Turner’s Charles Barkley has tested negative for COVID-19; an IOC official says the Summer Olympics will be postponed; the NFL is full speed ahead on its media rights negotiations; the NBA is looking at a billion-dollar revenue hit if the season does not resume.
Barkley tests negative for virus
TNT NBA analyst Charles Barkley said Monday that he has tested negative for COVID-19, more than a week after he disclosed on-air that he had fallen ill and was self-isolating out of concern that he might have contracted the coronavirus that has shut down public life around the globe. Barkley had been in New York to promote CBS and Turner Sports’ NCAA Tournament coverage and was concerned he contracted the virus while there. [Turner Sports PR/Twitter 3.23]
Olympic postponement decided, per official
Longtime International Olympic Committee official Dick Pound told USA Today Monday that the IOC has decided to postpone the Tokyo Summer Olympics, but was less definitive in a separate interview with CBC News. When contacted by a Los Angeles Times reporter on Monday, Pound reportedly hung up.
The IOC has been pressured in recent days to delay the Olympics a year to 2021. No Olympics has been postponed or canceled since World War II. [USA Today 3.23, CBC 3.23, LAT 3.23]
Pandemic not slowing NFL rights negotiations
The coronavirus pandemic has not materially affected the NFL’s plans to complete its next round of media rights deals by the end of the year, or media companies’ plans to bid on said rights, Sports Business Journal reported Monday. According to the report, league executives held informal talks with their media counterparts last week and the talk in the industry is that formal negotiations will begin within the next three months.
In other NFL news, the Los Angeles Times reported Sunday that the league is planning to hold next month’s NFL Draft in a studio setting. The league originally planned to hold the draft in public on the Las Vegas strip, but abandoned those plans last week. [SBJ 3.23, LAT 3.21]
NBA looking at billion-dollar hit
The NBA could lose $1 billion in revenue if the remainder of the regular season and playoffs are not completed, The Washington Post reported Saturday. The league was already expecting hundreds of millions in losses due to its preseason conflict with China, which banned games from its state-owned television networks after Rockets GM Daryl Morey posted a tweet that its government did not like. [Washington Post 3.21]
