On March 11, the NBA shocked the world by announcing that it would be suspending its season immediately, introducing the possibility that there may not be playoffs or finals this season. The rest of the sports world soon followed suit.

The National Hockey League also put its season on ice, and the NCAA canceled its annual college sports tournament, March Madness, entirely. Major League Baseball delayed spring training and opening day. As the days wore on, there were still more, from Major League Soccer to the Professional Golf Association to F1 racing. And even the NFL, which doesn’t really get going until late August, is holding its annual draft virtually this season.

All of that immediately left sports networks in a quandary: What would they program and what would the promote when all of a sudden live sports were pulled off their schedules?

It’s a challenge to which they are slowly adapting, and the longer it goes on, the more likely it will have a long-term effect on how sports are marketed going forward.

In this episode, drawn from the first of Promax’s new series of online sessions, Carrie Brzezinski-Hsu, vice president, ESPN multimedia sponsorship integration & ESPN CreativeWorks; Bill Battin, Fox Sports senior vice president, on-air promotions and Bill Bergofin, Telemundo senior vice president, sports brand and content development discuss how they and their teams have adjusted to their new reality.

RELATED: With Live Sports Sidelined, Marketers Turn to Talent for Content​

Like what you hear? Promax is offering two virtual sessions per week. Join us for the next one Thursday, April 9: Marketing for Networks: PSAs to Promos During A Pandemic.

Also, you can subscribe to The Daily Brief Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Google Play, Podomatic, Spotify or wherever you get podcasts for newsmaker interviews, in-depth conversations and creative insights, with new episodes delivered each week.

Tags: espn fox sports podcast sports telemundo the daily brief podcast


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