Many sectors of the economy have been affected by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic but sports, in particular are getting hit hard. In almost every city in the world, large gatherings have been cancelled or very limited for the past 14 months. Youth sports that once provided purpose, school-pride and a feeling of belonging for young athletes were put on hold. The sporting world continued to march on as best it could with bubbles, stringent protocols and shortened seasons–but the losses have been staggering. But what about the fans themselves? And the overall health of the larger sports economy? Sports just aren’t the same for the players, fans or season ticket holders when there isn’t a live audience cheering their team on.
With Recreational Sports Still Paused for Many, Some Turn to Digital Competition
While many people have adapted to group sports during the pandemic through social distancing and mask wearing, others who have felt less comfortable doing so have found a new way to compete through the digitalization of sports.
We wanted to get a sense for how this trend came about, and if it will affect people’s workout habits in the future.
The short answer to the question above is that most people are somewhere between somewhat and very excited to get back to a pre-pandemic workout routine, but that many have found their replacement workouts, especially with online community involvement, have been passable at least.
How To Watch NFL Games Online For The 2019 Season
It’s 2019, and we were promised jetpacks and flying cars (and honestly, we thought it’d be easier to stream NFL games online by now).
Still, despite the above joke, it’s now easier than ever to watch your favorite NFL team online through a few legal services, preventing the need for clunky illegal streams with ad overlays and virus threats.
So how does one go about legally watching the 2019 NFL season online without cable? Below, we’ll break down our favorite and most popular ways to do so.
Sports-Heavy Streaming Service, FuboTV to Offer Free Tier with Advertisements
The streaming television landscape is changing rapidly and irreversibly. Streaming services such as FuboTV and Sling led the way with cheap access to streaming live sports events. But the larger media companies such as Disney, NBC-Comcast and CBS have since entered the streaming arena as well (and reclaimed the content that was always theirs), causing yet more changes to the way we access television in America.
Exclusive: Netflix to Overtake ESPN in 2018 with the Biggest Budget in Television
ESPN has been the biggest spender in television entertainment for several years now. With an average of $7.3 billion budgeted every year, they continually outspend other networks by a large margin. Buying the rights to things like Monday Night Football and NBA and MLB games, it makes sense that the network has to spend big to maintain rights to this programming. Live sports are expensive, and ESPN is, at least now, the leader in sports broadcasting. But as far as budgets go, Netflix is catching up fast, and will almost certainly surpass ESPN in 2018.
ESPN Spends Over One Billion Dollars More on Content Than Netflix, but with 10 Million Fewer Subscribers
ESPN, one of the most recognizable names in sports entertainment, has had a rough year, with millions dropping their subscriptions and a massive layoff of some of their top talent.
Netflix, on the other hand, one of the most popular services in the world, just hit a major milestone: 100 million subscribers as of earlier this year.
The Average Value of Sports Teams in Each League
Own a professional sports team?
Neither do we.
But we wanted to see what the average values are of each league. We pulled data from Forbes, who tracks sport teams valuations, and ran the averages for each team. It should come as no surprise that the NFL is atop the list, with the league growing its audience over the past decade. We were a little surprised to see MLB second on the list.
Monday Night Football Sees Lowest Rating in Nine Years
Monday Night Football remains one of the most watched television programs of the week, and of course dominates the Monday night time slot its in.
However, just because this strong positioning remains, doesn’t necessarily mean things are going great for the network its hosted on. Earlier this week, there were reports that Nielsen showed a 600,000 subscriber drop for ESPN, one of the biggest yet.
Game Seven of the World Series Most Watched Game Since 1991
Baseball has found itself in a bit of a lull most seasons, but every playoff season always seems to breathe some life into the sport.
The 2016 World Series was one of the most anticipated match ups in recent memory, with seemingly most of the country watching in hopes that the Chicago Cubs could break the curse. The team had not, until last night, won a World Series since the early 1900s.
The November Nielsen Ratings About ESPN are Wrong
Everyone has been reporting on Nielsen’s latest numbers suggesting that ESPN has lost over 600,000 subscribers.
Citing things like the rise of cord cutting, a decline in quality programming, and the NFL’s decreasing rankings, there were plenty of reasons to believe that these numbers were accurate.