Effects of Coronavirus (COVID-19) On Entertainment & Tourism Industry

[Nick]

To be honest, the island plan was blatantly illegal. You don't get to smuggle people into and out of a country for a business purpose.

About Disney's cash flows... people usually forget that about $10 of your cable bill each month is for the portfolio of ESPN networks. Yeah, ad revenue is down, but they're also not spending money on covering live events which is quite expensive. 80 million subs = $800,000,000 per month.

And ESPN is paying $24B for NBA games alone and right now all they are getting from that is NBA 2K tournaments and showing classic games. They've also got a very lucrative contract for Monday Night Football and other sports. $800M/month is nothing when you are paying these leagues that kind of money.

 

[fryoj]

And ESPN is paying $24B for NBA games alone and right now all they are getting from that is NBA 2K tournaments and showing classic games. They've also got a very lucrative contract for Monday Night Football and other sports. $800M/month is nothing when you are paying these leagues that kind of money.

Pretty sure all of those contracts have performance clauses in them. The NBA can't just say we are providing you no content but still charging you full price.

 

[Mad Dog]

Pretty sure all of those contracts have performance clauses in them. The NBA can't just say we are providing you no content but still charging you full price.

Yes. That's why player unions are accepting fairly small monthly stipends (small for them, not us) from the owners while this ordeal goes on. Example: Major league baseball union is embracing 7 inning doubleheaders , and play into late fall, if play is resumed so they can get a higher 'pro rated' share of their salaries. Get in as many games as possible. They would never do that in normal times.

 

[shiekra38]

That would be a fun hypothetical thread. What would Universal do if they were in charge of any of the four WDW parks?

Bro start it, we could have fun with that

 

[Parkscope Joe]

That would be a fun hypothetical thread. What would Universal do if they were in charge of any of the four WDW parks?

.....um.....can we chill it on this?

Remember there are real people with real jobs at stake here.

 

[PerceptiveCoot]

.....um.....can we chill it on this?

Remember there are real people with real jobs at stake here.

Sorry, no disrespect meant by it, but I understand.

 

[HandsomePete]

Pretty sure all of those contracts have performance clauses in them. The NBA can't just say we are providing you no content but still charging you full price.

Pretty much this - there's force majeure language in NBA player contracts that states owners don't have to pay them 1/92nd of their salary for every game missed. There's also language that the league could completely walk away from the collective bargaining agreement. Contract law is going to be a nutty place for the next decade.

But long story short, sports leagues aren't getting TV money. So reality is the opposite - ESPN gets to put up $100k of charity money for hours of programming where it can run commercials. I would not be shocked in the slightest if the ESPN P&L actually runs at a better margin than prior year (albeit at substantially lower nominal dollars).

 

[Andysol]

Some of the people commenting on social media about this is just bizarre. They’re either downplaying how serious this is or just plain ignorant.

Twitter is where all the deplorables live. It’s the absolute worst. People who think commenting and retweeting stuff actually makes a difference. As if it isn’t 100% confirmation bias at all times.

It’s good for tweeting companies and getting customer service. That’s it.

Obviously none of this is ideal, but if I have to single one thing out of that statement for praise it's the line "and we will ask everyone to adjust their work accordingly."

It's pretty straight-forward to cut hourly worker time by 20%, but I can't think of a single boss in my life who would look at a 20% pay cut for a salaried worker and say "this means you work four days a week." Nope... they'd be like, "great, I get you at a 20% discount now."

I’m guessing Universal wouldn’t even have to ask to just work 80% and it was just to sound better. With the exception of very few, I’m sure they aren’t working close to 80%. Most people working from home in most industries aren’t.
I feel like I’m stealing from my company with how little work there is. To the point I feel bad.

.....um.....can we chill it on this?

Remember there are real people with real jobs at stake here.

Seriously? It’d be a great thread. Just because the furlough spawned the idea doesn’t mean it wouldn’t have been a great thread 3 months ago or 3 months from now. It’s highly doubtful a furloughed imagineer or UC team member would be offended. And if they are, isn’t that on them? We say stuff on here constantly that could potentially offend them.

 

[OLSinFLA]

A

And ESPN is paying $24B for NBA games alone and right now all they are getting from that is NBA 2K tournaments and showing classic games. They've also got a very lucrative contract for Monday Night Football and other sports. $800M/month is nothing when you are paying these leagues that kind of money.

Any sport show with ads ig going to have to "make good" time or refunds... in other words, all ad income would stop.

 

[Mad Dog]

Twitter is where all the deplorables live. It’s the absolute worst. People who think commenting and retweeting stuff actually makes a difference. As if it isn’t 100% confirmation bias at all times.

It’s good for tweeting companies and getting customer service. That’s it.

I’m guessing Universal wouldn’t even have to ask to just work 80% and it was just to sound better. With the exception of very few, I’m sure they aren’t working close to 80%. Most people working from home in most industries aren’t.
I feel like I’m stealing from my company with how little work there is. To the point I feel bad.

Seriously? It’d be a great thread. Just because the furlough spawned the idea doesn’t mean it wouldn’t have been a great thread 3 months ago or 3 months from now. It’s highly doubtful a furloughed imagineer or UC team member would be offended. And if they are, isn’t that on them? We say stuff on here constantly that could potentially offend them.

excellent comments :thumbsup:

 

[SeventyOne]

Disney might be betting that a big new release could kickstart theaters again. China was playing popular old releases (Avatar) to get people back into theaters. Disney might want to go the opposite extreme.

I'm curious if they're willing to play chicken with Soul based on this reasoning. If theaters re-open, say, June 1, we probably have two months before the next real blockbuster. Let a movie like this that maybe wasn't going to open to massive Marvel numbers anyway play without competition for a couple months, slowly but steadily racking up box office 1980s-style based on word of mouth. It's the only reason I can see for not moving it, other than releasing it to streaming, which I still can't see happening if they have sort of faith in the film.

 

[Disneyhead]

When things open back up, I will have no reservations about going to the movies at a theater if they have stadium seating/big recliners and only sell every other row and in groups of two with an empty seats between them.

 

[JungleSkip]

When things open back up, I will have no reservations about going to the movies at a theater if they have stadium seating/big recliners and only sell every other row and in groups of two with an empty seats between them.

You couldn't pay me to go to a movie theater until there's a vaccine.

 

[Andysol]

When things open back up, I will have no reservations about going to the movies at a theater if they have stadium seating/big recliners and only sell every other row and in groups of two with an empty seats between them.

Same. There’s a way they can swing it.

I have a handful of trips that have been rescheduled and if things are open, I’ll go.

I have Hawai’i end of May that I don’t feel confident will happen. But if they don’t have their 14 day quarantine anymore, we’ll go.
I have a conference in Phoenix end of July.
I have a trip to Savannah in early August.
First international is in September. I have a small trip to Europe as well as a trip to Turkey and Vietnam. So again, both of those are restriction dependent.
And then Colombia in November
Disney for early December

If none of those happen, we’re so screwed.

I’m getting more and more in the camp of “grandma and grandpa; stay inside and I’ll drop off food... but I gotta go to work”

Of course, people will lose their minds and politicize it or simplify it as “money > people”; but this thing cannot continue. People need a purpose. People need a community. This is going to have devastating effects if we don’t snap out of this soon.

 

[Cup_Of_Coffee]

Seriously? It’d be a great thread. Just because the furlough spawned the idea doesn’t mean it wouldn’t have been a great thread 3 months ago or 3 months from now. It’s highly doubtful a furloughed imagineer or UC team member would be offended. And if they are, isn’t that on them? We say stuff on here constantly that could potentially offend them.

I agree. Any time we all dump on Fast and Furious on here we are offending UC, I don't see how this thread would be different. Unless the point of the thread is "How UC would handle WDW, RIGHT NOW, as in Covid 19, then yes thats ridiculous. I don't see the issue if its just a blue sky "What would UC do if in charge of WDW parks and the future." I don't see the issue with that either and might be a fun thread offering distraction. No one is talking about anyone specific or wishing anyone out of a job. Eseiclaly when Beastly Kingdom and Lost Continent are a thing (just learned about this all during quarantine actually!) I think it'd be a fun exercise.

 

[PerceptiveCoot]

I agree. Any time we all dump on Fast and Furious on here we are offending UC, I don't see how this thread would be different. Unless the point of the thread is "How UC would handle WDW, RIGHT NOW, as in Covid 19, then yes thats ridiculous. I don't see the issue if its just a blue sky "What would UC do if in charge of WDW parks and the future." I don't see the issue with that either and might be a fun thread offering distraction. No one is talking about anyone specific or wishing anyone out of a job. Eseiclaly when Beastly Kingdom and Lost Continent are a thing (just learned about this all during quarantine actually!) I think it'd be a fun exercise.

After some thought, I'm not sure it would be able to be its own thread however. I mean, unless we're talking about fundamental differences between how Universal operates and Disney operates, it seems like it would just be Universal prioritizing building rides on different franchises than the one's Disney is currently interested in. Also, I feel like any Disney to Universal thread would just be lamenting hypothetical budget and entertainment cuts, which seems kind of pointless...

The only things I could really come up with were that Zootopia would likely be in Animal Kingdom as a priority and the Fox properties would be leveraged more significantly. But if people feel like they have ideas or thoughts on this, then feel free to start a thread.

 

[Brian G.]

This is the Entertainment thread... this needs to go to the general pronto.

 

[JoeCamel]

UoR email to passholders just now


We want to reiterate some important information:

• All Passes will be extended by the number of days* we are closed.
• All existing Pass benefits, blockout dates and other restrictions still apply.
• If you are signed up with FlexPay, we postponed all monthly payments effective March 25, 2020. We’ll provide more details at a later date about when payments will resume.

 

[KlownzNskullZ]

So yesterday all part time employees of universal were furloughed, full time employees will get 80% of their hours worked in a normal month, they said to be open after may? But it keeps getting pushed back obviously.
I expect the world of theme parks to be forever changed after this.

 

[JungleSkip]

So yesterday all part time employees of universal were furloughed, full time employees will get 80% of their hours worked in a normal month, they said to be open after may? But it keeps getting pushed back obviously.
I expect the world of theme parks to be forever changed after this.

I'm not sure if it will change forever, but it will certainly be super different until a vaccine is available. I'm not convinced the theme park business is even tenable until potent therapeutics are approved and wildly available.

I think Universal's strategy of (so far) not stopping construction and pushing for EU to still open in 2023 could possibly lead to the balance of power in Orlando shifting even further, especially if Disney does end up cutting projects that aren't already well into construction. But that also depends on the company continuing construction along with the economy bouncing back by 2023, which of course is a complete wild card.