The current situation is awful, with Coronavirus there are no winners. Personally I don't get this narrative at all that Fox Sports are being greedy. They will be bleeding money right now. They have next to no content, subscribers will be down, advertising revenue will be down, revenue from selling their content to other overseas networks will be down..
They will be like any other business right now, trying to work out how to say solvent. Hence why the cost cutting has started - like letting go of Daniel Garb. No one wants to make good staff redundant, but this is going to be a sad reality for many many businesses in the next few months.
Read on here somewhere, that someone works for a small warehouse type company, and is rightly worried about catching Covid off work mates - some of whom, stupidly are still not taking the virus seriously. However no one is accusing the owner of that business of being greedy, because they have yet to close their doors. Yet the employees of that business are probably at more risk, than the Nix squad right now.
What Fox's bean counters have come up with is a plan, to try to keep some cash coming in. The NRL, AFL and A League to play out their seasons as best they can. With the A League I think they have a chance as it is only 6(?) weeks to go. I'm going to go a wild guess and say it's a 50:50. Covid is still a month or two away from 'peaking' in Aussie, so they have a chance. Esp if all the teams/management are in virtual self isolation in NSW and VIC.
That's the question though, are all the teams in virtual self isolation like the Nix, and interstate teams?? If Andrew Durante is still living at home, and his 3 daughters are still going to some school/pre school in Victoria, he has a much higher chance of getting the virus now than Steven Taylor. Undoubtedly the Nix players and management right now, have less chance of getting Covid than most Kiwis. They will have a team doctor and lots of other health professionals around them.
You can't at the moment compare the A League to the Euro leagues or MLS. In several European countries (Italy, Spain) people are tragically dying in large numbers. It would be unthinkable to be playing sport in that context. Bit similar in the US, but also there you have a pretty large comp (26 teams?) and I seriously doubt you could base say 13 teams in LA, and another 13 teams in New York. The A League is a bit unique in that it is a pretty small comp, and 7 of the 11 teams are basically based around 2 cities (Newcastle and Central Coast reasonably close to Sydney).
But most importantly as yet, you don't have large numbers of people infected or dying. Cold as that sounds. That sadly could soon change.
Lock downs are coming to NZ & Aussie. Soon you won't be able to leave your house. Watching a bit of live sport on TV, may make that situation a bit more bearable. If the A League season can be completed (big if), none of the players get sick, Fox make some money, FFA gets some money, and players and other staff continue to be paid then that's a good result from an otherwise terrible situation.
But sure, as soon as a player has a positive test, can it all. I'm sure NZ/Aussie and even the Visa players will somehow get back to NZ for their 2 weeks self isolation. Whether it's a charter flight to a military airstrip or whatever, there will be a way. And whilst you don't want any A League player to get sick, being fit young men they are in a very low risk group, and highly likely to have a full recovery.
You would hope the Nix boys were given good advice from health professionals, weren't pressured at all into going, and are now in a pretty safe environment. The two I really feel for are Davila and De Vere, both being (or about to be) new fathers. Especially sucks for Davila being so far away from his family. You would hope De Vere can somehow get up to Brisbane in the next few weeks, where I understand his pregnant wife now is.
I'm sure those 2 guys will have their own little bond, and the team as a whole will be galvanised to try win the toilet seat. Be a great story if they did win it.
So I don't think Fox Sports or FFA are being greedy. Just trying to prevent a financial blow out, like any business will be over the next few months. A financial blowout that will only flow down, to the individual A League clubs and players. Hindsight will judge whether it was the right plan or not.