Paul Constant is a writer at Civic Ventures, a cofounder of the Seattle Review of Books, and a frequent cohost of the "Pitchfork Economics" podcast with Nick Hanauer and David Goldstein.- On the latest episode of "
Pitchfork Economics ," Hanauer and Goldstein interview Sports Illustrated columnist Andrew Brandt about thecoronavirus ' derailment of sports, and the possibility that no one wants to go to games again. - Even nerd culture has been hit hard by the pandemic, and world-famous conventions scheduled months from now are drawing criticism from fans for potentially occurring.
- Everyone is on edge about reentering society as normal post pandemic, ultimately impacting small businesses and the economy well beyond the release of stay-at-home orders.
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Seattle is one of America's nerdiest cities — home to cartoonists, the publishers of Dungeons & Dragons, and a whole slew of video game developers. It's also a city that profits greatly from the business of nerd culture, particularly through a full, year-round slate of large conventions in the downtown retail core ranging from Emerald City Comicon in March to the anime-focused Sakura-con in April to the September gaming convention Pax West.
These aren't just hobbies or weekend pursuits — they're big business. Pax West, in particular, is the biggest annual convention in Washington state, driving $35 million through the local economy over one weekend in 2015.
Seattle was also America's first coronavirus hotspot, and slowly we've seen these annual pillars of the local nerd culture collapse, one after the other. After a number of exhibitors, cartoonists, and attendees canceled their appearances, Emerald City Comicon pulled the plug on the convention right before it was supposed to begin. Then, as officials rolled out social distancing orders, the other conventions started to fall: Sakura-Con canceled, as did the popular sci-fi convention Norwescon.
Last week, though, Pax organizers refused to join the parade of shuttered conventions. They tweeted that, "as of right now we still plan on welcoming everyone home to PAX West on Labor Day weekend (September 4th - 7th) in 2020!"
The response from Pax's typically rabid fanbase was decidedly chilly.
"I really hope that you guys have the decency to cancel it this year," one fan tweeted back. "With this whole pandemic going on, and slated to continue for many more months, it'll be a really bad idea to continue this."
"I would rather not have my health or anyone else's health sacrificed for it," another fan responded. "Please do the right thing, don't allow harm to come to people who didn't have a choice to be exposed or not by selfish attendees when they go elsewhere."
When even the most rabid nerds largely express concern at the idea of gathering for one of the biggest and most-anticipated events of the geek calendar year, you know it's an emergency situation. Pax West may represent just a tiny portion of Seattle's
For all the talk we've heard from leaders and a small cluster of far-right protesters about "reopening the economy," very few of these people are addressing a very important question: What happens if you reopen an economy and nobody comes to the grand reopening?
In this week's episode of "Pitchfork Economics," Nick Hanauer and David Goldstein interview Sports Illustrated columnist and Business of Sports podcaster Andrew Brandt about the financial impact of
In the episode, Brandt talks through various scenarios of what sports might look like in the months ahead: We'll likely see games without fans in the stands, he theorizes, and seasons might be abbreviated to just a few weeks followed by a playoff and championship season.
But even if the games do reopen to the public, will the people want to attend? Fewer than half of all sports fans say they would be comfortable attending a sporting event this year, according to a Morning Consult poll. Another poll found that only 13% of respondents were currently willing to attend sports events without reservations.
Of course, human beings are adaptable and forgetful creatures. This aversion to public events won't last forever; once a vaccine for coronavirus has been developed and distributed — which could come anywhere from a year and a half to four years in the future, depending on which experts you ask — I'm sure that the crowds will come back.
But until then, Americans have shown genuine, sensible hesitancy about exposing themselves to COVID-19. And as Goldstein points out at the end of the episode, these big events like sporting events and nerdy conventions don't just benefit the wealthy owners and star performers. They provide a living for food service employees and convenience store owners and ticket-takers (and, yes, as Goldstein cheekily points out, ticket scalpers) who can't wait for a vaccine to be discovered.
It's clear that until our will to venture out into public spaces has returned, we're going to need to support all those millions of workers who make their living on our eagerness to congregate in groups. The owners of sports franchises don't need our help, but the concession stand salespeople and the stadium janitors sure do.
Reopening the economy isn't as simple as just opening the doors and letting the masses clamber inside. Any plan to get the economy back to fighting strength will have to keep in mind that we still have months — maybe years — before we're willing to go geek out with our fellow fans at the diversion of our choice.
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