Most Americans DO NOT Expect Football to Happen in 2020
Do Americans expect to see football in 2020?
Sports have slowly made their way back over the last few months with proper safety precautions in place. When it comes to both professional and college football, most Americans believe they don’t expect to see games this fall.
According to data released by The Harris Poll, only 32 percent of adults believe that an NFL season will be played in 2020. Furthermore, only 24 percent think there will be college football this year. Nearly 2,000 U.S adults were surveyed for the poll.
The survey went beyond just the gridiron. Of those nearly 2,000 adults, 29 percent of Americans believe the upcoming NBA season from the bubble in Orlando will be able to finish to its completion. The first games begin on Tuesday, July 30 from Walt Disney World resort.
With baseball, the numbers are a bit more optimistic. Forty-five percent expect the season to finish. The Washington Nationals open up the 2020 season Thursday night looking to defend their World Series championship when they host the New York Yankees from Nationals Park with no fans.
Daily Coronavirus Update
There are 15 million cases of the virus worldwide, with over 617,000 deaths.
The U.S. has over 3.9 million cases with over 142,000 deaths. The U.S. reported more than 1,000 deaths from Covid-19 on Tuesday, marking the first time since June 10 that the country has surpassed that mark.
Pfizer and BioNTech announced this morning that the U.S. government placed an order for 100 million doses for nearly $2 billion. The government also has the ability to acquire up to 500 million additional doses.
This deal will help the U.S. government deliver 300 million doses of a COVID-19 vaccine in 2021, 100 million of them being the vaccine candidate from Pfizer if all goes well.
This comes as Pfizer and BioNtech prepare for the next step in their trials, and the vaccine candidate could face regulatory approval as early as October if everything goes well.
Americans will receive the vaccine for free, due to the U.S. government's commitment for free access for COVID-19 vaccines.
And President Donald Trump held a coronavirus briefing for the first time in months.
At the briefing Tuesday, Trump said the coronavirus pandemic "will probably, unfortunately, get worse before it gets better.”
He continued to say, "Something I don't like saying about things, but that's the way it is. It's what we have."
And, shifting stances, Trump encouraged Americans to wear masks. He referred to it as "patriotic." Jim Cramer told The Street’s Katherine Ross that he hopes that this means that the "Karens are done."
MLB Ad Revenue is Already in High Demand
MLB and its broadcast partners have plenty of ad suitors lined up ahead of the start of the season.
According to Sports Business Daily, FOX Sports states that their regular season package for Major League Baseball is already 90 percent sold.
FOX Sports Vice President of Sports Sales, Seth Winter, says the network usually heads into the regular season with 60-percent ad inventory sold. With a shortened, more exciting 60-game season compared to a traditional 162-game campaign, advertisers are purchasing into a more exciting stretch of the season.
Additionally, Winter tells Sports Business Daily that FOX moved many of their advertisers from the spring into the more condensed season at the same rate as before. Overall, FOX states a 5-10 percent increase for new advertisers.
Fox Corp, which trades around $25 a share has majority ownership of Fox Sports. The stock is down 30-percent in the past year, but actually up 4-percent in the past three months.
TheStreet's Katherine Ross contributed to this report
