Logistical nightmare (not only for England but all football)  but a November 2022 World Cup may be a blessing. I suspect that the season will be ended late in the year - then a break - restart and play January - October for a couple of seasons up to the World Cup and reset after that.

Resetting after that would be hard, unless there is another 8 month hiatus. Unless its a full change permanently to January - October seasons, or something like that.

”AFL journalist Damien Barrett reports the league is now on the verge of securing a loan of up to $600 million which will allow the game to operate throughout 2020 regardless of whether or not matches are played.”

https://wwos.nine.com.au/afl/afl-set-to-secure-600-million-dollar-loan/04277203-09e9-4d5e-830f-15ba9a588f18

almost there

NRL will get bought up before it implodes. PE looked at it once before and will be waiting in the wings 

which bank ?

They are sponsored by NAB so they were talking about going to them last week. Could be spread out over a few though if no one wanted to take that big a risk. What if no sport gets played anywhere for several years? 

Journalist barrett sprouting on the verge of securing bank loan I agree with you risk would be spread across a number of banks and depending on time frame of return of games Risk would be increased exponentially

And we think we have problems.


The NRL was spending $500,000 a day. That's about to be cut in half

The administration costs of the game have blown out to $181 million before a dollar has been given to the clubs, the states or the players, according to the NRL's latest financial report. 

https://www.smh.com.au/sport/nrl/the-nrl-was-spending-500-000-a-day-that-s-about-to-be-cut-in-half-20200328-p54eu8.html

https://wwos.nine.com.au/afl/afl-set-to-secure-600-million-dollar-loan/04277203-09e9-4d5e-830f-15ba9a588f18

AFL set to secure $600 million dollar loan

The AFL are set to be boosted with a $600 million lifeline as the game manoeuvres its way through the coronavirus shutdown.On Friday, the AFL and AFLPA ended their pay dispute with the players agreeing to terms on a 50 percent pay cut until the end of May.At the conclusion of the May, the pay cut will increase to 70 percent if the season is to be delayed even further, but will revert to 50 percent once games kick-off again.AFL journalist Damien Barrett reports the league is now on the verge of securing a loan of up to $600 million which will allow the game to operate throughout 2020 regardless of whether or not matches are played.

All I can say is:  that's a big debt to carry, could take a decade to pay it off.  Luckily, interest rates are low, but if they ever trended upwards again....
Also, they are going to use Docklands as collateral, but how much more would it be valued above $600 million?
I tell you what, if we had another season off like this, AFL would be bankrupt.

This is Michael Lynch's take, he likens COVID to the asteroid which killed off the dinosaurs, allowing smaller life forms to eventually prosper.

https://www.theage.com.au/sport/sport-thought-rethinking-a-fragile-ecosystem-20200328-p54euh.html

Sport Thought: Rethinking a fragile ecosystem

Millions of years ago, when dinosaurs ruled the Earth, Tyrannosaurus rex was king.

He and his species stalked the Earth, killing and bringing fear and terror wherever they roamed.

But the Tyrannosaurus made the fatal mistake of assuming everything was going to continue forever in the same vein.


Now I’m not saying that the AFL and the NRL, Australia’s sporting equivalent of the Tyrannosaurus, will endure the same fate as the tyrant lizards. In fact, it’s impossible to see them dying out and no doubt they will recover in the long term.
But it is possible that they will not rule in quite the same way when the modern-day equivalent of the asteroid, the COVID-19 pandemic, has passed into history.
The two dominant codes became, like the biggest dinosaurs, top heavy: their cost base mushroomed as they sucked up much of the available sponsorship money and media space in the fragile Australian sporting ecosystem.Like the Tyrannosaurus, they assumed that the world would go on just the same as it always did – especially the NRL, which spent like a drunken sailor and made no provision at all for the crisis no one saw coming.

The land at Docklands was valued at 1.2 billion recently. To be fair I dont see many sporting leagues around the world surviving 2 years off. 

True, certainly valued at much more than I was expecting.

Just in Channel 10 news Todd Greenberg NRL CEO takes leave without pay as the NRL proposes to close it's doors disclaimer I heard this quickly do your own investigation

I don’t care about the nrl or code wars but seeing a sporting competition collapse would be very sad 

The NRL as a competition may collapse, professional Rugby League won’t. 

 
Watch gambling become a primary driver.

This is one of the positives thats to become from this tragerdy.
Yes there is always pain to endure, thats a given and feel for all those who are family members and employees/admin regards to pro sport all over but as mentioned the TV/cable gravy train took things to the never never land of getting FAT.
This is the price - grim reaper always comes along sooner or later.
This article was spot on by Graham Lowe, you can include all pro sport, its a great reset to come from this.
https://www.foxsports.com.au/nrl/a-disgusting-greed-has-infected-the-game-league-legends-brutal-reality-check-for-nrl/news-story/216211b051b1c4489ced1028975ff2fe

Tell you I found absolutley amazing over the weekend gambeling mentioned by Burtzer.
I couldn't believe watching my Sydney news Saturday night they reporting the Autumn Horse Racing Carnival was on.
Like WTF, gambling, never cared to and don't understand people getting caught up with this desease but this going on whilst all other sports have been suspended sickened me.
Fuck off seriously.

Funnily enough before this mess that’s where I thought we were heading  - The Bet365 A League with built in broadcast deal 😔

Wouldn't be a fan but its quite likely.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-03-29/coronavirus-and-problem-gambling/12095714

They've set up markets for Russian Table Tennis...

I did a 8 leg multi table tennis bet the other week and surprisingly won :laugh:
.50c bet got me $38

Two person sport. Ticks all the boxes.  

I'm guessing this result is pre-corona:

Rugby Australia to slash jobs in wake of $9.4 million loss

    Rugby Australia’s finances are in free fall with chairman Paul McLean saying there was no way of knowing the impact the coronavirus will have on the game.

I'm sure there's a team in the English Championship owned by bet365

bet365 sponser Stoke.
Not sure they own any clubs though.
Coates done alright as much as I dislike gambling.

Bet365 was founded in 2000 in a portakabin^[3] in Stoke-on-Trent by Denise Coates. Denise developed a sports betting platform and trading team to launch the business online in March 2001. The business borrowed £15 million from RBS against the family's betting shop estate which had been started by Peter Coates in 1974 and had been run by Denise Coates as managing director from 1995. Bet365 sold its betting shop chain in 2005 for £40 million to Coral and paid off its loan to RBS.^[9] Bet365 has grown into one of the world's largest online gambling companies with its reported figures to March 2018 showing amounts wagered on sports at £52.56 billion, revenues of £2.86 billion and an operating profit of £660.3 million.

Denise Coates, joint chief executive, continues to run Bet365 and is the majority shareholder with 50.1% of the shares. Her brother John, joint chief executive, runs the business alongside her, with her father Peter holding the position of chairman.

The Bet365 group own Stoke City, Denise's father Peter is chairman of both Bet365 and Stoke.

https://www.smh.com.au/sport/nrl/nrlw-in-limbo-after-roosters-withdraw-from-elite-womens-competition-20200329-p54f20.html

NRLW in limbo after Roosters withdraw from elite women's competition

The future of the NRLW competition is in serious doubt after two of the four competing clubs pulled the pin on their respective seasons.

The Herald can reveal the Roosters have told the NRL they will not take part in this year's elite women's competition as part of cost-cutting measures triggered by the coronavirus pandemic.

NRL has today handed out $40m in emergency funding to all 16 clubs - a payment that will help most survive until the resumption of the competition, via @BuzzRothfield https://bit.ly/341ZTe4