Sports Radio, TV Face Big Problem: No Games To Air

New York Post 3/13/20

Sports TV networks and radio station are facing a big problem: They have virtually no games to put on the air.

In quick succession over the past 24 hours, the National Basketball Association, National Hockey League and Major League Baseball announced they were suspending operations due to concerns about the coronavirus pandemic, and the NCAA canceled its men’s and women’s basketball tournaments.

Now, their broadcast partners could face significant fallout, The Wall Street Journal is reporting. The networks that carry NBA games will take a substantial hit to advertising revenue and could potentially be on the hook for big rights-fees payments, according to analysts and people familiar with sports-rights deals.

Walt Disney Co.’s ESPN and AT&T Inc.’s Turner, the parent of TNT, together spend about $2.7 billion annually to show NBA games nationally. In addition, regional sports networks owned by media giants such as Comcast Corp. and Sinclair Broadcast Group Inc., among others, air NBA games in local markets.

Comcast also is the NHL’s major broadcast partner. Meanwhile, ESPN, Turner and Fox Corp. ’s Fox all have MLB rights.

The NBA is the most popular of the professional leagues that suspended operations. Losing NBA games will leave a major hole in the TV networks’ prime-time schedules, translating into lower ratings that will harm their ad sales—especially if the season doesn’t resume for the playoffs that normally begin in April, analysts said.

In the last NBA season, TV networks brought in nearly $600 million in ad revenue from NBA games and $972 million from the playoffs, according to research firm Kantar.

Networks’ other major stream of revenue—from the channel-carriage fees paid by cable-TV distributors—also could be impacted. Distributors require some TV programmers to air a minimum number of games; if they don’t, the carriage fees could be cut, according to a report by Rich Greenfield, an analyst for LightShed Partners. Since most of the NBA season is complete, he said, many TV programmers may have met the quota for telecasts.

Mark Cuban, owner of the Dallas Mavericks and a streaming-video entrepreneur, called the suspension of the NBA games due to the coronavirus a “black swan event,” adding that the league and its partners are “in new territory.”

The suspension of the major sports leagues could have wider implications for the pay television industry. Cable and satellite TV providers have lost millions of subscribers to cord-cutting over the past several years.

“This is an unprecedented situation,” ESPN said in a statement. “We have great relationships with our league partners and are confident we can address all issues constructively going forward. Our immediate focus is on everyone’s safety and well-being.”

➤SPORTS SHUT DOWN, MARCH MADNESS CANCELED: 

• The NBA was the first to take the stunning step of suspending its games amid the coronavirus pandemic on Wednesday night, and then on Thursday (March 12th), the rest of the leagues followed in a cascade of announcements, as did the NCAA, which canceled its "March Madness" basketball tournament. 
• The NCAA canceled its men’s and women’s basketball tournaments, one week before they were set to begin. The announcement came hours after the conferences began canceling their remaining games. The NCAA also canceled championships in every spring sport, including hockey, baseball and lacrosse. 
• The NHL suspended its season, with Commissioner Gary Bettman saying the hope is to resume play later and still award the Stanley Cup.
• Major League Baseball suspended the rest of spring training and delayed the start of its season, which had been scheduled for March 26th, by at least two weeks. 
• The new XFL canceled the rest of its inaugural season, after completing half of the 10 weeks. The league said it's, quote, "committed to playing a full season in 2021 and future years."
• The PGA Tour canceled the rest of The Players Championship after the opening round was played yesterday, and suspended its other tournaments for the next three weeks. There was no immediate word on whether it would be rescheduled. 
• The LPGA postponed three tournaments beginning next week.
• Major League Soccer said it was shutting down for 30 days. The league's suspension of the season begins after it just started on February 29th.
• IndyCar and NASCAR said they will hold their races this weekend and next, but without fans in the stands.