Coronavirus and Football (Plus all Sport in General)

[dom9]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/52904364

Amazon Prime will make Premier League games free-to-air

Amazon Prime will make its four Premier League games free-to-air when the season restarts.

Fans will not need a Prime membership to watch fixtures on the online streaming service when the top-flight campaign resumes from 17 June.

Every one of the remaining 92 Premier League games will be broadcast live across Sky Sports, BT Sport, BBC Sport or Amazon Prime.

In total, 33 of those matches will be free-to-air.

Alex Green, managing director of Prime Video Sport Europe, said: "Like the rest of the country, we are excited to see the Premier League return to action.

"We will be making all four of Amazon Prime Video's additional fixtures in the 2019-20 season available free of charge; fans will not need a Prime membership to view the games on Prime Video."

In May, it was announced that four Premier League games will be broadcast, free to air, live on BBC Sport when the season resumes.

It will be the first time the BBC has shown live Premier League matches, and the first time the broadcaster has shown any live top-flight football since 1988.

Sky Sports will make 25 of the remaining top-flight matches free to air, including the Merseyside derby on the first weekend after the resumption - 19-21 June.

So Sky are showing 25 games for free too - including our first game.

[ChesterDave]

1 positive test in the latest 1,197 samples

[McDermotX]

[Fosterbloke]

[rodo]

[ame]https://twitter.com/_pauljoyce/status/1269351655071535104[/ame]

[BobTheCharmer]

It's on!

[rodo]

[ame]https://twitter.com/David_Ornstein/status/1269350859533692930[/ame]

[Fredo]

Will be interesting to see what happens if the north west goes back in lockdown.

[rodo]

the egg is back

[ame]https://twitter.com/MirrorFootball/status/1269419432524288007[/ame]

[BigChief]

Someone tell me I'm being madly over optimistic but are things really that bad in the mid to long term? Been trying to convince another site that we should be back to normal sooner than later. Here's my analysis:

1. We are not isolating to avoid catching covid, but to help medical services. The end game is we're supposed to get covid. The danger is some that catch it may die, just like with any other virus or disease. So we need medication in place in case some of us get to that stage... which leads me to:

2. WHO are conducting project Solidarity where four known treatments that actually work on covid and are safe in humans are being tested on a larger sample size for covid. Ten countries have already started. How long will this take and how much will demand (Trump, BoJo) dictate a widespread release of the findings? Weeks? Months? Since these treatments have gone through years of testing already it can already tick the "safe for humans" box.

3. For football to start we don't need to stop every time a player or his family is then diagnosed as positive for covid. With treatment being available people can go on being infected safely (ish) which was always the end game remember (point 1). Covid seriousness will be downgraded to flu status, I.e. normal behaviour can resume.

So how long is the question? I'm hoping the solidarity project plus global readiness of the chosen medication will take approx. 10 weeks. This is non medical guesswork and pure hope. Which takes us to beginning of June when the fear can subside and normal life resumes.

June? No chance.

I'm hearing that councils are planning on revoking licences for any large events until the end of summer.

Should games take place behind closed doors? I don't think so. Footballers shouldn't be attending a workplace anymore than anyone else who isn't a critical worker.

And frankly, I don't actually care about sport right now.

Sorry to be a damp squib but this is largely delusory...

There's no good evidence of efficacy of any of these drugs (or combinations thereof) yet, which is exactly why they require multicentre randomised controlled trials using the same methodology. The fact they are safe when used in other settings does NOT mean they are safe for those with Covid-19, they could increase mortality, we don't know. Hence the need for the trials. There were plenty of trials on similar (in some case the same) drugs for Ebola, how did that pan out? If a drug DOES work and improves mortality of severe cases by 5% does that actually change the measures we need to take as a society? I don't see that it does.

It's not impossible football is back in some form late summer, but we almost certainly won't be 'back to normal' thanks to wonder drugs.

Can't believe Arsenal are going to kick off against city in exactly 7 days. Hope this bump post doesn't jinx it (and yes my hope of some medication being ready by now was wrong) but the football community is doing the rest in the right manner (closed door testing, etc).

[Red_Polo]

Can't believe Arsenal are going to kick off against city in exactly 7 days. Hope this bump post doesn't jinx it (and yes my hope of some medication being ready by now was wrong) but the football community is doing the rest in the right manner (closed door testing, etc).

Forget the wonder drug bit, it's the beginning of June "normal life resumes" bit I wish you'd got right! It's all getting a bit ****ing tiresome isn't it?

Football coming back, even without fans, will be a very welcome tonic.

[BigChief]

Forget the wonder drug bit, it's the beginning of June "normal life resumes" bit I wish you'd got right! It's all getting a bit ****ing tiresome isn't it?

Football coming back, even without fans, will be a very welcome tonic.

Without going into too much detail I wish I was wrong about the football but right about the medication too. I have immediate family members impacted as covid long haulers.

I had put too much hope on Remdesivir. But yes football will be a welcome relief as long as it's safely done, which it seems to be.

[Red_Polo]

Without going into too much detail I wish I was wrong about the football but right about the medication too. I have immediate family members impacted as covid long haulers.

I had put too much hope on Remdesivir. But yes football will be a welcome relief as long as it's safely done, which it seems to be.

Ah that sucks mate, sorry to hear that.

[BobTheCharmer]

What chances letting in crowds of say 1/4 capacities by start of the new season? If there is no big spike after the recent demos, then I can't see why you can't let reduced crowds into games.

[McDermotX]

Loving some of that La Liga TV footage with the virtual crowds lifted right out of FIFA 3DO from around '95 or so

Heres hoping Sky etc, don't get similar ideas for their coverage.

All things being equal, I'm not opposed to crowd noise being pumped through the stadium if that's the alternative.