FOS PM: England Gears Up For Fans

England will allow a maximum of 4,000 fans to attend outdoor events in low-risk areas when its month-long lockdown ends on Dec. 2. Up to 2,000 fans will be allowed at events in the country’s second-tier risk areas, and none will be allowed in third-tier areas. 

• Indoor events in the first- and second-tier areas can have a maximum of 1,000 spectators. 
• Both indoor and outdoor venues will still be limited to 50% capacity. 

Organized youth sports will also be allowed to resume, as will the use of indoor gyms and recreation centers across all risk tiers. While professional sports have continued on amid the lockdown, the grassroots level has been paused since Nov. 5.

Recent financial reports from Premier League clubs Tottenham and Manchester United — who haven’t been able to host fans since March — shed light on the dire situation without matchday revenue:

• Spurs lost $85.5 million for the fiscal year ending June 30, following a profit of $91.8 million in the previous 12 months. The team just completed an approximately $1.6 billion stadium and estimates a loss of about $200 million for its current fiscal year if it remains closed to fans.
• Manchester United had an 18.8% drop in revenue, to about $641 million, for its fiscal year that ended in June. It posted a $29 million loss, as opposed to a $24 million net profit in the year prior.

A delegation of five NBA players and several NBPA officials met with Pope Francis at the Vatican this morning to discuss their work on social justice issues.

An assistant to the Pope reached out to the players’ association last week saying that the Pope wanted to learn more about how players had brought attention to social justice issues, and what they have planned for the future. 

The delegation included: Kyle Korver, Sterling Brown, Jonathan Isaac, Marco Belinelli, Anthony Tolliver, and NBPA Executive Director Michele Roberts.

• Brown, a victim of police brutality in 2018, was among the first Milwaukee Bucks players to decide to sit out when the team started a league-wide strike during the first round of the NBA playoffs.
• Isaac, an ordained minister, was one of the only players to stand for the national anthem during the NBA’s restart in Orlando.
• Korver previously discussed issues of white privilege and racism in his first-person essay for The Players’ Tribune titled “Privileged” in April 2019.

The meeting is said to have lasted an hour at the papal library of the Apostolic Palace. Belinelli addressed the pope in Italian, and the group presented him with gifts including a commemorative basketball, a union-produced book highlighting players’ efforts, and an Orlando Magic jersey.

Both the University of Florida and Baylor’s men’s basketball programs are dropping out of upcoming “Bubbleville” tournaments due to COVID-19. The No. 2-ranked Bears were set to play No. 18 Arizona State as the marquee matchup of college basketball’s Nov. 25 opening night. 

Their cancellations could be a foreboding sign of things to come for not only Bubbleville organizers — who are set to host more than 40 teams across 11 days of non-conference tournaments at Mohegan Sun Arena — but for the NCAA itself. 

• The idea of a bubble tournament, once considered controversial for college sports, could be the only way to save a season of college basketball that’s tipping off amid the worst nationwide COVID-19 outbreak since the pandemic began.  
• The NCAA, likely eyeing the more than 80 canceled or postponed college football games since Nov. 9, recently announced it would move the men’s March Madness tournament closer to a bubble format. 

The financial consequences would be dire for the entire NCAA sports system if men’s March Madness does not happen in 2021. The NCAA receives about $875 million from TV and marketing rights for the event, which it funnels down to member schools. With the cancelation in 2020, the association sent about $375 million less than was expected to Division I programs.