Marathon runners continue to lose 2020 races, including two of the largest in the world on Wednesday. The New York Marathon and Berlin Marathon both were canceled as the coronavirus pandemic continues to rage on and hamper world travel and large gatherings.

The New York City Marathon, the world’s largest marathon, was supposed to run its 50th edition in November. Officials felt the expected 50,000 runners, 10,000 volunteers, and an estimated 1 million fans posed too large a health risk during a pandemic. The 50th running is now scheduled for Nov. 7, 2021. 

The Berlin Marathon was scheduled for Sept. 26-27. Germany’s ban on public gatherings of 5,000 people or more will not lift until at least Oct. 24. The event was already postponed from the original date, but further exploration of the situation led to the ultimate cancellation of the 2020 race. 

Racers can either be refunded entry fees or have their entry deferred to another year. Many other major races have been canceled or have seen their start dates moved this year, including the Boston Marathon shifting from April to a virtual race in October. The London Marathon, normally held in April, was rescheduled to October, while the Paris and Tokyo races “won’t take place as planned.”

However, there is a silver lining for the running industry during the pandemic: participation in running and jogging grew 1.2% and treadmill workouts jumped 5.7% year-over-year, according to the Sports & Fitness Industry Association.

The NWSL will be the first U.S. team-based league to return to play on Saturday with its Challenge Cup. Commissioner Lisa Baird joined Fundamentals yesterday to chat about the league’s approach and growth.

On the Orlando Pride pulling out of the tournament after several players tested positive for COVID-19: “My first reaction, of course, is empathy … We did have a plan in place.

If we were not fully prepared to handle this, who knows what had happened, we were fully prepared. We enacted the protocols, we did the absolute right thing. And so within, a few hours, we not only had reached an incredibly mutual decision with Orlando that they would withdraw … but we were able within a 24 hour period to change the schedule.”

On Fan Engagement: “This virtual cheering section that we’ve kicked off and the invitations have gone to the local fans, that’s going to be a really cool thing … we just need to hear their voices and you can be sure that we’ll be on them on all the social media channels. We’ll be able to see them in the stadium during the games.”

On Expansion Potential: “We need to have expansion; thoughtful, prudent expansion, and that comes with making sure that the player pool from our draft and just also from internationally continues to remain at the top. We’re not going to compromise on that. Number two is ownership … with the right investment mentality is really critical. …  and then the third thing is where is U.S. soccer going to go from a fan standpoint? And I don’t think it’s all just the large markets.”

Watch the full interview here.

Mass multiplayer online video games are quickly moving into the entertainment and socialization spaces. Most prominent is the free-to-play battle royale game Fortnite, which has added a growing number of entertainment options beyond the actual game itself. In April, rapper Travis Scott virtually performed to 12 million fans and last month, the game debuted a space dedicated to socializing. 

Tonight, the DJ Diplo will release his latest album with a performance on Fortnite and on Friday the game will screen three Christopher Nolan feature films – it debuted a trailer for his latest film Tenet recently.

Epic Games, the developer of Fortnite, has used these efforts to continue to drive players to the nearly three-year-old game. The company reported that it had 350 million registered users in May, an increase of 100 million compared to a year earlier. Epic Games is finishing up a $750 million round of funding, which will value it at $17 billion. 

But it’s not just Fortnite. The game platform Roblox recently hosted a benefit concert that featured Lady Gaga and Paul McCartney, and will also premiere movie clips and actor interviews this summer. 

The events can be developer-driven, but others are hosted by other third parties, like Minecraft’s upcoming four-day Rave Family Block Fest that costs $10 for general entry. While the in-game events were already trending upward, the pandemic has reportedly accelerated the interest in finding new ways to socialize virtually.

Baseball might be on its way back, but 2.3 million pounds of in-shell peanuts won’t be cracked at ballparks this year. Forever linked to the sport in ‘Take Me Out To The Ballgame,’ peanuts are one of the top snacks for baseball fans, which farmers eagerly anticipate.

Anticipating a season, farmers harvested the peanuts in October, shipping them to roasters. Now those roasters, who already paid the farmers, are trying to figure out what to do with hoards of unused peanuts – a specific breed with the look and size for the ballpark.

The peanut market is complex. Virginias, the breed used, are more delicate and more expensive to produce than runner peanuts, the variety used in peanut butter. With this year’s crop normally destined for ballparks currently unused, farmers also had to project how much to plant for next season.

On the plus side for baseball fans: the National Peanut Board and grocery stores are reportedly planning promotions featuring free bags. Retail sales in May for shelled Virginias were up 15% year-over-year and have remained steady. By comparison, peanut butter sales in March were up 75%.

Baseball Peanut Facts

— 14% of U.S. peanut crop are Virginias

— 20% of Virginia peanuts head to ballparks

— 8% of MiLB’s 40 million attendees buy a bag.

— 6% of fans in MLB do so.