COVID-19 couldn’t stop all sports in the US and Michael Jordan was the most profitable

The coronavirus pandemic took the whole world by surprise and turned 2020 into a human and economic tragedy, but what it failed to achieve was to stop the development of sports leagues in the United States, where all major tournaments and professional leagues were completed.

The same didn’t happen in the rest of the world, where 2020, which was to be the sports year of the decade, with the events of the European Football Championship, America’s Cup and Tokyo Olympics added to the usual annual calendar. The pandemic changed it. in a fallen house of cards with a postponement until 2021.

The opposite of what was experienced in American professional sports, which, although all competitions were suspended on March 13, returned as one of the symbols of the fight against the deadly disease, which has claimed the lives of more than 340,000 people in the United States. States. United.

Starting in June, sporting events started to be rescheduled with the new reality that there were no fans on the fields, the regular seasons of professional baseball in the Major Leagues, the NBA, WNBA, NHL, MLS football, NWSL and losses were reduced. multi-million dollar economic (15,000 million dollar) within an industry fundamental to the country’s economic acceleration.

NASCAR motorsport was the first to meet its new schedule, then IndyCar, while mixed martial arts and wrestling were the first sports to compete in so-called “bubble” venues.

Something that boxing did too, which would later become the professional sport that also enabled the presence of thousands of spectators when safety and health protocols to combat the deadly disease Covid-19 had already been established by federal and state authorities.

NASCAR closed a historic season in both the sporting and political-social spheres when, through the only black driver in the competition, Bubba Wallace, he started his anti-racist struggle and managed to end the organization with the presence of the flag. Linked in matches.

New NASCAR Cup champion Chase Elliott, just 24, the son of Bill Elliott, who also won the title in 1988, became the youngest driver to win the championship in 25 seasons.

IndyCar followed in NASCAR’s footsteps and with less prominence in the fight against racism and social justice, 40-year-old New Zealand driver Scott Dixon, who won his sixth title, left as champion.

While another veteran driver, Japan’s Takuma Sato, surprised with victory in the 104th edition of the legendary Indianapolis 500 race, which also had to be postponed from the traditional Memorial Day weekend date to August 23. .

Then came the return of the tournaments of the professional golf circuit of the PGA Tour, which had to move the legendary Augusta Masters from April to November, but which was a sporting success with the best golfer in the world, the American. Dustin Johnson, as the new champion.

The PGA lived up to its entire game schedule, including the Houston Tournament, which once again had spectators on the field, 2,000 fans a day and a brilliant champion in Mexican Carlos Ortiz, who won his first. title on the track.

Professional tennis, the professional sport that suffered the cancellation of most tournaments that should have been played on the ATP and WTA calendar, managed to save the Masters and Premier 5 in Cincinnati by being played on the bubble- Location. of the National Tennis Center of the United States, in Flushing Meadows, New York.

The tournament, which left Serbian Novak Djokovic and reborn Belarusian Victoria Azarenka as champions, served as a prelude to the United States Open.

With the absence of legendary Swiss Roger Federer and Spaniard Rafael Nadal in the men’s field and the best tennis players in the women’s world, Austrian Dominic Thiem benefited from Djokovic’s disqualification after striking a court judge to win his first Grand Slam title .

While Japan’s Naomi Osaka, after a whole recital of claims of racial and social struggles, defeated Azarenka in the grand final to take her second Open title.

Before that, the United States Professional Soccer League (MLS) Return Tournament in the Orlando bubble ended with the Portland Timbers as champions.

The NHL, in several bubble locations in Canada, was also able to define Tampa Bay Lightning as the Stanley Cup champion after beating Dallas Stars (4-2) in the final.

During the IMG Academy bubble in Bradenton, Florida, the WNBA saw the Seattle Storm team beat the Las Vegas Aces in the final and take the title of champion.

The Major Leagues, after completing a regular season of 60 games and overcoming several outbreaks of coronavirus infections, finally entered the bubble of the new Texas Rangers field, Globe Life Field, with 11,000 fans per game, they had as champions of the World Series for the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Later, it would come to another Los Angeles team, the legendary Lakers, in the Orlando bubble, who proclaimed themselves NBA champions with their new stars of MVP award-winning striker LeBron James and center Anthony Davis, who the team gave. their seventeenth title, tied with the Boston Celtics for the best of dynasties.

The last 2020 title contested by a professional team in the United States during the coronavirus pandemic was that of the MLS, which was won by the Columbus Crew, no spectators, but in their field.

Away from the competition, the pandemic once again brought the figure of Michael Jordan to the center of attention and the sports character who made the most money on television with the documentary “The Last Dance.”

Billionaire Jordan’s life of excesses with mansions, cars, motorcycles, golf courses, gambling, majority shareholder of the Charlotte Hornets and an investment that isn’t going well ensured the broadcast generated excellent dividends for the former player, ESPN, Netflix, Nike, NBA and many more brands related to its image.

Jordan, according to Forbes magazine, is the athlete who has made the most money in history, with an estimated fortune of $ 2.1 billion.

The cross of the 2020 medal in professional sports in the United States was the death of legendary former Lakers base, Kobe Bryant, who was killed in a tragic helicopter accident on January 26 that also killed his daughter Gianna. age 13, and seven other people.