Watching sports can provide an escape from reality.
But with COVID-19 concerns causing several professional sports leagues to end or postpone their seasons, new father Nic Roldan is having a hard time dealing with quarantine.
“I have a newborn and he’s 100% my focus,” he said. “But when he’s sleeping, I tend to engage in watching sports or playing sports. And without live sports right now, it’s kind of difficult.”
To help fill that void, Roldan has started watching old sporting games more often. However, he says there’s nothing like watching sports live with his baby boy, Kai Roldan.
“It’s really nice because it gives my wife a break from him so she can go do whatever,” he said. “And I can already see it in his eyes how much he loves it.”
Now, a new professional sports league is looking at launching in America during this global pandemic.
“We are in a building mode right now which makes it very attractive because we’re not in a survival mode in the moment,” said Michael Clements, commissioner of the National Rugby Football League.
As Bloomberg reports, sports network ESPN has seen a massive decrease in viewership, and with more people quarantining at home, the NRFL sees this as an opportunity to capture a new audience.
“I call it the crouching tiger ready to pounce,” Clements said. “We didn’t plan this pandemic by any means. It’s awful, it is terrible what’s going on, however, there is a silver lining within the cloud by way of what it is we are doing.”
The NRFL is gearing up to bring eight pro rugby teams to cities across the country and broadcast it for the world to see.
“Timing is everything when it comes to sports,” Roldan said. “Look just what happened with the XFL. They tried to come back and I guess they did okay, I guess, for what they were trying to do and now they got bankrupt.”
Roldan supports the NRFL bringing sports back to the fans.
“With the craving of any live sports, I’m going to be more in tuned with it,” he said.
The NRFL looks to kick off its inaugural season in 2022.