Overtime
On Wednesday, the NFL revealed that multiple members of the Tennessee Titans had tested positive for Covid-19. The league also revealed that this was not a surprise. Dr. Allen Sills, the NFL’s chief medical officer, stated: “Given how endemic this disease is in the population and given how easy it is to transmit, we expect we are going to have positive cases” (Battista). On Friday, however, the NFL revealed that New England Patriots starting quarterback, Cam Newton, had also tested positive. This was not expected, and the future of the 2020-21 season is now in doubt.
This is not necessarily a bad thing. It was always risky to start the NFL season without the sort of bubble that the NBA has put in place, and now we’re seeing that keeping the current season alive could jeopardize future seasons, and more importantly, the health of the league’s players and their families. Are we prepared to see Patrick Mahomes and Lamar Jackson hospitalized? Are we prepared to allow their families to get ill so that we can enjoy the NFL Today every Sunday? Some things, as we learned after 9/11, are more important than sports.
The problem is that it’s not just a matter of sports. It’s also a matter of money. In 2018, the league brought in $14.5 billion of revenue, and that kind of money is not easy to walk away from, especially since there are plenty of other sports that might fill the void for fans. To take an example, the Las Vegas Raiders’ new home, Allegiant Stadium, was built at a cost of $1.8 billion. $750 million of this will be paid through public bonds, and the remaining $1.2 billion will be paid by the Raiders’ owner, Mark Davis. Do we really think that Davis will vote to cancel the 2020-21 season if Derek Carr tests positive for Covid-19? Derek Carr and Josh Jacobs? With Marcus Mariota as Carr’s backup and the league’s current belief that running backs are plug-and-play peripherals, it’s doubtful. The Raiders are carrying a $1.2 billion mortgage on their stadium, and that debt can’t be paid if the games don’t happen.
It’s also possible that NFL fans will find other sports to follow and potentially never return to the NFL. An entire generation of Los Angeles sports fans grew up without an NFL team, and they mostly followed other leagues without complaint. It helped that USC and UCLA were college football powerhouses, but the Dodgers, Angels, Lakers, and Clippers all benefited from this vacuum in the nation’s second largest media market. What if the NFL cancels the rest of its season, people turn to the NBA, MLS, EPL, and MLB? There’s also international rugby and MMA to consider. American sports fans are notoriously fickle, and our attention span is short. A full calendar year with no NFL may be just enough of a lapse to make people forget, and then the Raiders’ (and Clark County) are in serious financial trouble.
In the end, lots of Covid-19 cases have shown up in the NFL. This is primarily because they have crowds in the stands, unlike the NBA’s bubble. The NBA bubble took appropriate safety precautions, and it was therefore safe to play. The NFL, on the other hand, allows crowds up to 20,000 at their games. Which has been a problem for the NFL players.
