The coronavirus pandemic has halted sports, but some leagues are trying to create a plan to return. David Samson sits down on his podcast “Nothing Personal with David Samson” to discuss the future of sports amidst the global pandemic.

During the segment, “So You Want to Talk to Samson,” someone asked, “Would it be more practical and financial feasible to cancel 2020 sports and plan for 2021?”

Samson says this is being discussed on all levels across leagues, and broke down what variables are included in the equations.

He looks at baseball as an example, citing the financial distress of missing an entire year of revenue, paying players, paying the salary of contracted employees and managing the television deals.

Samson says:

“The long term impact of missing this year of sports to me is ‘de minimis’ as it relates to what would happen if as a sport we can back either too early and then had to stop again or we came back in a way that was viewed as self serving to our sponsors and fans”

To make a decision over the full cancelation of sports for the year, the podcast host says he would weigh all variables and put an actual value to them.

The one unknown he says, is how the fans react to everything. “There’s really no way you can tell me what you’d do because it hasn’t happened yet,” Samson says.

He asks, “Are you sure you’re going to go to the games? I know you’re going to watch games when they’re on live, but are you sure you’re going to watch as many as you normally would? Do you have the same vested interest even though right now you say you want live sports?”

The complete fallout from sports returning, or not returning, is something no one can predict yet and will vary based on sport and fanbase, Samson says.

Concluding, he gives his final thoughts on the question. “My opinion is I don’t know that it’s more or less practical or more or less financially feasible in the macro sense for all sports to be canceled I know on a sport by sport basis you can make that decision,” he says. “But if you’re asking me all in, I’m actually not able to tell you that.”