NBA, MLB, NHL Expected to Lose a Billion Dollars in TV Advertising

Coronavirus is expected to cost the NBA, MLB and NHL a total of $1 billion in TV advertising revenue.

Three stories shaping the world of sports and business for Wednesday April 1, 2020.

There can't be any commercials during games if there are no games being played. That's turning into a big financial problem for the NBA, MLB and NHL. According to a report by Forbes writer Mike Ozania, that problem could turn into a $1 billion loss in television advertising revenue. 

Media Radar conducted a study for Forbes and found out that those three professional sport leagues, which all suspended their seasons due to the coronavirus, typically bring in around $1 billion in television advertising during the months of March, April and May. According to the Forbes/Media Radar report,  $839 million of the projected billion dollar loss is typically funneled to the NBA.  

There are now more than 885,000 cases of the coronavirus across the globe, an 85,000 increase in 24 hours, and 44,000 deaths worldwide. TheStreet's financial reporter, Katherine Ross, points out the United States has the most cases with 190,000, but Italy has the highest death count with more than 12,000.

UFC 249 will be without its biggest star as Khabib Nurmagomedov is currently stuck in Russia. The UFC's lightweight champion was scheduled to fight Tony Ferguson in a highly anticipated title fight, but with Russia shutting down air travel, the current champ is unable to fly to the United Arab Emirates. 

The UFC event was originally scheduled to take place in Brooklyn, but due to the coronavirus pandemic, the UFC moved the location to the U.A.E. UFC President Dana White seems confident the event will still take place as scheduled on April 18.