As cardboard cutouts occupy the stands at stadiums across the country, sports leagues and teams are dealing with a massive blow to their bottom line. If fans are stuck watching the game from home, it begs the question... how long can sports really be financially viable? Can exclusive, virtual experiences fill the budgetary void left by the absence of ticket sales? Or can the leagues just shoulder the economic consequences until stadiums and arenas are back at full capacity?

 

Featured Guests

Brian Wright - General Manager, San Antonio Spurs

Shelly Wilkes - Senior Vice President, Orlando Magic

Jon Alba - Sports Reporter/Anchor, Spectrum Sports - News 13

Episode Highlights

2:00 - What's missing from sports in the pandemic

4:27 - The media landscape for sports in 2020

5:56 - How the NBA is doing during COVID-19

7:16 - What the future could hold for sports

9:54 - A new model for sports monetization

13:01 - Media owned sports leagues?

19:50 - Will there be fans in the building next season?

26:23 - Final thoughts from the panel

30:06 - Dean Jarley's final thoughts

 

Episode Transcription

Jon Alba:                             The pitcher for the Washington Nationals just knocked this out of the park when he said that sports are like the reward of a functioning society.

Jon Alba:                             [crosstalk 00:00:08].

Jon Alba:                             Mr President.

Paul Jarley:                         If you watched the presidential debate like I did, you might think, well, we don't deserve sports at all. This show is all about separating height from fundamental change. I'm Paul Jarley, Dean of the College of Business here at UCF. I've got lots of questions. To get answers, I'm talking to people with interesting insights into the future of business. Have you ever wondered, is this really a thing? Onto our show.

Paul Jarley:                         Life, for me, had a glimmer of normalcy with this.

Paul Jarley:                         First, it was Korean baseball. Then it was MLS, followed by the NHL, and the NBA. They all started in bubbles. Major League Baseball returned to play in their regular venues, but all these restarts were missing one thing, spectators. The seats were empty. We've seen some baby steps towards the return of paying customers and seats in football but the question remains, how long can sports really be a thing if the stadiums are, well, mostly empty?

Paul Jarley:                         Luckily, I know people on the inside who can help us understand what's going on in sports today. How long this disruption might last and how sports might look different going forward. Listen in.

Paul Jarley:                         Is the current arrangement sustainable financially? How long can the leagues operate without spectators before this becomes a real financial problem?

Shelly Wilkes:                   Well, I can jump in.

Paul Jarley:                         Shelly Wilkes is a graduate of the DeVos Sports Business Management Program here in the college, and was the president of the Lakeland Magic. Now, she's a senior VP for the parent club, the Orlando Magic.

Shelly Wilkes:                   I think this is not really sustainable. I don't think it's sustainable from a society standpoint or a team ownership standpoint. I think that we, as sports leagues, really bring fans together, we bring communities together that's really what we build our businesses upon, is how do we bring a group of people together to cheer for one common cause. I think that in the short term, everyone understands where we are as a country, where we are as a world with the pandemic. We're making changes and sacrifices where necessary so that we can continue the game on the field or on the courts. I think everyone wants sports to come back in its entirety. We want to have arenas full.

Shelly Wilkes:                   I mean,