First, the IOC and the Tokyo organizing committee are in denial. They have never had to cancel an Olympics for anything but a world war, second, they want to control the spin. By pretending that there will be business as usual, they are hoping to keep Olympians in training and Olympic fans in preparation for traveling to Tokyo. If by some good fortune the virus abates and the Olympics are held, they want to make sure the athletes are present and prepared.

Andrew Zimbalist

The market's been soft, .. and I think that's mostly a result of the new provisions in the collective bargaining agreement.

Andrew Zimbalist

results agreement thinking

Both sides go the bargaining table holding cards quite close to t... by Andrew Zimbalist

Both sides go the bargaining table holding cards quite close to the chest and bluffing like crazy, .

Andrew Zimbalist

crazy tables cards

Until the L.A. market is settled, I don't think there's any other market out there that stands a chance.

Andrew Zimbalist

chance thinking

I don't think baseball can abandon the Miami market. If MLB does let that market go vacant, I think it'll be one of the biggest mistakes they ever made.

Andrew Zimbalist

baseball mistake thinking

Baseball does have some slack here. When they were losing $20 million a year in Montreal, there was some pressure to get rid of it. But as long as they are [profitable] in Washington, there is less pressure. They've got eight bona fide $450 million offers to buy the team, and those offers aren't going to go away soon.

Andrew Zimbalist

eight team baseball

People tend to take sides in these discussions. They feel obligated to say baseball is in catastrophic circumstance or no problem at all. I think extremes are misleading. I think there's a problem and it's of modest dimensions.

Andrew Zimbalist

baseball people thinking

There is likely to be a small positive impulse from it in terms of soccer's popularity but it's not going to be a sea change.

Andrew Zimbalist

sports

There's a branding issue that could have a small effect or a large effect, are they still the Michigan Wolverines ? Do they still play in that stadium ?

Andrew Zimbalist

top-news

It's kind of a radical idea because Donna Lopiano're taking an organization that already has a lot of power, and Donna Lopiano're saying let's potentially make it more powerful by giving it an antitrust exemption.

Andrew Zimbalist

top-news

In the Olympic village alone, you're bringing together 17,000-18,000 people, they're living in close quarters, interacting with each other, coming from all over the world.

Andrew Zimbalist