Since all sporting events and leagues either canceled or have postponed play in mid-March, fans have seen the longest stretch without a live sporting event in their lifetimes. The springtime is always filled with the NCAA tournament, the Masters and NBA/NHL playoffs. Fans of all sports are without anything live to watch for the foreseeable future, with no set end date.
In a time without sports, many networks have begun to show reruns of old games. The big networks, like ESPN, NBC, and FOX have been showing classic games that they have the rights to. ESPN has been showing old Monday Night Football games in its normal time slot on Mondays at 8 p.m.
NBC and FOX have been re-running some of the recent Super Bowls that they own. In addition to the Super Bowls, they have also been showing some of the best regular season games they have.
In order to support the sports craving of the fans, ESPN has held mini tournaments for both NBA 2K and Madden video games in which professional players from the respective sports compete against each other. ESPN also held a virtual H-O-R-S-E game featuring former and current NBA/WNBA players.
GHC student Tius Ballio, said he has tuned in to both the 2K tournament and the virtual H-O-R-S-E game.
“They were pretty cool,” Ballio said. “They should do more of it because it could bring in new fans and sponsors.”
The highly anticipated Michael Jordan documentary called “The Last Dance” was originally set to air in early June, but ESPN moved it up to April 19 since there are no actual sports to watch.
“I’m really excited to see it,” said GHC student, Damien Wright. “I’m not old enough to remember Jordan’s Bulls teams so it will definitely be good to get some insight.”
Sports fans can feel a slight sense of normalcy next week, as the NFL draft is going on as scheduled, April 23-25. NFL commissioner, Roger Goodell, let teams and owners know a few weeks back that there would be no delay when it came to the draft. The draft was originally set to take place in Las Vegas, Nevada, but will now be done virtually.