As noted in some previous threads, this is going to be a real challenge, depending on how long it lasts. As RadioWiz points out above, they've survived strikes before and that's true. But there's never been a circumstance in my memory where every major league sport has shut down at the exact same time with no end in sight. And now that the schools are down for 3 weeks, they can't even cover high school sports! 

After the initial round of "how long can you go without sports," it's going to be pretty hard to do a "what's wrong with the Leafs?" topic if they're not playing. And it's not just TSN 1050, 1150 and The Fan 590. Mike Richards and Barry Davis do a lot of sports on Sauga 960, WGR Buffalo relies on fans griping about the Sabres, and both WWKB and WHLD rely on syndicated ESPN and CBS Sports to use up a lot of their airtime. 

It will be fascinating to hear how they fill all those endless hours without anything - including college sports and March Madness. 

Speaking of which, CBS cleared most if its schedule over the next few weeks for coverage of the college hoops tournament, which draws big ratings. What do they air there instead? 

There are a lot of unanswered questions for these stations/networks as they stare at a very uncertain future. My guess? A lot of interviews with former or even current athletes talking about their careers and what happens when the season(s) inevitably resume.

(By the way, it's not just broadcasters. As of this posting, there's nothing on the Toronto Maple Leafs site about the cancellation of all future games. In fact, one ad is offering tickets for a Marlies St. Patrick's Day match, which I have to assume will not be happening now, either.) 

And there's one more thing and it involves what happens when the games come back. With the NHL, NBA and MLB all having to play catch-up, it would seem to be almost impossible to schedule all these missed contests without overlapping each other. What happens when the Leafs, Jays, Raptors and FC all play on the same night because they have games to make up? Which station takes which one and who do they farm it out to if they can't carry a scheduled broadcast? 680 News for Rogers? CFRB for Bell?

Even when it ends, the troubles may not be over for the all sports outlets. 

Although in some markets like Hamilton where the local media stopped seriously covering sports ages ago, it's not a big deal.

RadioActive wrote:

I have to admit to being at least a little disappointed that I will never get to see two major league teams playing in complete silence, without any fans in the stands. That would be fascinating to experience just once. 

Remember the CBC strike years ago?

I loved watching CFL games without announcers... was a Mmmm pretty cool experience

There was a baseball game in Baltimore a few years ago played with no fans

There are clips of it on YouTube. Was also pretty interesting

I suppose we're about to find out. They can do the "woe is us, no sports" thing for a few days, but it will get tired fast. Then they'll have to think of something else to talk about. And it turns out, we're not the only ones thinking about this. It's totally irrelevant to a local audience, but I came across this on a Philadelphia website, where a writer wondered the same thing. 

25 Topics for Philly Sports Writers and Radio Hosts to Talk About During Coronavirus Lockdown

By the way, what do you suppose 680 News will do for their sports updates at :15 and :45 every hour once this thing enters it second week? That should be a challenge, as well. 
 

tri-cities wrote:

Lots of old syndicated sports show. Real Fishing radio with Bob Izumi, Raceline radio,. Replay old Olympic Hockey series. The Canada Russia series.

I love it - Fishing on the :15s on 680 News... "Live from Lake Kashkawigamog..."  right after Cottage Country Traffic.
 

Radiowiz wrote:

News about the Olympics. It's going ahead no matter what? REALLY? 

You're going to cancel or postpone events that are several months ahead? Even sports are suspended just for the time being. Taking steps for what's appropriate now, and watching and waiting to see where things go. I'd imagine training can go on in relatively organized confines. It's about being sensible, taking precautions for the moment we're in (the thinking seems to be close to one month), and seeing how things develop. It doesn't at all mean the Games won't be cancelled or postponed at a later date if need be.

RadioActive wrote:

CBS cleared most if its schedule over the next few weeks for coverage of the March Madness college hoops tournament, which draws big ratings. What do they air there instead? 

We now have an answer to that question. And that answer, not surprisingly, is lots of reruns.

CBS Unveils March Madness Replacement Plan

This is from New York, but you can see that the immediate future is troubling for any sports formatted station. 

Sports TV and radio stations seek solutions to programming with no sports to discuss

If the situation drags on for weeks on end, you will see sports channels like TSN and Sportsnet likely show some movies in the schedule. Mostly sports oriented but not necessarily.  The Golf Channel does this from time to time when there is not enough golf to fill the broadcast day. And of course they will show some classic games and tournaments.  Looking forward to see how Jay and Dan fill up the hour, they will really get to stretch their comedy chops in the next few weeks! 

Radio really depends how much live sports the station carries.  Some sports stations actually don't have a lot of live coverage other than weekends. You will see sports radio repeating call in shows in the evening or weekends, whenever they normally had a live event. Also worth noting that the players and coaches will not be doing much, so a lot of people will be available for interviews that otherwise would not be, and that could be really interesting too.