Not sure if there’s a dedicated thread to this topic, if there is I haven’t seen it. Please put all discussion about sports resumptions here.
EPL - No update yet as far as I know. They will surely want to give it every chance to finish the season later in the summer now that the Euros are cancelled. You would feel most leagues around the world will take the same lead on this, example you’d be surprised if EPL resumes and concludes the season behind closed doors but Bundesliga or SPL for example don’t. There is more onus on EPL to finish than the lower leagues though so wouldn’t be surprising, albeit unfair, if EPL concludes their season but the likes of League two and the conference don’t.
Horse racing - I’d say this will be first to resume, in Ireland ahead of England, behind closed doors.
Tennis - Wimbledon is gone and someone who follows the sport told me the whole sport is likely to be scrapped in 2020. Hard to believe it is not more ready than others to return when sanctions are eased.
NBA - like EPL will be determined to finish the season and no update yet from the powers that be. I read something that they might move all teams into one city and essentially a lock down scenario and run off the season at two arenas behind closed doors. Makes some sense for sure.
Golf - Don’t follow it but don’t see why it shouldn’t be among the faster sports able to resume.
GAA - The big one for most of us here, no decision yet on the intercounty season but I think it will be in awful danger that the season will be cancelled.
The problem with scrapping seasons is that even if you can start the new season in August you’re runnning the risk of the exact same thing happening to the 2020/21 season as has happened to this one.
I’m not overly familar with the financial dynamics at play in Belgian football but the legal implications of scrapping a season in England would be enormous, as regards both clubs and broadcasters. It makes sense to modify future season/s, not the current one which is close to completion, to ensure some sort of sporting integrity.
If the All-Ireland championships go ahead this year I suspect they may go back to a knockout format both because of time constraints and because of the need to get them finished quickly because of the risk of another lockdown.
They’ll also be interesting because they’ll likely level the playing field with every team having effectively no preparation, therefore it could be a bit of a throwback to old times, as it were.
Fuck knows when the finals will be held. Anywhere between September and December and even into 2021 looks possible.
If official sports leagues can’t/won’t come up resumption of games, then there’ll be unofficial things going. The issue sports leagues will have is that once a person gets it, someone else is a close contact and a risk.
People would pay good money in a couple of months for the best NBA players to go against one another in a one off game.
Listening to OTB there and Joe what’s his name was saying the EPL is hoping to put players in camps with a view to resuming the league behind closed doors in May, with a view to finishing in July. This could be a goer for a lot of top sports, isolate teams together in compounds where there is no outside contact where they might risk infecting each other. Imagine the moral boost to the general public cocooned at home to be able to watch their favorite teams and sports again on TV, even though no fans attending in person it would be great. I’d imagine too there will be a clamour from bookies to get certain stuff back soon or some bookies will start going under. Wouldn’t be surprised to see say exhibition tournaments in individual sports pop up in say snooker or darts to start with.
I’m playing football manager here for the last two days and I can ensure you after leading man united to famous double in season two the last thing any of us wanted was the FIFA world club competition. It’s some heap of Bolox.
