safe and healthy! Now go on out and enjoy a Modelo…not Corona!

UPDATE #1: 3/9/2020, 11:15 AM: Italy’s professional sport leagues (including Serie A which is home to AC Milan, Inter Milan, and Juventis - Christian Ronaldo’s team) have suspended play indefinitely. The option to continue play will be re-evaluated on April 3rd.

UPDATE #2: 3/9/2020, 12:40 PM: According to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski (aka Woj), the NBA has scheduled an emergency conference call for this coming Wednesday to discuss the potential of playing games with “essential personnel only.” NBA doctors and athletic trainers will have a call Monday night to prepare for Wednesday’s call.

UPDATE #3: 3/11/2020, 9:00 PM: Numerous cases of the coronavirus have popped up since this blog was posted. The biggest bomb hit when Rudy Gobert of the Utah Jazz tested positive for the virus. Because of this, the NBA season has been suspended indefinitely. The NHL, MLB, and MLS have issued statements saying they are meeting with doctors and will have updates in the immediate future.

UPDATE #4: 3/12/2020, 11:15 AM: All professional sports leagues in season (MLB, MLS, NBA, NHL) have suspended operations, along with the major NCAA conferences. Paramount has delayed 3 films (including A Quiet Place 2) indefinitely and Universal has delayed F9 to April 2, 2021. All theaters on Broadway in New York have suspended performances indefinitely. More updates will follow from the sports and entertainment worlds as eyes are on major studios and the NCAA to make more announcements.

UPDATE #5, 3/12/2020, 1:20PM: The NCAA has officially cancelled all winter and spring championships. This includes the NCAA Basketball Tournaments and College World Series.

UPDATE #6, 3/12/2020, 1:35PM: Disney has announced that Disneyland will close due to the virus. Disneyland has only closed twice since it began 7-day operations in 1960s: JFK assassination and 9/11.

UPDATE #7, 3/12/2020, 2:50PM: Disney follows up their Disneyland announcement that Mulan, The New Mutants, and Antlers (Searchlight Pictures) will be pulled. New releases dates are TBD. We are awaiting word on Black Widow and other major summer blockbusters from the studios.

UPDATE #8, 3/12/2020, 7:00PM: The PGA Tour has cancelled THE PLAYERS Championship and all events through the Valero Texas Open (April 2-5). The PGA Tour had started THE PLAYERS Championship with spectators at the practice rounds and no spectators during the 1st round.

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