Pandemic to test NFL's resilience

With the pandemic-tweaked NFL season set to open on Thursday when the Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs host the Houston Texans, the 32 teams are poised to lose millions of dollars in empty stadiums.

The league's broadcast partners will likewise take a huge hit, as will sponsors and advertisers who see the game as a profitable way to reach consumers.

But unless the coronavirus pandemic stretches beyond this season, the NFL is projected to remain at the top of the heap in terms of global sports viability.

"The NFL is to the sports and entertainment industry what Amazon is to the retail industry," Marc Ganis, co-founder of Chicago-based consulting group Sportscorp, said in a weekend interview with Associated Press.

"We need to look at this as an overarching umbrella that has a likelihood of being a one-season problem. So as we get to the 2021 season, the problem will have gone away. It is a one-year aberration.

"I see the league coming back stronger than ever for two reasons. One, the value of football for non-attendance activity. That includes broadcasting, gambling, internet, video gaming. They all need the NFL more than ever before.

"The other big thing is the new CBA (collective bargaining agreement) with the players, which assures 11 years of labor peace. When it was approved in March there were a host of high-profile players saying they were against it, in large measure because they didn't see a rush to do it so quickly.

"They were as wrong as anybody could ever be. You just don't know what tomorrow will bring, so get it done when you can get it done."

Opening the doors to legalized gambling is another way of getting it done. When the NFL voted in May to allow teams to sign sponsorship deals with gambling entities, the first club to place its bets was the Denver Broncos.

With other sponsorship opportunities all but dead, the Broncos signed a trio of mega-deals with gambling sponsors: one with Fan-Duel Group that includes stadium signage at Empower Field, another with Betfred USA Sports that features a sports betting lounge at the stadium and a sports betting app, and one with BetMGM at Saratoga Casino Black Hawk in suburban Denver.

"There's sports betting, there's daily fantasy, there are casinos …there's a lot of different aspects to these businesses," said Mac Freeman, the Broncos' chief commercial officer.

"I think what you'll find with us carving those first tracks through the field is that other teams will follow pretty quickly as more states come on board with sports gambling."

And the rest of the league is ready for the rush.

"The approach to licensed sports betting has evolved as the league and teams entertain new fan-engagement opportunities through commercial partnerships," NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy told Associated Press.

"What has not changed, however, is our relentless protection of the integrity of the game.

"The new partnerships have no impact on the play on the field. We have continued to study the rapidly changing landscape and felt comfortable with clubs executing partnerships such as these."