Sports are coming back—and, if all goes according to plan, soon. Some changes to the landscape will be temporary, but many are likely to last beyond the pandemic. Here are 10 things to get used to.
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SportsTranscript
00:00After many months without our favorite games and athletes on TV, sports are coming back and if all goes according to plan, then hopefully soon.
00:10But it won't be the programming we are all used to. Things will definitely look and feel different.
00:17Joining me now are SI's writers, Stephanie Avstein and John Wertheim.
00:22Let's talk about this new sports world. What are some of the changes that you think will stick around after the pandemic?
00:29Stephanie, let's start with you.
00:31I think we're learning that a lot of jobs that we thought people needed to be on site for can be done remotely.
00:36So some of the things that you'll see are something like scouts will probably do a lot more work on video rather than traveling,
00:42which a lot of teams have had them doing during the layoff. John wrote about some broadcasters will work offsite.
00:48I think there will be a lot of teams who decide to keep cutting costs in that way.
00:52So John, one big thing is that not all sports will be coming back.
00:56There's been a lot of universities that have already cut programs that don't generate revenue.
01:01What's the future look like for this?
01:04Yeah, college athletic departments are already challenged.
01:07A lot of them have lost the revenue that's come with March Madness, with the NCAA broadcast fees.
01:12And depending on the state of football, those cuts could go even deeper.
01:16And you call them non-revenue sports. That's exactly right.
01:19These are sports that don't, by definition, earn revenue.
01:22And we're seeing those sports getting cut. Those are sports that are able to exist because of football, basketball revenues.
01:28And with those slashed, that's going to trickle down to other sports.
01:32All right, guys, that's unfortunate. But with anything, we've got to take the good with the bad.
01:36Thank you so much for your insight on this. I really appreciate it.
01:39Thanks.