The Register Citizen (Torrington, CT)
Always on Sunday?
‘NBC Sunday Night Football’ plans advance after NFL schedule release, but there will be challenges this season
STAMFORD — America’s most popular TV show will again capture the gridiron action on Sunday nights this fall — but under vastly different circumstances than a year earlier.
The NFL confirmed Thursday its plans to proceed with its 2020 season amid the coronavirus crisis, with the release of its schedule for the upcoming campaign.
As the broadcaster of “Sunday Night Football,” the country’s No. 1 primetime TV show for a record nine straight years, Stamford-based NBC Sports
Group will again play a crucial role as it carries 19 regular-season games, as well as three postseason and two preseason matches. But it will also have to contend with unprecedented uncertainty, as it faces a pandemic that could necessitate scheduling changes or barring fans from games.
“The health and safety of our employees is our foremost concern,” said Fred Gaudelli, executive producer of “Sunday Night Football.” “Last month, we began meeting remotely to discuss our coverage, and now that we have the 2020 schedule, we will be much more focused in our prep. … Our team is excited about this season’s schedule, and we look forward to continuing our game prep.”
Today, NBC Sports and NFL officials are preparing for the season to start on time on Sept. 10.
On that Thursday night, NBC’s broadcast channel
will air the season opener as Super Bowl MVP Patrick Mahomes and the defending champion Kansas City Chiefs take on quarterback Deshaun Watson and the Houston Texans at Arrowhead Stadium.
In the season’s inaugural Sunday night matchup, the Los Angeles Rams will host the Dallas Cowboys at their new SoFi Stadium on Sept. 13.
Among other marquee quarterback matchups, two-time NFL MVP Aaron Rodgers and the Green Bay Packers will visit the NFL’s all-time passing leader, Drew Brees, and the New Orleans Saints on Sept. 27. Brees and the Saints will face off Nov. 8 against fourtime Super Bowl MVP Tom Brady and his new Tampa Bay Buccaneers teammates on Nov. 8. On Thanksgiving night, 2019 NFL MVP Lamar Jackson and the Baltimore Ravens will take on two-time Super Bowl winner Ben Roethlisberger and the Pittsburgh Steelers in the first Thanksgiving game in Pittsburgh.
In addition to airing on the NBC broadcast channel, all of the games carried by NBC this season will be livestreamed on nbcsports.com and the NBC Sports app.
RECKONING WITH THE CRISIS
While NBC Sports is preparing to broadcast a regularly scheduled slate of games, the COVID-19 pandemic could disrupt the season.
Depending on the spread of the virus and the extent of social distancing, some or even all of the games might need to be played behind closed doors or with limited capacities.
“We will be prepared to adapt, as needed, to any decisions that (parent company) NBCUniversal and the NFL make, based upon the advice of medical and public health officials and in compliance with government regulations,” Gaudelli said.
The crisis has already forced temporary shutdowns of major leagues including the NBA, NHL and Major League Baseball, while wiping out the NCAA’s March Madness tournaments.
WWE CEO and Chairman Vince McMahon’s revived XFL football league suffered even more. It canceled its comeback season in March and then filed for bankruptcy a month later.
Getting fans to turn out for the games poses another major challenge. If major sports leagues were to resume play before a COVID-19 vaccine were developed, 72 percent of Americans said they would not attend games, according to a Seton Hall University poll conducted last month. Twelve percent said that they would show up if social distancing could be maintained. Only 13 percent said they would feel as safe attending as in the past.
“Much of the sell point for televised sports is the sense of spectacle or event, the sense that something important enough to cover as news is happening. Empty stands tend to drain games of that,” said Daniel Durbin, director of the University of Southern California’s Institute of Sports, Media and Society. “However, if a limited number of games were to be played on that basis, I think the NFL can weather the challenge effectively. For a week or two, the league will get novelty viewers, viewers who are curious about how the game plays with no crowd.”
The Seton Hall study found high tolerance for closed-doors games. Some 76 percent said that they would watch game broadcasts with the same interest as before, with only 16 percent saying that they would be less interested.
NBC Sports can also rely on a massive existing audience
to help offset any viewers’ dissatisfaction with close-doors proceedings. The 2019 season averaged 20.5 million viewers across TV and digital platforms, up 5 percent over 2018.
Fan interest has burgeoned in the offseason. Last month’s NFL draft attracted an average firstround audience of 15.6 million, up 37 percent year over year, according to CBS Sports. The draft was televised by ABC, ESPN and NFL Network.
“The perennial U.S. sports ratings leader should have the easiest time rebounding from any pandemic-related hiccups,” said Josh Shuart, director of sports management at Sacred Heart University’s Jack Welch College of Business & Technology. “Take the virtual elimination of all live sports and add equal parts cabin fever, and then release that back into ‘the wild.’ I think fan interest will be at an all-time high as a result.”