Here’s how the NFL is handling the coronavirus pandemic

Yahoo Finance's Editor-At-Large Dan Roberts breaks down how major league sports are faring as the COVID-19 pandemic continues to spread.

Video Transcript

JULIE HYMAN: Well, we've been telling me a lot about the different postponements and cancellations that have to do with sports, but we've also been talking about the sort of tone and language that various sports leagues have been taking. Dan Roberts has been covering that for us. And in particular, you're looking at the response of the NFL, Dan. What's the sort of theme that you've been sussing out here?

DAN ROBERTS: Yeah, certainly. And let me just say first, Julie-- I mean, earlier in the hour we had a guest from Career Builder on talking about how one of the industry's worst hit right now by new jobless claims is sports, which is not a surprise. I mean, there's no sports happening. And I've been writing about it for a week now all the different corners of sports that are hit.

You know, it's not just the leagues. It's, you know, sports media. It's merchandise. We talked to the chairman from Fanatics, who said the same thing-- sales are down. Everyone is getting hit. And the goalposts, the timeline keeps moving, right? Things get delayed more and more. Even major league baseball now there are doubts whether that season can ever really start.

The NFL is taking some heat for behaving differently, behaving as though this isn't an unprecedented time, moving ahead as planned. The draft is planned for later this month. And as of now, it is going to happen in Las Vegas. There won't be live events around it and live parties. You won't see big crowds as you normally do at the NFL draft, but the NFL is saying it's going to hold its draft it, and broadcast it, and is getting some shade for that. People are saying you've got to somehow change up the plan, either delay it or maybe space it out over a much longer time period.

And look, the league has also moved forward with free agency-- players making moves. Obviously, we've talked about Tom Brady and also the owners voting on changes for the next season, you know, having two more teams make the playoffs and likely soon having two extra games in the regular season. So that's where it stands, that, you know, there's no sports happening right now. There are real questions about whether the NBA, NHL, MLS, and Major League Baseball even come back and play their seasons. And the NFL right now is kind of looking like business as usual, which some are not loving the tone of that.

ADAM SHAPIRO: and I was curious. Some businesses have insurance when they go through a loss, a sort of loss of business. Do the teams have anything similar to that?

DAN ROBERTS: Not really, Adam. And, you know, we are seeing some various flags raised about that. So DAZN, which is a European sports streaming service, there is news that they are telling leagues, well, we're not going to pay our rights deals for games that don't happen. That's unlikely to work. I mean, good luck with that because that's not really how those contracts work.

But it seems fair. I mean, you can't blame DAZN for trying. You know, it doesn't want to be liable for payments for games that it paid to stream-- games that aren't going to happen. And then similarly, there are some questions now about which team owners are wealthy enough to not take a hit from this because, you know, these are all billionaires who obviously own franchises, but some are much richer than others.

And there are questions about, for example, the owner of the Houston Rockets being able to continue without taking on some kind of liquidity infusion. He's already, you know, furloughed something like 40,000 workers at his other businesses. I'm talking about Tilman Fertitta of the Houston Rockets. So Yeah, the league's are in trouble. On the hand, Comcast, which owns NBC, does say that it has some form of insurance for the Olympics not happening this year.

JULIE HYMAN: Right. All right. Dan Roberts, thank you. We'll count on you to keep us posted on all of that. And keep it right here on "Yahoo Finance." Also tune in at 11:00 AM tomorrow we'll be speaking with the CEO of Chewy, Summit Singh, about that company's earnings report, which is due after the close tonight. We'll see if there has been a surge in online buying of pet products amidst this pandemic.