German Bundesliga Strikes First
In terms of live sports across the world, the Korea Baseball Organization League might not be top of the food chain. May 2020, it’s KBO time! Or is it?
The KBO League has reopened itself to regular season games behind closed doors, allowing for live coverage to be shown on ESPN in the early hours of the morning in the United States of America. Empty stadiums have not taken away the ability of fans tuning into to see home runs, bat flips (which appear to leave hitter’s hands simultaneously as the ball leaves the bat, amazing)a plenty, a universal designated hitter (hallelujah) along with some technical hiccups that are to be expected with a shared live broadcast from the other side of the world. The commentating so far on ESPN has to be commended, gaining info on a new league, name pronunciations, and that’s before they’ve even had to deal with the technicalities of broadcasting commentary from their own homes. Let’s not forget one mistake here will be amplified as it’s the only live sport we’re getting right now.
A race to open up major sporting leagues around the world has begun. This interesting move by ESPN and the KBO has allowed fans to dip their toe back into some live sport for the first time in quite some time, the financial incentives for being first to get back up and running are huge.
European football leagues across the continent have already bowed out of the race. France, Belgium and the Netherlands have already declared their seasons cancelled, many legal implications are bound to follow. Logistical nightmares of placing teams in certain divisions next seasons, along with awarding titles to teams without completing a full season is opening a can of worms. This is all before those countries decide who gets to play in the major European competitions next season. The Uefa Champions League and Uefa Europa League bring enormous sources of revenue into clubs. Imagine missing out on that because the season isn’t finished and you were told that’s how it’s going to be. The solution? If cancellation is the only option for the safety of the population: declare the season null and void. No promotions, no relegations, and no titles. Base European qualification on the previous seasons play. The lawyers are circling.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel briefed regional authorities that the Bundesliga could return in the second half of May, without fans. As broadcasting companies prepare to maneuver themselves into a position to get a slice of the pie, the immediate benefits to German football could be huge. Exposure: in professional competition, being first matters, winning matters(unless you’re tanking for the number one pick in the draft, that’s good planning apparently). Sports fans are craving any live sports right now, this means that all eyes will be on this league. Money will be flowing in through temporary broadcasting and advertising deals.
Silence has been the name of the game in the U.S.A. along with England regarding the suspension or restarting of it’s major leagues. This could be indicative of the miscommunication and uncertainty filtering from the top down, and throughout the respective countries, as to how long lockdowns and shelter in place orders will remain in place. Lot’s of people are even wondering if sports even matter right now. They’d be right to, do we even want sports in empty stadiums? Is the best thing to write off the summer in terms of hoping to see sports back up and running? Maybe, after all social distancing measures are expected to remain in place for the foreseeable future. Is it negligent to even think about live sports returning so soon?
The National Collegiate Athletic Association got out ahead and coordinated the immediate cancellation of spring seasons across it’s three divisions. Interestingly enough that was the easy decision for them to make, they simply had to do it. This coming fall is where the difficult decisions have to be made. Games behind closed doors, more money distributed from their extremely large coffers, and reduced amount of fixtures are all options on the table to sustain university athletic departments across the country. Potentially endangering student-athletes, not all of whom are on athletic scholarships, is something the NCAA has to think really diligently about.
What can we do in the mean time? Enjoy running, walking, home workouts all whilst social distancing of course, re-live past game highlights. Oh and buy a Bayer Leverkusen shirt to go along with your Samsung Lions hat, you just might need them.
