Coronavirus and pro sport

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  • bobmcstuff
    bobmcstuff Posts: 11,196
    RichN95. said:

    bobmcstuff said:



    What this is doing, at least for now, is exposing businesses who were already under a lot of stress and probably were close to failure anyway (Flybe etc.). There's a lot of companies at the moment who are only able to keep operating because borrowing costs are so low at the moment, in times past they would have failed a long time ago.

    Intu (owners of the Trafford Centre etc.) have said they are very likely to go bust as well, but their problems didn't start with Covid-19 - they have just been made more pressing by the virus.

    As someone who (usually) works in Cardiff centre - it's normally very busy and no vacant properties. If that's failing either it's horribly managed or no city retail has a hope.
    Sure, doesn't make the paper Chasey linked wrong though, and what I've said above is still true.

    What we need is to support businesses through this, rather than remove the interventions to let people go back to the shops (like Trump wants to do). The linked paper suggests that the recovery is stronger afterwards if you stop lots of people dying during the pandemic...

    Bricks and mortar retail has problems in general, which I guess everyone knows about (I assume it's similar to Manchester city centre - always busy and few vacancies, but there are still businesses there like Debenhams and formerly House of Fraser which are struggling).
  • bobmcstuff
    bobmcstuff Posts: 11,196
    I guess what I'm saying is, Saddles' article about Cardiff retailers and Chasey's article about recovery afterwards are not actually contradictory.
  • TheBigBean
    TheBigBean Posts: 20,622
    They're going to run a virtual grand national.
  • joe2019
    joe2019 Posts: 1,338
    Eight West Ham players test positive for Coronavirus
  • rick_chasey
    rick_chasey Posts: 72,702
    I guess the French could block all foreigners from entering France just ahead and maybe they’d have a better chance of getting a French victory.

    I suspect if hospitals are still full they wouldn’t fancy the prospect of dealing with a mass peloton crash, nor would the riders fancy a stay in a coronavirus filled hospital.
    _
  • RichN95.
    RichN95. Posts: 27,157
    joe2019 said:

    Eight West Ham players test positive for Coronavirus


    Presumably not the defenders. They haven't been within 2 metres of anyone all season.
    Twitter: @RichN95
  • bobmcstuff
    bobmcstuff Posts: 11,196
    edited March 2020
    If anyone is that desperate for televised sport, there's a guy running a marathon in has back garden live streaming it on Facebook at the moment... 3.5k+ people watching it too



    https://www.facebook.com/TheAllenAsylumWarden/videos/10157197095936762/
  • bobmcstuff
    bobmcstuff Posts: 11,196
    Apparently he is keeping going until 6 hours, I think he has done more than a marathon.

    Nutter.
  • focuszing723
    focuszing723 Posts: 7,202
    Won't he fook his knee's by making those tight turns?
  • blazing_saddles
    blazing_saddles Posts: 21,812
    And so it begins:

    https://www.cyclingweekly.com/news/racing/lotto-soudal-riders-take-pay-cut-as-support-staff-made-temporarily-unemployed-452839

    Lotto-Soudal have been forced to make 25 support staff unemployed.........
    "Science is a tool for cheaters". An anonymous French PE teacher.
  • sherer
    sherer Posts: 2,460
    sad times for the sport, although the article says this means they can access financial assistance.

    Suspect we will see more of this across several sports now
  • blazing_saddles
    blazing_saddles Posts: 21,812
    edited March 2020
    So, it will be 2022 before the TDF gets back to normal as the Olympics steals it's 2021 slot.

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/olympics/52091224


    Also:
    The World Athletics Championships, originally set to take place in Oregon, USA, between 6 August and 15 August 2021, will now be postponed until 2022.
    If that is moved back exactly a year it would clash with the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham which is set to take place between 27 July and 7 August.
    "Science is a tool for cheaters". An anonymous French PE teacher.
  • DeVlaeminck
    DeVlaeminck Posts: 8,744
    First three weeks in July? Didn't that used to be the traditional Tour slot until a couple of years ago anyway ?
    [Castle Donington Ladies FC - going up in '22]
  • focuszing723
    focuszing723 Posts: 7,202
    YOU CANNOT BE SERIOUS !!!!!
  • blazing_saddles
    blazing_saddles Posts: 21,812
    DeVlaeminck said:

    First three weeks in July? Didn't that used to be the traditional Tour slot until a couple of years ago anyway ?

    The programme of the Tour de France 2021 Grand Depart Copenhagen, Denmark

    Thursday 1 July, 2021 – Team presentation in Copenhagen
    Friday 2 July 2021 – Stage 1 – Copenhagen (ITT), 13 km
    Saturday 3 July, 2021 – Stage 2 – Roskilde > Nyborg, 190 km
    Sunday 4 July, 2021 – Stage 3 – Vejle > Sønderborg, 170 km
    Monday 5 July, 2021 – Rest day and travel to France.

    Race finishes on July 25th.

    https://www.cyclingweekly.com/news/racing/olympics/new-dates-for-tokyo-olympics-clash-with-2021-tour-de-france-452963

    .............the Olympic road race then scheduled for July 25 before the Games were postponed.

    There were just a few days between the 2020 Tour and the Olympics, but now things look even tighter.

    All of which means, even if the IOC show some degree of flexibility.:

    The date for the Olympic road race and time trials have not yet been announced, but with the overlap it is likely there will only be a few days from the end of the Tour, unless the latter is moved once again.

    "Science is a tool for cheaters". An anonymous French PE teacher.
  • focuszing723
    focuszing723 Posts: 7,202

  • blazing_saddles
    blazing_saddles Posts: 21,812
    Yup.
    Black armbands all round at BBC HQ

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/tennis/52104196

    The All England Club meeting.


    "Science is a tool for cheaters". An anonymous French PE teacher.
  • blazing_saddles
    blazing_saddles Posts: 21,812
    edited April 2020
    Coming in thick and fast now.

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/52121463



    "Science is a tool for cheaters". An anonymous French PE teacher.
  • focuszing723
    focuszing723 Posts: 7,202
    edited April 2020
    This is getting bloody serious now Blazin!

    What's the world coming to!?
  • sherer
    sherer Posts: 2,460
    Wimbledon off now too.

  • RichN95.
    RichN95. Posts: 27,157
    All UCI races suspended up to 1 June
    Twitter: @RichN95
  • blazing_saddles
    blazing_saddles Posts: 21,812
    edited April 2020
    RichN95. said:

    All UCI races suspended up to 1 June

    I don't know how much faith to put into this, since it came out a couple of days ago but as far as I know hasn't been picked up by the Englsh cycling press:

    https://www.zikloland.com/los-equipos-piden-correr-en-noviembre-y-mas-invitaciones-worldtour/

    The WT and Pro teams want the season to extend into November (so far it's just till the end of October) and they want more spaces for Pro teams in the WT events. The Pro teams are also keen on space being provided in the calendar for the more local 2.1 races.

    Meanwhile, UCI President David Lappartient has come under flak for confirming the "local" World Championship dates. This was seen as a move to give precedence to the World Championship organisers and so protect their television rights income.
    The dispute is over the elite men's time trial, which will be held on Sunday September 20 and thus fills up a weekend slot that could have been used for a monument etc.

    Jumbo-Visma team manager Richard Plugge had this to say:

    "Many organizers, teams and riders are very unsure whether there will be any racing in the coming months. And even before that has been discussed with anyone, the UCI throws out the World Championship programme. It gives me the feeling that they're saying: 'Before we give others a place, we already take those two weekends.' That's a bad signal to the rest of the cycling world and testifies poor leadership.
    The Tour of Flanders, for example, or Milan-San Remo, the Monuments that Lappartient says should be protected. If he really means that he should keep that weekend for them. Lappartient always talks about the 'Cycling Family.' He should think more about that family."
    "Science is a tool for cheaters". An anonymous French PE teacher.
  • TheBigBean
    TheBigBean Posts: 20,622
    Is there much overlap between the half dozen riders that bother with the world TT and most of the monuments? Or is the suggestion that they can't be run at the same time? I know which I would watch out of choice.
  • Pross
    Pross Posts: 40,553
    joe2019 said:

    Eight West Ham players test positive for Coronavirus

    Makes a change for football to bother with testing!
  • RichN95.
    RichN95. Posts: 27,157
    edited April 2020
    TheBigBean said:

    Is there much overlap between the half dozen riders that bother with the world TT and most of the monuments? Or is the suggestion that they can't be run at the same time? I know which I would watch out of choice.


    Politics, dear boy, politics. Lappartient isn't going cede ground to Flanders Classics. If we get a season in half a season there's going to be a lot of willy waving amongst the UCI, ASO, RCS and the short dicked Flanders Classics.
    Twitter: @RichN95
  • kingstongraham
    kingstongraham Posts: 26,254
    Cobbled classics in November?
  • blazing_saddles
    blazing_saddles Posts: 21,812
    Given that the average domestique's wage isn't exactly generous, this latest pay cut announcement is going to cause some serious financial difficulty.

    "Science is a tool for cheaters". An anonymous French PE teacher.
  • coopster_the_1st
    coopster_the_1st Posts: 5,158
    blazing_saddles said:

    Given that the average domestique's wage isn't exactly generous, this latest pay cut announcement is going to cause some serious financial difficulty.

    I'm going to guess it is 30% of your current wage or no wages at all in 3-6 months time and next year
  • gsk82
    gsk82 Posts: 3,470
    For a team like Bahrain, what income are they losing out on by not racing? Racing must first them more than they generate from it from external sources.

    The owners are the sponsors (aren't they?) and must be able to afford to to pay their wages.
    "Unfortunately these days a lot of people don’t understand the real quality of a bike" Ernesto Colnago
  • rick_chasey
    rick_chasey Posts: 72,702
    gsk82 said:

    For a team like Bahrain, what income are they losing out on by not racing? Racing must first them more than they generate from it from external sources.

    The owners are the sponsors (aren't they?) and must be able to afford to to pay their wages.

    If I was a sponsor I would make sure I would pay a team based on the races they raced - so if they ain't racing the sponsor ain't paying.

    _

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