One of the things that we as a society lost when the Coronavirus hit was our ability to go to live sporting events. And while there was initially talk of playing games in front of empty arenas, the National Basketball Association, National Hockey League and most other Professional Sports ended up canceling the games entirely.
And while there are still people like NBA Commissioner Adam Silver stating publicly that “We’re exploring all options to resume our season if and when it is safe to do so,” nobody has any idea when that will be. So, millions of sports-loving Americans are currently stuck at home, with no sports to watch on TV.
Enter E-Sports
Then, NBC Sports Washington had an idea. What if they deliver the same sports that people want to see, just in an electronic format?
Enter NBA 2K20 and NHL 20. Both are the latest entrants in the long-running sports franchises created by 2K Sports and EA Sports respectively. They have updated rosters which are reflective of how the teams were currently playing before the season was halted.
Why Does This Make Sense
This makes sense for a variety of reasons. One, these networks have hours to fill. They can certainly re-run old games. For Washington fans, the Capitals run to Lord’s Stanley’s Cup never gets old. But those games were already on the schedule. Sprinkled into late nights when you can’t sleep or Saturday nights when the team isn’t playing. You can re-arrange some, but you can’t expect those games to fill every timeslot.
But now you have new games to play. Sure, some people may be turned off by the video game. But with the advancements in statistics and Artificial Intelligence, digital Bradley Beal has just as much chance of making his virtual jump shot as real Bradley Beal had at making his real one.
But there’s another side to this story. Because e-gaming has been on the rise for some time, according to sites like VentureBeat. According to Wallethacks, there are people who make thousands of dollars streaming their video game sessions now. So why wouldn’t NBC Sports Washington look at this as an opportunity to explore the space?
It will be interesting to see if viewers respond to the simulations, or if they’ll demand that professional gamers be at the controls of their favorite teams. Still, if there has ever been an opportunity to roll the dice on experiments such as this, now is the time.