Whether you were starting your engines, entering the octagon or the tee box, or enjoying an afternoon on the pitch, the past two weeks have been a great time to once again break out the parlay calculator and return to the first big of normalcy in sports betting since the coronavirus began shutting sports down in early March.
With the return of NASCAR Cup Series racing – in real-life cars, not a video game – a major UFC card, Bundesliga soccer in Germany and a two made-for-TV golf events, there was much for sports bettors to sink their teeth into, and online sports betting saw a two-week stretch unlike many others.
The return of NASCAR at Darlington on May 17 after a two-month hiatus, as well as the UFC 249 card the day before, led several Las Vegas sportsbooks to resume operating their phone betting aps, and the response was massive. PointsBet Sportsbook had more action on the Darlington race than they usually see for the Daytona 500 – the Super Bowl of NASCAR.
The golf match between Rory McIlroy, Dustin Johnson and Rickie Fowler bested any regular PGA event this year on FanDuel’s sportsbook, and that was still bested by the return of the Bundesliga. And that was just the appetizer before last weekend’s Match 2 between Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson, with NFL legends Tom Brady and Peyton Manning rounding out the foursome to become one of the most-watched golf events in TV history.
And this was only the beginning for sportsbooks across the country, as states continue to open up amid the coronavirus outbreak, allowing for more sports competitions to be held.
No sooner had that golf event completed that more sports entities announced their plans for imminent returns. The NHL announced this week that they hope to return to the ice in July for a 24-team postseason tournament to crown a 2019-20 Stanley Cup champion.
The NBA is a little further behind, but a tournament-style playoff format similar to hockey, to be played on the ESPN Disney campus in Orlando in August, seems the most-likely outcome.
On Thursday, England’s Premier League announced its plan to return to the pitch on June 17, with Italy’s Serie A – the first major international sports league to suspend operations because of the coronavirus – looking at returning June 20, the same date as the Belmont Stakes in New York.
The PGA is planning its return to tour golf the weekend of June 11, with the Charles Schwab Challenge.
The only sport that remains in major peril of not returning in 2020 is Major League Baseball, not because of safety concerns over COVID-19, but a more familiar cause of baseball stoppage – money. The team owners and the players union are at a stalemate about the way to pay salaries in what would be an 82-game season, should an agreement be reached and the season begin in early July.
But with no agreement in sight and the need for teams to enter into a truncated spring training by mid-June at the latest to make even a shortened season feasible, the deadline for a deal is a matter of days, and not even the great desire and enthusiasm of fans and bettors alike to see the game back on the field may be enough to make that dream a reality.
