A World Without Sports: TV Networks Brace for Billion-Dollar Losses During Coronavirus Pandemic

The coronavirus pandemic brought the sports world to a screeching halt this week, and the networks that paid billions of dollars for the right to televise those games are bracing for impact. And nobody knows how far and wide this financial hit will be during an unprecedented time when uncertainty has become the normal operating procedure. But this much is a sure thing: A spring without any live sports would cost networks like ESPN and TNT millions of viewers and billions of dollars. The next few months alone feature March Madness, the NBA and NHL playoffs, The Masters golf tournament and the first pitch of the MLB season. If you stretch this into June, it will include the NBA and Stanley Cup Finals. (We won’t even get into the financial hit NBC would take if July’s Tokyo Olympics were called off.) It should be noted that while March Madness was completely canceled, everything else has been suspended or postponed, which makes figuring out the total impact a fool’s errand. Also Read: Do TV Upfronts Still Matter Anyway Now That Coronavirus Wiped Out This Year's Event? Everyone is in a holding pattern and waiting on the leagues for guidance. But the...

Read original story A World Without Sports: TV Networks Brace for Billion-Dollar Losses During Coronavirus Pandemic At TheWrap