These days, American professional sportspeople are doing humanitarian work. Deprived of their playing fields by the Covid-19, basketball players, footballers and baseball players, children cherished by the public, distribute masks, pay meals to caregivers or lend a hand to food banks, which feed millions unemployed. In an improbable exchange on Instagram, Stephen Curry, one of the big stars of the National Basketball Association (NBA), even interviewed doctor Anthony Fauci, scientific pillar of the team set up at the White House to fight against the virus. In the absence of sports results, everything is duly documented on social networks and the websites of leagues. But the fans, confined, gnaw on their brakes.
In April, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis declared wrestling games "essential" in his state.
And Donald Trump too seems to be getting impatient. For the American president, in a hurry to end the blocking of the country, the resumption of sporting events is one of the priorities. In the special committee he appointed in mid-April to advise him on the reopening of the economy, we find, alongside Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos or Tim Cook, the bosses of the basketball and football leagues American, two owners of professional teams as well as the president of World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE), Vince McMahon. A few days earlier, Florida governor Ron DeSantis had declared wrestling matches "Essential activity" in his state. "People are dying to see sporting events", justified the elected republican, visibly weary of being content with "Reruns from the early 2000s". This rather unique decision allows WWE to organize fights in the Orlando area and broadcast them live on television. Also a way for this entertainment company not to see the millions of dollars taken from broadcasting rights soaring.
But most of the pro leagues are not there yet, despite unprecedented financial losses in a sector that generates annual sales of some $ 71 billion and employs tens of thousands of people. The sports diet started on March 11, with the surprise announcement by the NBA of the interruption of the season, after a first case of player tested positive at Covid-19 and before measures of social distancing were decreed in the country. The Major League Baseball followed suit the next day, when the season was supposed to start on March 26. The training matches have all been canceled and the start of the competition postponed indefinitely. The hockey league did the same just a few weeks before the end of the 2020 season. American NFL footballers, and their fans, remain hopeful that the return of their teams will take place as planned, September 10.
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