Sports Entertainment is a Business and Nothing More
Sports is a good distraction from harsh realities but people should never forget that it’s an industry meant to generate profit consequences be damned
Well folks, it looks like sports is coming back after all.
Congratulations! You can have something to keep you entertained during times of crisis. You can now go back to watching athletes compete against each other for title supremacy. You can speculate on who’s winning it all this season. You can go back to guess where each future free agent plans on going after the season ends. It looks like we all can achieve that sense of normalcy right?
Eh…not exactly.
While the NBA is segueing into returning, there are still a number of issues that are complicating its return. Again, the brutal COVID-19 Pandemic is still plaguing the country and there’s seemingly no end in sight. Due to poor planning and politicized methods of manipulating the public, Americans are still dealing with the virus and more and more are getting sick and dying daily. The curve has not flattened and any attempts to get people to realize the necessity of said method is a struggle with a sect of Americans believing that they should not change their way of life in order to guarantee the safety of themselves and others.
Keep in mind, the NBA plans on playing in Orlando, Florida at ESPN’s Wide World of Sports campus and there are now over 9,000 cases confirmed in Orange County alone. Now you would think it would be best to not rush sports back onto the scene unless you have a better understanding of the situation but the NBA is intending to proceed forward with getting back to business and ensuring that somebody wins something this season. The reality is that it isn’t plausible to sit out the entire season even if that is the best safety precaution method for now. A lot of money is riding for everyone each season. Tickets have been sold, TV deals have been made, and everyone needs to receive some merit of profit. There’s no way that those factors can simply be ignored in this economy due to the pandemic.
So the perception that sports is needed as a distraction from the reality is the kind of statement I wish people would put an end to now.
This was due to something NBA commissioner Adam Silver said in a phone interview with reporters last Friday, June 26. He stated that the NBA is coming back because “sports matter.”
Now I get the sense that he wasn’t trying to sound crass when making his point to reporters as to why the NBA is rushing to comeback but the painful reality is that he’s aware that a lot of money needs to be made and sitting out will cause major financial losses for everyone involved. That includes the owners, the players, coaches, and their staffs. That’s too much of a risk to take even in a serious worldwide viral outbreak. The League does need to keep moving despite the pandemic.
“No options are risk free right now,” Silver said when talking to reporters. “Yet we can’t sit on the sidelines indefinitely, and we must adapt.”
In other words, there’s no real way to guarantee everybody’s safety. Unless the “Orlando Bubble” has a massive viral outbreak in its facility, the NBA is going to proceed forward to its restart program. If you get the virus, you get the virus. Deals have been made to play at the ESPN campus. The NBA refuses to back out now because that would mean more financial losses for the League. You’re essentially on your own in terms of making the decision to put yourself at risk to play ball.
Then there’s the massive civil unrest from the public due to police brutality, systematic racism, and a plethora of human rights abuse in the United States now being more visible and out in the open for the world to see. So does it seem like a good time to play sports right now to serve as a distraction? That was essentially the point NBA superstar Kyrie Irving tried to make during his private discussions to the players in regards to his hesitancy of continuing the season.
“I don’t support going into Orlando,” said Irving on a conference call with around 80 players, reportedly. “I’m not with the systematic racism and bull — — . Something smells a little fishy. Whether we want to admit it or not, we are targeted as Black men every day we wake up.”
It’s not an easy thing to do and Irving’s trepidation to continue the season, shared with other players, is very understandable even if a heap of people disagree with his stance. However, that doesn’t work in the world of sports. Irving himself may be financially secure enough to speak on these matters and try to look for alternatives of generating money while stepping up to speak on human rights abuse but the nature of the beast will not allow it. Not everyone is as lucky as Irving and that is no fault of his own. Unfortunately, money is to be made as usual and that is the priority of any sports league regardless of social climate.
Fred VanVleet of the Toronto Raptors recently spoke with reporters about his hesitancy to play again because of the virus as well as feeling conflicted due to the protests currently ongoing in the US.
“It sucks. It sucks, man. It’s terrible timing. But that’s been 2020 for us,” VanVleet told Eric Koreen of The Athletic. “We all know the right thing to do is to not play, to take a stand. Morally, yes, that makes sense. But life goes on. We’re all young, Black guys. None of us want to give any money back. I don’t think that we should.”
VanVleet also continued that there could be other methods of using money in regards of providing support to fight systematic racism.
“I think that money can be used in a number of different ways. This is not going to end this summer regardless, or over the next couple of months. This issue, racial injustice, social injustice, police brutality, all these things are not ending anytime soon.”
He’s right. These issues are not ending anytime soon. So should the players sit out and make a stance? Well, too late for that. The NBPA already agreed to the terms of restarting the season so they are doing this.
However, several players have already made their stance known and have decided not to risk it despite the supposedly “safe protocols.”
Players like Avery Bradley, Willie Cauley-Stein, Wilson Chandler, and Davis Bertans are all sitting out. A reported 16 players have recently tested positive with the virus including All Star Nikola Jokic. So even methods of testing and social distancing are not guaranteed protocols to ensure everyone’s safety. Somebody’s bound to get the virus.
It doesn’t help that the staff themselves are vocal about being against the idea of being trapped in a single area for three months. 16,000 people — who are allegedly Disney employees — signed a petition addressed to Orange County Mayor Jerry Demings and Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer to delay the opening of Walt Disney World scheduled for July 11.
“This virus is not gone, unfortunately it’s only become worse in this state,” the petition reads. “Having our theme parks remain closed until cases are steadily decreasing would keep our guests, our employees and their families safe. Re-opening the theme parks is only putting our guests, employees, and families at higher risk for contracting COVID-19. While theme parks are a great way to relax and enjoy free time, it is a non-essential business; it is not fair to the people who work there to risk their lives, especially if they are at risk or have family members who are at risk. People are more important than making a profit.”
While those concerns are understandable, it’s unlikely anybody is going to listen. Again, money needs to be made. And that’s the harsh truth about the social construct of this country: we are motivated by the dollar. The pandemic cases have not completely subsided because people believed that they should enjoy their freedom and proceed forward with their daily lives regardless of the consequences. And while no one wants the issues plaguing Black and Brown people in regards to racism and human rights abuse to be forgotten, the League needs to generate income to avoid financial losses. That’s not to say nobody cares about these things but the nature of business will always take priority over everything else.
Sports isn’t a simple distraction. It’s a business and money needs to be made. While the pandemic and Black Lives Matter are issues that should continue to stay on people’s minds throughout it all, the world isn’t going to stop for those matters to be solved.
Money needs to be made and that will always take precedence.
Here’s the schedule. I guess you should get excited for the season.
*additional information by the Athletic, ESPN, USA Today Sports, Deadspin
