The media and sports worlds remained on tenterhooks Thursday after the NBA, WNBA and MLB suspended a handful of important games last night in the wake of players protesting the police shooting of Jacob Blake in Kenosha, Wisconsin.
The remarkable decisions halted a critical NBA playoffs game between the Milwaukee Bucks and Orlando Magic as well as two other games, and there has been speculation emanating that players may well decide to scrap the rest of an already bumpy NBA season made onerous by the effects of the coronavirus pandemic. The NBA has said it hopes to reschedule the matches. The WNBA also postponed three games last night, and MLB postponed three games after the Milwaukee Brewers announced they would not take the field against the Cincinnati Reds in protest.
“The players have, once again, made it clear — they will not be silent on this issue. We stand with the decision of the players of the Milwaukee Bucks to protest this injustice and support the collective decision to postpone all of today’s games,” said Michele Roberts, the head of the National Basketball Players Association, in a statement.
At a time when the pandemic has scuttled the bulk of production of scripted TV programs and movies, the media industry has been relying heavily on sports to draw big audiences and the advertisers that follow them, as well as maintain the relationships entertainment companies have with cable and satellite distributors.
In a different moment, player protests spurred some hand-wringing. Colin Kaepernick’s decision to take a knee during the presentation of “The Star-Spangled Banner” at NFL games became a political issue. But now even the National Football League, which previously resisted embracing protest, has reversed course. In a recent interview with former NFL linebacker Emannuel Acho, Roger Goodell, the NFL Commissioner, said ” I wish we had listened earlier, Kaep, to what you were kneeling about and what you were trying to bring attention to. We invited him in several times to have the conversation, to have the dialogue. I wish we had the benefit of that. We never did. We would have benefited from that. Absolutely.”
Millions of dollars are at stake. With fewer new, viable entertainment options on TV, advertisers have rushed to surround baseball games, NBA matches, golf tournaments and more with commercials. Madison Avenue put down more than $972.5 million on last season’s NBA playoffs alone, according to Kantar, a tracker of ad spending, and another $288 million on the NBA Finals. Major League Baseball’s decison to postpone its Opening Day in the wake of the pandemic left what is estimated to be $217.7 million up for grabs, according to ad-spending tracker Standard Media Index. Even the lack of live, in-venue audiences has not kept marketers from rushing into sports alignments.
More to come…