Will the advertisers look at the ratings and either drop out or demand to pay less? Or will they be guilted/threatened into keeping up payments even if they aren't economically viable?
Will the networks demand immediate renegotiation of their contracts because of lack of games and championships or will they just wait until contracts expire and then offer less or just let them lapse?
Will the teams change? Will they continue sponsored on field politics or demand players leave it in the locker room? Will they insist networks pay them as much as now? Will they start offering players smaller contracts?
Will the players start behaving or will they continue to insult the nation by focusing on the "Woke" rather than the win?
I bet on the networks breaking first. Every other point can be postponed or done incrementally in hopes of weathering both the disease and social storms. But when those multi billion dollars contracts come due then big decisions will have to be made. They will have to decide how much to cut the offers. Some might even declare bankruptcy to bail out early.
“Will they continue sponsored on field politics or demand players leave it in the locker room?”
They don’t wanna kill the goose that laid the golden egg. That’s why discipline in pro sports is so lax. What would finish burning it down is people closing their wallets as I suggested in post #47.
It would be interesting to know what kind of escape clauses each of these entities had in their contracts for occasions like these, or if they even contemplated such situations.
From a “who’s going to feel the brunt” first I would think the networks, the teams and the vendors are first in line since they will directly impacted by the loss of the audiences. How that percolate to the players and advertisers and other hangers-ons remains to be seen.