Sports is slowly creeping back.
For the first time since March 11th, there is an American sports event that is scheduled to take place. Dana White’s Ultimate Fighting Championship or UFC business will be presenting a mixed martial arts card from an arena in Jacksonville, Florida. The venue will be empty except for the participants taking part in matches, UFC officials and a television crew that will enable White’s product to be seen on ESPN. The Walt Disney Company’s ESPN finally gets some badly needed programming as the New York Attorney General Letitia James has noticed that cable, satellite and phone video providers are charging consumers for a product that they are not getting. Live sports programming and James is wondering how that can occur. James is in a position to find out why that is happening and said, “at a time when so many New Yorkers have lost their jobs and are struggling, it is grossly unfair that cable and satellite television providers would continue to charge fees for services they are not even providing.”
Television is one of the reasons that commissioners from Major League Baseball, the National Hockey League, Major League Soccer, the National Basketball Association and the Professional Golf Association are pushing to get their product back into action without fans. There is TV money to be made. ESPN needs content as there are not many programs like a look at Michael Jordan or the NFL Draft available to fill hours upon hours of television time. White has struggled to get his product up and going. A planned California event was canceled by state political leaders’ pressure on White and ESPN. Others events were called off. A Perth, Australia UFC June event has been postponed. White claims that the UFC will be testing everyone connected to his promotion for COVID 19. The sports reopening process is starting.
