FOS Daily 07/15/2020

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are preparing its stadium for football fans after receiving $10.4 million in federal funds from the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act. The funds could be used for more than 40 modifications “in order to open to the public,” if approved by the Hillsborough County Commissioner. 

Upgrades to Raymond James Stadium would include touch-free toilets and sinks, hand-sanitizing stations, and removable seat bottoms for social distancing. The first three phases of the upgrades would be done by Oct. 31; the Buccaneers are currently scheduled to play a preseason game at the stadium on Aug. 22, with the University of South Florida set to open its season Sept. 12. Super Bowl 55 is scheduled for Raymond James Stadium on Feb. 7.

The Philadelphia Eagles are set to play the entire season in front of zero fans. The city canceled all “large public events” through February 2021 on Tuesday, although it will let both the Eagles and Phillies play. Last month, the Eagles informed season ticket holders their installment payments wouldn’t be billed.

The New England Patriots plan to operate Gillette Stadium at 20% capacity – that is, if fans are welcomed during the 2020 season. An announcement from the team said, “it is unlikely that season ticket members will have the opportunity to attend every home game.” Ticket holders can maintain their plan or defer to the 2021 season without penalty.

Restrictions for fans at Patriots games would include:

• Maintaining at least six feet of distance from other ticketed groups
• Only allowing ticket groups of 10 or fewer
• First eight rows will be unavailable

Sports teams are pushing forward with real estate development projects to help grow revenue with stadiums sitting empty. The St. Louis Cardinals are opening an apartment complex with Busch Stadium views, along with offices and restaurants. The Los Angeles Angels have announced a 150-acre mixed-use development surrounding their stadium.

Another notable project is the 35 acres around Minnesota United’s Allianz Field. That project is expected to include up to 800 apartments along with nearly 1 million square feet of office and retail space.

Teams can potentially increase revenues between 50% and 100% by adding bars, hotels, apartments, and entertainment venues to the land they own. However, the investments take a long time to pay off: the Cardinals project has been seven years in the making, while the Angels’ project won’t start construction until 2025.

Without ticket sales and other gameday revenue teams to fall back on, teams are looking at other revenue streams. A fan-free NFL season would result in a loss of $5.5 billion in revenue across the league, while roughly 39% of MLB’s revenue came from local ticket sales and other in-park sources in 2019. Real estate projects are also making stadiums the new centers for retail and entertainment as malls lose ground to e-commerce.

The additional revenue also reduces the need for public funds. One of the prime examples is the Golden State Warriors’ Chase Center, a $1.6-billion privately-financed project that includes 3.2 acres of public space,100,000-square-feet of office space, and two office buildings.

OverActive Media is planning an esports arena in Toronto that would have up to 10,000 seats. The arena would be built at Exhibition Place, near BMO Field, and be home to OverActive’s Toronto-based Overwatch and Call of Duty teams.

Prior to the coronavirus outbreak, Overwatch League and Call of Duty League had plans to have teams play in their home markets – the first esports properties to move to a localized model akin to other professional sports.

Esports arena developments are sprouting up across the U.S., including the $50 million Fusion Arena in Philadelphia and an esports facility inside SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles. There’s also the $10 million Esports Stadium Arlington in Texas and a renovation of San Diego’s Pechanga Arena, which will include an esports configuration.

Allied Esports, which has had success with its HyperX Esports Arena in Las Vegas and broader network of mobile arenas, is now looking to bring esports to malls thanks to a deal with real estate firm Simon Properties. A variety of colleges have built or are building dedicated esports facilities, including Ohio State University, North Texas University, and Full Sail University.

Esports is now a billion-dollar industry, but less than 10% of that – a projected $104 million in 2019 – came from merchandise and ticket sales.

NBCUniversal’s streaming service Peacock launches today. While much of the attention will be on past hit series like “30 Rock” and “Parks and Recreation,” it will also offer sports.

Peacock’s first major sports asset was supposed to be the 2020 Summer Olympics, with five hours of planned daily coverage. With the Tokyo Games postponed until next summer, attention instead turns to the English Premier League. There will be four Premier League matches on the platform today for free, and NBC plans to broadcast 175 Premier League matches exclusively on its Peacock Premium subscription tier in the 2020-21 season as NBC Sports Gold’s Premier League Pass shifts exclusively to the platform.

Other live sports slated for Peacock will be a primetime NFL Wild Card playoff game, U.S. Open, U.S. Women’s Open, and the 2021 Ryder Cup. There are also several sports-related Peacock Originals, including Lost Speedways, hosted by Dale Earnhardt, Jr., and In Deep with Ryan Lochte.

Peacock and its sports offerings will go head-to-head with platforms from other major media companies. For example, Disney continues to build out the offerings on ESPN+ which now has more than 7.6 million subscribers, while CBS just acquired the rights to the UEFA Champions League – much of which will be featured on its CBS All Access streaming service.