Pressure mounts for sports leagues to ‘jump ahead of science’ as COVID-19 hits teams bottom line

HBO Real Sports Correspondent David Scott joins Yahoo Finance’s On The Move to discuss how the coronavirus has impacted U.S. sports and the sports industry’s response to the pandemic.

Video Transcript

JULIE HYMAN: We have been talking a lot about sports and what they do on the other side of this, various sports leagues. But let's talk also about how they got into this. We're joined now by David Scott. He is "HBO Real Sports" correspondent. He's joining us from New York City. David, it's good to see you. So, we had that sort of turning point, right, the NBA announcement, along with a couple of other events, that really convinced the country that this was a serious thing seemingly. But, you know, there were undoubtedly some infections that happened at sporting events before things shut down, and you have been looking at that sort of path to shutdowns going into this. Talk to me about that.

DAVID SCOTT: Well, yeah, we're really-- we're trying to sort of explore the unique epidemiology really of-- of live spectator sports in the context of a-- a pandemic outbreak like this. Live sports obviously is, you know, some of the-- the most-- the biggest gatherings of-- of people in the world, on a regular basis at least, and-- and think about what they're doing. They're-- they're not just sitting there. They're-- they're cheering and jeering and eating and drinking and high-fiveing and hugging, and-- and what you have is an explosion of-- of droplets through that process, ideal conditions for-- for communication of disease.

And-- and so-- so live sports, the live sports industry, if you will, really needs to sort of come to terms with the extent to which they can move the needle for the-- for the worse if they don't act fast enough. And so our story begins in-- in Milan, Italy, in what-- what scientists are now calling Game Zero, a soccer match between-- between two teams played in-- in Milan, 50,000 people and coronavirus in the stadium. That one game has been traced to thousands of-- of cases. And by the end of February, cases and-- and bodies were piling up in northern Italy as a-- as a result of-- of that exposure.

And then we pick up the trail on the West Coast in the US in-- in the first week in March, when public health authorities were already calling for large gatherings to be postponed or canceled. And-- and most of the community complied very quickly, with one-- with one exception, and that's-- that's live sports. There were a Golden State Warrior games that week. There were San Jose Sharks and Earthquake games that week. And-- and again and again, we see a pattern where the live sports industry resisted calls to stand down.

ADAM SHAPIRO: David, it's Adam Shapiro. Thanks for joining us. We all have, you know, those fond memories. For me, it was going with my dad to the Orange Bowl in Miami for the old Dolphin games. But going forward, as you look at the potential for these kinds of, you know, pandemic spreads, there's going to be a huge negative effect on the revenue that lives sports generates. Is anybody in the industry, whether it be football or baseball or soccer, are they looking at a kind of deflationary reset for their industry?

DAVID SCOTT: That's a good question, and-- and, you know, you-- you would hope that they are trying to come to terms with this. I mean, we-- we don't want to underestimate or understate the impact of all this on-- on what is, after all, a-- a really important cultural and-- and economic phenomena really in-- in contemporary America. At the same time, we-- we have to come to terms with the fact that by virtue-- by virtue, almost by definition, live sports gatherings can be dangerous in-- in this period of time.

Be very easy to-- to jump ahead of the science amidst all of the economic pressure to return to-- to sports, even if that's without-- without fans, frankly. I mean, you know, you know what it takes to put on one of these productions. It's, you know, you get to the hundreds of people pretty quickly, even before you count the first fan.

And-- and so, you know, we-- we can only hope that those decisions are-- are not going to-- going to sort of outpace the-- the science, and-- and it's upon us now. The-- the Bundesliga, the German soccer league, is-- is returning to play-- plans to return to play in the next couple of days. The Premier League has set a date of June 1. Whether or not those societies, Europe in general, is in a position to safely return to sport is-- is still, I think, a very much an open question.

RICK NEWMAN: Hey, David, Rick Newman here. I have a question--

DAVID SCOTT: Hey, Rick.

RICK NEWMAN: --about inside versus outside. There does seem to be some evidence that the coronavirus is less contagious outside, but you just pointed out that so-called Game Zero was an outside soccer match in Milan. So my question is, as we are thinking about how to start playing games again, is there any advantage to being an outside sport rather than an inside sport?

DAVID SCOTT: I-- I, you know, that's a-- it's an excellent question for-- for the-- the epidemiologists. It stands to reason that-- that the-- to the extent that there is more space to spread out in-- in an outdoor football stadium, for example, relative to an indoor basketball arena, that makes sense.

But-- but I think what we've-- what we've learned is that, you know, a single game played in either setting under the wrong circumstances, meaning with the presence of a certain intruder, can-- can-- really can move the needle for-- for the worse. And-- and so I, you know, I'm not in a position to-- to give you an assessment of one versus the other, but I think we have-- we have-- we have ample evidence now that both can be extraordinarily dangerous in the context of a pandemic outbreak.

JULIE HYMAN: David, finally I want to ask you, as you did your reporting on this, and as we have heard from some of the leagues about their, at least, tentative plans to open back up, do you think that-- that they have learned some of those lessons? Do you think that they are taking this seriously enough as they consider the plans to reopen?

DAVID SCOTT: Yeah. I-- I think it's-- it's a little bit hard to tell. I mean, nobody is out there in the sports world sort of falling on the sword with remorse over the, you know, the late decisions that-- that were made. You know, some of the leagues have-- have appeared to be more introspective going-- going forward. And-- and one thing that-- that the NBA has recently said is that they're-- they're not going to test asymptomatic players, as they did in-- in the middle of March when, you know, when there was a-- a dire, dire shortage of-- of those tests.

On the other hand, they do plan to-- to start doing some-- some tests ahead of fan-less basketball and-- and practice, which will resume in-- in certain locations pretty soon, they say with the-- with the ascent of local public health authorities. But I think, you know, there's a hugely important leadership role for live sports and leagues to-- to play in this-- in this pandemic. Imagine if they used their immense popularity and influence to change public behavior for the better and how that would have-- that would have helped us at a time when, you know, we had one weapon.

Social distancing was our only weapon. There was no treatment. There was no vaccine. There was no herd immunity. We had one weapon. And-- and so I, you know, I hope that-- that they will sort of step up and-- and be good corporate citizens in this context by using their enormous popularity to-- to change public behavior for the better and-- and allow themselves to be led by the science and the scientists.

JULIE HYMAN: Here's hoping. David Scott, it's good to see you. "HBO Real Sports" correspondent. Thank you very much for that. Appreciate it.

DAVID SCOTT: Thank you, guys. Be safe.

JULIE HYMAN: You too.