[Snorlax94]

I was able to read The Atlantic article for free by using a browser that I haven’t used on that website before.

I agree that in the long term, the pandemic will harm sports viewership — for one, it’s accelerated the transition to non-live streaming services. The author didn’t list this issue, but I think the pandemic will also deal a major blow to participation in some sports, as the demotivating disparities between travel club sports and school sports  will be worse in some cases, especially soccer. But the disparities may actually decrease in football and basketball, which may increase participation.

But from my experience, I think sports will come back in a big way this fall. I’ll admit I’ve watched very little sports — less than half of usual — this past year. But the reason for me isn’t because I’m off sports or that the pandemic has somehow proven sports to be unnecessry. The past year has been such a haze — with kids not in school, with all work at home, with no vacations and parties, all the days kind of blur together. There are no feeling of weekends and weekdays. There aren’t big upcoming trips or meetings with friends to look forward to. There is no Monday morning catchup on what happened over the weekend, which could include talking about recent sports matches. It’s just one continuous, oppressive monolith. Just because we were able to make it through it, doesn’t mean I liked it or want it continue any longer than is necessary.

So I expect my sports viewing — and the sense of weekends and weekdays, and seasons, and bbqs, and holidays and water cooler chat — will be back, in stages, probably starting sometime this summer or fall.

[Snorlax94]

I was able to read The Atlantic article for free by using a browser that I haven’t used on that website before.

I agree that in the long term, the pandemic will harm sports viewership — for one, it’s accelerated the transition to non-live streaming services. The author didn’t list this issue, but I think the pandemic will also deal a major blow to participation in some sports, as the demotivating disparities between travel club sports and school sports  will be worse in some cases, especially soccer. But the disparities may actually decrease in football and basketball, which may increase participation.

But from my experience, I think sports will come back in a big way this fall. I’ll admit I’ve watched very little sports — less than half of usual — this past year. But the reason for me isn’t because I’m off sports or that the pandemic has somehow proven sports to be unnecessry. The past year has been such a haze — with kids not in school, with all work at home, with no vacations and parties, all the days kind of blur together. There are no feeling of weekends and weekdays. There aren’t big upcoming trips or meetings with friends to look forward to. There is no Monday morning catchup on what happened over the weekend, which could include talking about recent sports matches. It’s just one continuous, oppressive monolith. Just because we were able to make it through it, doesn’t mean I liked it or want it continue any longer than is necessary.

So I expect my sports viewing — and the sense of weekends and weekdays, and seasons, and bbqs, and holidays and water cooler chat — will be back, in stages, probably starting sometime this summer or fall.