The New York Times. April 04, 2020

B10 N THE NEW YORK TIMES, SATURDAY, APRIL 4, 2020

European soccer leaders have

told teams to plan for a return to

action in July and August and

threatened that leagues that can-

cel their seasons would risk their

teams’ being barred from the

Champions League.

The next steps in dealing with

European soccer seasons frozen

in time by the coronavirus are

contained in a letter reviewed by

The New York Times. The letter

provides clarity and coordination

for an business scrambling for so-

lutions after its first major inter-

ruption since World War II.

The letter, signed by European

soccer’s governing body, UEFA,

and two powerful lobby groups

representing the interests of the

continent’s top leagues and clubs,

emphasizes that all efforts should

be made to complete the frozen-

in-time seasons.

Leagues that do not exhaust all

options to finish their seasons

were warned that there were

likely to be consequences.

“Any decision of abandoning

domestic competitions is, at this

stage, premature and not justi-

fied,” said a portion of the letter, is-

sued late Thursday evening and

sent to all of UEFA’s 55 national

soccer federations and the mem-

bers of the European Club Associ-

ation and the European Leagues

body. “Since participation in

UEFA club competitions is deter-

mined by the sporting result

achieved at the end of a full do-

mestic competition, a premature

termination would cast doubts

about the fulfillment of such con-

dition.”

The letter came hours after the

Belgian league announced that it

had decided, subject to board ap-

proval, to cancel its competitions.

The Dutch national federation ap-

peared earlier this week to have

set its own date for when the cur-

rent domestic calendar would

have to be completed, making

Aug. 3 the cutoff.

On Friday, UEFA’s president,

Aleksander Ceferin, expressed

frustration by unambiguously

spelling out the consequences for

those that abandon league cham-

pionships.

“Solidarity is not a one-way

street,” he told the German public

broadcaster ZDF. “The Belgians

and any others who might be

thinking about it now are risking

their participation in European

competitions next season.”

Ceferin added that the league

competitions would have to be

completed by the end of August

and could not be stretched into

September or October.

The disruptions mean that sea-

sons could go well past June 30,

the day when one season officially

ends and another begins. The con-

sequences of playing through that

date are multiple and compli-

cated, not least by the fact that

player contracts begin and end

within those dates. FIFA has said

that it will redraft regulations to

acknowledge the new reality but

that it needs good will on all sides

to cut through a thicket of legal en-

tanglements.

The Premier League alone is

facing a bill of nearly $1 billion

from broadcasters if it fails to play

the remainder of its season.

The letter, though, does provide

more clarity about the direction

the business is hoping to move in

amid speculation fueled by ner-

vous executives and the sports

media. There have been sugges-

tions of voiding entire seasons or

determining final places based on

standings at the time of suspen-

sion, even though many leagues

have about a quarter of their sea-

sons remaining. Those games

would normally determine not

only the final places but also the

short-term financial future of the

clubs. For instance, qualification

for the Champions League can be

worth as much as 100 million eu-

ros to some teams, and relegation

and promotion between tiers can

lead to a substantial swing in reve-

nue.

In Belgium, Brugge is 15 points

ahead in the championship with

one regular-season game and

playoffs to go. Still, with the

league having announced that

Brugge would be the champion,

subject to the approval of its Gen-

eral Assembly on April 15, the

team could be denied a potentially

lucrative place in the Champions

League should UEFA decide to

take action.

The Belgian league issued a

statement on Friday saying that it

had held talks with UEFA. League

officials, it said, called for a flexi-

ble approach to the crisis that

takes account of the specific situa-

tion facing each league. In Bel-

gium, the league has already re-

ceived its full payment from

broadcasters.

In England, critics have sug-

gested that clubs that favor call-

ing the season off and starting

again next season were motivated

by self-interest. West Ham, a Lon-

don club just outside the relega-

tion positions in the Premier

League, is among those to have

floated the idea. A column last

month in the British tabloid The

Sun by West Ham’s vice chair-

man, Karren Brady, drew oppro-

brium.

“There is no dodging the possi-

bility that all levels in the EFL, as

well as the Premier League, will

have to be canceled and this sea-

son declared null and void be-

cause if the players can’t play the

games can’t go ahead,” Brady

wrote.

A day later, on March 17, UEFA

announced that it had postponed

its quadrennial European Cham-

pionship in order to provide more

time for league play to return.

“It is of paramount importance

that even a disruptive event like

this epidemic does not prevent

our competitions from being de-

cided on the field, in accordance

with their rules and that all sport-

ing titles are awarded on the basis

of results,” Thursday’s letter said.

“As responsible leaders in our

sport, this is what we must ensure,

until the last possibility exists and

whilst planning, operational and

regulatory solutions are avail-

able.”

Concrete plans, the group said,

are being worked out, with a defin-

itive agenda set to be released in

the middle of May. UEFA is plan-

ning for domestic games to return

in July and August, with the

Champions League and Europa

League seasons to restart once

those seasons have been com-

pleted.

With little sign that the restric-

tions on movement and mass

gatherings in much of Europe will

be lifted soon, plans are being

made for many of those games to

be played without fans. Clubs

have had to devise home fitness

programs for players, and even

when they are allowed to return,

they will have to maintain strict

sanitary conditions. Some teams,

like Borussia Dortmund of Ger-

many, have allowed players back

but have limited their practice to

training in pairs, while others are

making arrangements to deep-

clean buses and planes and have

told players that should they re-

turn they might not be able to

wash together at club sites.

“We are confident that football

can restart in the months to come

— with conditions that will be dic-

tated by public authorities — and

believe that any decision of aban-

doning domestic competitions is,

at this stage, premature and not

justified,” said the letter, signed by

the UEFA president Ceferin; the

European Club Association chair-

man, Andrea Agnelli; and Lars-

Christer Olsson, president of the

European Leagues group.

European Leagues Get Clarity, and a Threat, on Restarting

By TARIQ PANJA

The Belgian league said it had decided to end play with one regular-season game to go and declare Brugge, above, the champion.

STEPHANIE LECOCQ/EPA, VIA SHUTTERSTOCK

Ending a season early

puts teams’ hopes for

the Champions

League at risk.

The W.N.B.A. has postponed
the start of its season because of
the coronavirus pandemic, with
no indication of when play will be-
gin.
The league was scheduled to
open training camps on April 26,
and the regular season was set to
begin on May 15. The W.N.B.A.
will still hold a “virtual” draft on
April 17.
W.N.B.A. Commissioner Cathy
Engelbert said in a statement on
Friday that the league would “use
this time to conduct scenario-
planning regarding new start
dates and innovative formats.”
“Our guiding principle will con-
tinue to be the health and safety of
the players, fans and employees,”
Engelbert said.
The W.N.B.A., which was set to
begin its 24th season, is the long-
est-running professional women’s
sports league. With the Summer
Olympics also postponed, the
W.N.B.A. will have additional flex-
ibility with its schedule. The
league was set to go on a month-
long break starting July 10 to al-
low players to participate in the
Tokyo Games. The U.S. women’s
basketball team has won six con-
secutive gold medals.
Every other major sports
league has been put on hold be-
cause of the virus. The N.B.A. sus-
pended its season on March 11 af-
ter a player tested positive for the
virus. In an interview with The
New York Times last month, Eng-
elbert said that the morning after
the N.B.A. had suspended its sea-
son, she contacted Terri Jackson,
the head of the W.N.B.A. players’
union, to discuss plans for delay-
ing the season for up to 90 days.
The delay could position the
seasons of the W.N.B.A. and the
N.B.A. to overlap much more than
usual; the N.B.A. typically has
just a month of playoff games re-
maining when the W.N.B.A.’s sea-
son begins. Engelbert told The
Times that additional overlap this
year could give her league a
chance to expose itself to new au-
diences, such as by playing home
games at different sites or by hav-
ing doubleheaders with N.B.A.
games.
“One of our transformational
goals is to expand the fandom, ex-
pand the reach of the W.N.B.A. be-
yond our 12 cities to get more ex-
posure to our players in our poten-
tial fan population,” Engelbert
told The Times. “So we could actu-
ally be creative here and think
about other cities.”
Two W.N.B.A. cities, New York
and Seattle, are major hot spots
for the virus. One of the Seattle
Storm’s homes for the season, the
Angel of the Winds Arena, is being
used as a coronavirus isolation
site.
The Las Vegas casino where the
Aces play is shut, as is the Con-
necticut Sun’s home arena.
“We continue to send our
thoughts and prayers to our play-
ers, fans, and all of those in the
community impacted by the
Covid-19 pandemic and are grate-
ful to those selfless health care
workers and first responders who
work tirelessly on the front lines,”
Engelbert said in the statement on
Friday.

Cathy Engelbert, the W.N.B.A.
commissioner, said the league

would explore new formats.

RACHEL MURRAY/GETTY IMAGES FOR MAKERS

W.N.B.A.

Will Begin

Season Late

By The Associated Press

PRO BASKETBALL SOCCER

committee, according to

U.S.O.P.C. tax filings. The U.S.

Fencing Association received

$900,000. U.S.A. Gymnastics re-

ceived $3 million. And even

though the 2018 Winter Olympics

were still more than a year away

at the time, U.S. Figure Skating re-

ceived $1 million, U.S.A. Curling

got $842,000 and the U.S. Bobsled

and Skeleton Federation received

more than $2 million.

Some of the organizations re-

ceived more the following year.

Also, direct payments for the

athletes totaled $13 million each

year as well, funding that helps

roughly 2,000 athletes pay their

rent and eat, using stipends that

range from a few thousand dollars

to as much as $21,000.

There is also a discretionary

fund of about $1 million to target a

team or a group of athletes for

whom a little extra support might

make the difference between

sixth place and a medal.

Max Cobb, who leads the U.S.

Biathlon Association and is the

chairman of the council for the na-

tional sports organizations, said

all of the projects the U.S.O.P.C.

funds for athletes at the elite level

and the grass roots now need to be

reassessed and possibly put off for

a year.

In a statement Thursday,

Morane Kerek, the U.S.O.P.C.’s,

chief financial officer, said the or-

ganization is still evaluating the fi-

nancial impact of the cancellation

of the Games.

“Given the uncertainty of the vi-

rus and its impact on the sports

landscape we expect our analysis

will continue to evolve over the

coming weeks,” Kerek said.

The U.S.O.P.C. could try to tap

the United States Olympic En-

dowment, created in 1984 after the

Los Angeles Games, to finance

Olympic sports. The endowment

has net assets of $185 million, ac-

cording to its last financial report,

but the U.S.O.P.C. tries to limit how

much it asks to withdraw from the

endowment, which is run inde-

pendently, in any one year.

What happens to the

U.S.O.P.C.’s finances during the

next 18 months may hinge on a

delicate series of negotiations be-

tween the I.O.C. and NBCUniver-

sal. In a conference call Thursday,

Timo Lumme, the director of tele-

vision and marketing services for

the I.O.C., said his organization is

speaking to broadcasters to try to

avoid leaving national Olympic

committees and athletes without

the funds they need.

However, NBCUniversal is not

obligated to make the bulk of its

payment to the I.O.C. — roughly

$1.2 billion — until shortly before

the Olympics start. By that time,

the network has finally received a

steady stream of funds from ad-

vertisers.

A spokesman for NBC Sports

said Thursday that executives are

“in constant communication with

our partners at the I.O.C.,” but he

declined to comment on any spe-

cific conversations.

While those talks take shape,

athletes and the people in charge

of getting them the money they

need are dealing with life in limbo.

DeMartini, the U.S.A. Cycling

chief executive, said the organiza-

tion receives roughly one-third of

its money from the U.S.O.P.C., one-

third from fund-raising and one-

third from current racing. U.S.A.

Cycling has received its U.S.O.P.C.

money for this year but all riding

in the country has stopped. Next

year, riding will likely return but

the Olympic money remains up in

the air.

“I’ve got a hole in my boat the

size of a third, so I’ve got to take

action,” he said.

Susan Smith, the interim chief

executive of U.S. Rowing, said her

organization has applied for a low-

interest loan through the Small

Business Administration and

reached out to donors for help cov-

ering the shortfalls from the can-

cellation of events in rowing’s

busiest season.

“It’s an interesting thing how a

pandemic can focus an organiza-

tion,” Smith said.

Spearmon said athletes are al-

ready feeling the financial crunch,

and it will only get worse if the

U.S.O.P.C. has to dial back its fund-

ing. He is finally healthy from a

calf injury two years ago, but

there are no competitions where

he can collect prize money or

reach the standards that would re-

qualify him for funding from the

U.S.O.P.C. or the U.S.A. Track and

Field. He doesn’t have a sponsor,

and social distancing advisories

prevent him from coaching.

Many sponsored athletes have

to renegotiate with shoe compa-

nies in December, which was sup-

posed to be the end of an Olympic

year, not the beginning of one. And

those companies will also be deal-

ing with the economic fallout.

“They are expressing how

much money they have lost in last

few months,” Spearmon said of

shoe companies. “There is so

much unknown right now finan-

cially.”

A $200 Million Delay Means Lean Times for Many Olympic Athletes

From First Sports Page

Sarah Hirshland, chief execu-

tive of the U.S.O.P.C., which

relies on media-rights revenue.

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HOCKEY

K’Andre Miller, a top prospect

for the Rangers, was repeatedly

subjected to a racial slur when a

team-sponsored online video chat

was hacked on Friday.

Miller, who is African-Ameri-

can, was participating in the

N.H.L.’s “Future Fridays” series

on the videoconferencing app

Zoom, with fans invited to listen to

the interview. The league has

been shut down since March 12 be-

cause of the coronavirus.

Miller, 20, was chosen 22nd

over all by the Rangers in the 2018

draft, and he has played the past

with fans and

New York

Rangers

prospect K’An-

dre Miller, dur-

ing which a vile

individual hi-

jacked the chat

to post racial

slurs, which we

disabled as

soon as possi-

ble,” the Rangers said on Twitter.

“We were incredibly appalled by

this behavior, which has no place

online, on the ice, or anywhere.”

U.S.A. Hockey also tweeted in

support of Miller, calling him “an

incredible leader, teammate,

friend & person” and adding that

“racial & derogatory slurs have

absolutely no place in the game or

society.” The Rangers’ Jacob

Trouba, Ryan Strome and Tony

DeAngelo also spoke out.

“I look forward to having you as

a teammate,” Trouba wrote.

Use of Zoom and other telecon-

ferencing methods — which have

replaced face-to-face contact

amid the coronavirus surge — has

led to many other incidents of abu-

sive hacking that are garnering

attention from the F.B.I.

two seasons for the University of

Wisconsin. The 6-foot-4 defense-

man, a native of St. Paul, Minn.,

signed an entry-level contract

with the Rangers last month.

During the question-and-an-

swer session, the slur was repeat-

edly typed out on the chat screen.

In statements issued hours later,

the Rangers and the N.H.L. con-

demned the comments, and the

team said it was investigating.

Several fans on social media,

however, questioned why the

team and league had waited so

long to issue the condemnation.

“We held an online video chat

Rangers Prospect Is Targeted With Slurs During Video Chat

By ALLAN KREDA

K’Andre

Miller