Sports World, Sports Fans Reeling from Coronavirus Repercussions

Sam Schmid, Staff Writer, Advanced Journalism

Coronavirus, as you know, has been declared a pandemic, or a global outbreak, that is rapidly spreading across the United States with at least 72 confirmed cases in Wisconsin alone.

Coronavirus is affecting a number of people, whether it be restaurant or bar employees, students and teachers, or, the main focus of this article, the sports world.

For many Americans, sports is their getaway from either their hard day at work or a hard day at school.

With every major (and minor) sports activity either postponed or cancelled, for most sports fans it’s hard to find that relief and excitement in our day-to-day lives.

First of all, for local sports, the boys and girls state basketball tournaments were cancelled,and for the girls’ teams in the tournament, some were just one game away from a state championship.

For spring sports, such as baseball, lacrosse, women’s soccer, and track & field, their seasons remain postponed until further notice.

“I’m very disappointed, but I understand the reasons behind it being cancelled. It’s too bad that it’s my senior year, and it gets cancelled but everyone’s in the same situation,” said Marcus Hornacek, NDA senior baseball player and Viterbo commit.

As for the professional sports leagues in America, they have been the frontrunners in cancellations to prevent the spread.

The National Basketball Association, or the NBA, was one of the first to start the trend, after Rody Gobert, an NBA player for the Utah Jazz, tested positive for the Coronavirus.

Since then, Gobert’s teammate Donovan Mitchell, Christian Wood of the Detroit Pistons, and four Brooklyn Nets players, including Kevin Durant ,have contracted the virus.

In the money aspect of this pandemic, with no television revenue, no fans in attendance for games, there are many ways where these professional teams will lose money.

In ticket revenue alone, the NBA makes around $1.2 million a game, and with 259 regular season games left, the NBA will lose around $300 million.

For the hourly workers for some of the NBA teams, like the workers in the arenas, players like Pistons’ Blake Griffin, Wisconsin’s own Giannis Antetokounmpo, and Pelicans’ Zion Williamson have donated a part of their income towards helping those in need.

These are strange times around sports as most professional sports leagues haven’t postponed their seasons in decades (other than the 2011 NBA Lockout). It is truly unprecedented.

In this epidemic, whether you’re a sports fan or not, it’s important to take the proper precautions to keep yourself and your loved ones safe.