If there was ever a time to do it, now is it

With covid-19 spreading like wildfire again especially in Florida the bubble site for NBA, MLB and MLS I am having doubts the Raptors, TFC Impact and Whitecaps and Blue Jays will be playing this year. Even NFL will be at risk with 90 players per team at training camps probably similar number of coaches staff ect.. and trying to have 80,000 fans at a Chiefs game in Kansas City or Green Bay good luck with that. NHL might be better served having both hub cities in Canada this summer.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/sport...rn/3225237001/

The major four leagues can survive off solely TV viewership. The NFL for years has had the bulk of revenue money come from TV.

More gate driven leagues that rely more on ticket sales will feel the pinch.

i mean as a health and safety issue I don't think it will get off the ground as a hub with those states so infectious and the staffs so much larger than a ufc card with no fans.

Is MLB talking about Florida in the same way the NBA and MLS are? I haven't followed closely but I thought the plan was for MLB to play at their respective home fields. Even to use their minor league complexes for training camp isn't really necessary since there are no minor leagues this year. They can get in their drills and workouts at their home stadiums if need be for the couple weeks before the season would start if Covid makes the spring sites too risky.

It's not like Florida MLB teams actually have people attending anyway.

The Marlins had ~10,000 in attendance per game in 2019.

The Rays had like ~15,000.

Unrelated, but OK.

Last I checked MLB was still negotiating with the MLBPA on a best route forward after the entire process was nearly scuttled by the owners.

MLB has closed all spring training sites in Florida and Arizona and MLBPA has stopped CBA talks with MLB due to covid outbreak and NFLPA has now asked all players to stop all group workouts of players and in NCAA football now at least 30 LSU football players in quarantine

https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/...onavirus-tests

https://www.si.com/college/2020/06/2...ed-coronavirus

https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/news/n...navirus-cases/

Wolfpack looking for new ownership with majority owner Argyle stepping aside

https://www.tsn.ca/toronto-wolfpack-...side-1.1503700

Majority owner David Argyle plans to step away from the Toronto Wolfpack with the transatlantic rugby league team, currently in limbo, entertaining new ownership offers.

Wolfpack president and CEO Bob Hunter said the team is mulling over separate "solid" offers, one from North America and the other from the United Kingdom.


"David is walking away," Hunter said in an interview. "And the two (groups) that are in I'd call it the horse race, we're evaluating which is in the best interest of the club and Super League going forward."

Argyle, a Toronto-based Australian entrepreneur who specializes in mining and natural resources in emerging markets, estimates he and his ownership group have poured in $30 million into the club that first took the field in 2017.

"He's had a great run. He's spent a lot of his own money," said Hunter. "It was time. I hate to say time to give up, but more so important to just stop investing in the club. And so he made that decision a couple of weeks ago and asked us to go and see if we could find some new owners."

Argyle's plan to sell shares in the club a la Green Bay Packers is off the table now, said Hunter.

The news comes in the wake of the Betfred Super League's decision Monday to terminate Toronto's participation agreement following its withdrawal from the competition last month.

Super League said its action "reflects the seriousness of the breach of contract by Toronto Wolfpack, which has impacted Super League and its member clubs."

The Wolfpack presented its case to a Super League board meeting Monday, asking for more time to present its options. But the league, which has already expunged Toronto from the 2020 standings, instead terminated its agreement with the team.

The Wolfpack will now have to apply for and enter into a new participation agreement before being able to play in the competition in 2021.

Hunter, who called the league's move "more of a legality that anything else," said the club plans to submit a restructuring plan in the next seven to 10 days.

Toronto had issues with its existing deal with the Super League. Under terms of that agreement, the Wolfpack were not entitled to a cut of the league's TV deal and were an invitee rather than a member club.

Citing the global pandemic, the Wolfpack announced July 20 that they could not afford to take part in the remainder of the Super League season. Argyle said his players were free to negotiate with other clubs for the remainder of the 2020 season.

Play resumed Sunday with the Super League down to 11 teams.

Argyle had said he wanted to field a team next season but that will be up to rugby league authorities. If they do want Toronto back, there is no guarantee it will be back in Super League — meaning the club may find itself back in the lower divisions of English rugby league.

The Wolfpack started life in 2017 in the third-tier League 1, winning promotion to the second-tier Championship before debuting in the elite Super League this season. Toronto went 0-6-0 before the league shut down in March due to the pandemic.

Wolfpack star centre Ricky Leutele, meanwhile, appears headed to the Melbourne Storm.

According to Australian reports, the Australian-born Samoan international is on the verge of joining Wolfpack teammate Sonny Bill Williams back in the National Rugby League.

Williams and his family are currently in quarantine in Sydney after returning from England, and the former All Black is expected to suit up for the Sydney Roosters for the remainder of the season.

Williams, who turned 35 Monday, played for Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs from 2004 to '08 and the Roosters in 2013-14.

Frank Ponisi, the Storm's GM of football, told Australian media that Leutele's signing was imminent.

The 30-year-old Leutele, meanwhile, told Sydney's Nine News he was last paid by the Wolfpack in May.

Argyle had said the club will make good on missed salary payments. The Wolfpack now say the new owners "would need to honour all payroll commitments and future contractual obligations."

Leutele said he and his family are living on his savings.

"We're just chipping (away) at that but you know the saving are meant for rainy days and I'm hoping the rain stops soon," he told the Sydney station.

Ironically, Leutele broke Storm hearts in the 2016 NRL grand final when he made a try-saving tackle on Melbourne winger Marika Koroibete in the dying seconds to preserve the Cronulla Sharks' 14-12 championship win.

Leutele and Williams were the Wolfpack's designated marquee players this season, meaning only 150,000 pounds ($262,455) of their respective salaries counted against the Wolfpack's salary cap of 2.1 million pounds ($3.67 million).

Wolfpack sale might also be as a result of this.

https://www.cbc.ca/sports/rugby/toro...gyle-1.5164499

Argyle deserves to be socked... some iffy "elephant" dna here, as Kiwi (and Canuck) "mouses" can attest.

Thank you Africa.
https://elevate.ca/wp-content/upload...ts-250x250.jpg
Masai

Sportsnet average minute audiences this weekend:

Saturday
CHI v EDM 856,000
MTL v PIT 1,600,000
WPG v CGY 1,660,000
Raptors vs Lakers 890,000

Sunday
CBJ v TOR 1,780,000
MIN v VAN 798,000

Steve Faguy
@fagstein
https://twitter.com/fagstein/status/1290808876707831814

Shows the passion of Winnipeg fans as that was a 9:30 pm central start time on Saturday.

NCAA getting closer to cancelling the 2020 college football season and fall college sports. Not sure how this will affect the CFL and NFL draft's in the spring time of 2021?

https://www.tsn.ca/ncaa/video/power-...s-fall~2011033

NBA and MLB tv ratings in the U.S. have plummeted and a lot of it might be from the massive amount of sport broadcasters mixing social justice commentary with sports coverage continually with the black lives matters coverage and players kneeling during the national anthem in the U.S. which could be pissing off a lot of white viewers in the U.S. Meanwhile NHL playoff ratings in the U.S. are doing well as is the PGA tour

https://itsgame7.com/mlb-ratings-are...seems-to-care/

https://www.cnbc.com/2020/08/03/nbc-...l-restart.html

Or, as pointed out in one of those articles and as i've said on here before:

Anyway, this thread doesn't really pertain to US ratings.

@michaelgrange

Game 1 vs. Nets was the most-watched @Raptors first-round game ever on @Sportsnet and drew 34% more viewers than Game 1 vs. Orlando last year. Average audience of 1.05 million and reached 2.5-million Canadians overall. Canada loves them some 'bubble' Raps, clearly.

Always would love to see provincial ratings breakdown.

That's totally the reason. These "activists" have no clue and are totally out of touch with the common man.

Fans were able to attend an MLS game in Texas. They booed players who knelt during the anthem.
Cindy Boren and Des Bieler The washington Post August 13, 2020