Sport without spectators cannot survive ...
It feels like only a matter of time before the first sport collapses completely.
The longer society remains locked down, the bleaker the picture becomes, and the greater the threat grows.
While the elite in football bathe in the riches of television cash, everyone else can only look out on empty stadia and wonder when the roar of the crowd will be heard again.
This week's warning from British basketball that it might not survive was the first of what may be many as sports organisations weigh up the full impact of life in limbo.
There are many fanciful notions of playing games in empty arenas, of bussing teams into one venue and streaming the action live. The reality is they all come with deep-rooted challenges. The practicalities of testing players, coaches, backroom staff, and stadium staff just to stage one single game are considerable.
The reality, as spelled out by British basketball's chairman, Sir Rodney Walker, was stark: A sport without the ability to attract spectators cannot survive.
"Without the ability to open up and play in front of spectators, we’re in a locked-in situation that could become terminal if it went on too long."
For basketball read lower league football, rugby, cricket, darts, and ice hockey. The list runs long. Worringly long.
Walker said he was not without hope that sport could return once social distancing is eased, and a vaccine found, but his honest assessment will surely have chimed with every administrator, coach and fan of every single sport which relies on gates fore revenue.
They don't have the riches of the Premier League - which operates with wealth bordering on the obscene - or the TV deals, oligarchs and billionaires which buy clubs as play-things to keep themselves amused.
They understand that fans are the lifeblood of their sports and, without them, they are sunk.
They fill the seats, buy the merch, support events, sponsor jerseys and live cheek by jowl with their team.
They have no chance of being rinkside or in the stadiums until social distancing is lifted, and that could be months away. Many fear, sport won't return until 2021 - and that massive gap will surely be the death knell or individual clubs as well as entire leagues.
Many sports gets no external funding. Everything they make comes through the door and via sponsorship, as well as showcase events such as championship finals weekends.
Ice hockey and basketball both lost their blue riband events and all the income that came with them.
They now have to find a model that can, somehow, sustain them through social distancing and out the other end. It's completely unchartered territory.
Can they move online? Possibly, but is that format even sustainable?
What sort of appetite is there for watching a live stream of a game staged in an empty arena?
I fear even the die-hard supporters will struggle to stay the course, while those who go to games to hook up with mates over a beer, and to be part of that noisy, vocal crowd will soon find other things to occupy their time, and their finances.
The harsh reality is if you can't see your team, can't interact with the players and there's no atmosphere to soak up, the ties that bind will start to loosen and, in all probability, fall away forever.
The longer society remains locked down, the bleaker the picture becomes, and the greater the threat grows.
While the elite in football bathe in the riches of television cash, everyone else can only look out on empty stadia and wonder when the roar of the crowd will be heard again.
There are many fanciful notions of playing games in empty arenas, of bussing teams into one venue and streaming the action live. The reality is they all come with deep-rooted challenges. The practicalities of testing players, coaches, backroom staff, and stadium staff just to stage one single game are considerable.
The reality, as spelled out by British basketball's chairman, Sir Rodney Walker, was stark: A sport without the ability to attract spectators cannot survive.
"Without the ability to open up and play in front of spectators, we’re in a locked-in situation that could become terminal if it went on too long."
For basketball read lower league football, rugby, cricket, darts, and ice hockey. The list runs long. Worringly long.
Walker said he was not without hope that sport could return once social distancing is eased, and a vaccine found, but his honest assessment will surely have chimed with every administrator, coach and fan of every single sport which relies on gates fore revenue.
They don't have the riches of the Premier League - which operates with wealth bordering on the obscene - or the TV deals, oligarchs and billionaires which buy clubs as play-things to keep themselves amused.
They understand that fans are the lifeblood of their sports and, without them, they are sunk.
They fill the seats, buy the merch, support events, sponsor jerseys and live cheek by jowl with their team. They have no chance of being rinkside or in the stadiums until social distancing is lifted, and that could be months away. Many fear, sport won't return until 2021 - and that massive gap will surely be the death knell or individual clubs as well as entire leagues.
Many sports gets no external funding. Everything they make comes through the door and via sponsorship, as well as showcase events such as championship finals weekends.
Ice hockey and basketball both lost their blue riband events and all the income that came with them.
They now have to find a model that can, somehow, sustain them through social distancing and out the other end. It's completely unchartered territory.
Can they move online? Possibly, but is that format even sustainable?
What sort of appetite is there for watching a live stream of a game staged in an empty arena?
I fear even the die-hard supporters will struggle to stay the course, while those who go to games to hook up with mates over a beer, and to be part of that noisy, vocal crowd will soon find other things to occupy their time, and their finances.
The harsh reality is if you can't see your team, can't interact with the players and there's no atmosphere to soak up, the ties that bind will start to loosen and, in all probability, fall away forever.
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