‘Economic catastrophe’: US sports industry to lose $12bn in revenues
Analysis by ESPN has found that the Covid-19 pandemic will cost the US sports industry $12bn in revenue and see the loss of hundreds of thousands of jobs.
Describing the situation as an “economic catastrophe”, the broadcaster says the meltdown is “a fraction of the crisis spreading across the country”, but it is “nonetheless historic”.
Patrick Rishe, from Washington University in St Louis, said: “As an economist, you stand back, you look at the carnage that’s taking place - dumbfounded, awestruck, mind-numbing. All of those phrases, they’re all relevant because we just have never seen anything on this scale.”
Should the US college football and NFL schedules be wiped out by the pandemic this could see the economic damage double for the sports industry in the States.
The analysis predic...
