Change or Die

I’ve been polite and deferential. I’ve written pieces laced with song lyrics and humor. I’ve tried to rally teams and boost spirits. We’re just not getting it. New revenue will be zero this year. Refund requests will mount in urgency and government mandates are coming. Get real fast. Get small. Hope is not a strategy. The reckoning is here.

I used to be such a sweet, sweet thing
’Til they got a hold of me
I’d open doors for little old ladies
I helped the blind to see

I got no friends ’cause they read the papers
They can’t be seen
With me and I’m gettin’ real shot down
And I’m feelin’ mean

No more mister nice guy
No more mister clean
No more mister nice guy
They say he’s sick, he’s obscene

I got no friends ’cause they read the papers
They can’t be seen
With me and I’m gettin’ real shot down
And I’m gettin’ mean

No More Mr. Nice Guy — Alice Cooper

Here it is fast and simple: 50,000+ new Coronavirus cases were reported today across the U.S. 100,000 daily new cases are projected imminently, if not already here but unreported because of under testing. Businesses are closing again in California, Texas and Florida with more to follow. And, for the perfect storm, we’re now also watching the potential for the G4 virus, a new strain of H1N1 swine flu to go pandemic.

Sports will not play before live audiences this year. College campuses will not be open in the fall. BottleRock will throw in the towel like every other music festival and cancel. Concerts are delayed until at least April 2021. StubHub is creating an insurmountable debt obligation between the refunds it owes its customers, rising every day as they sell tickets for events which will cancel, and the money they are withholding from sellers who provided tickets. Venues will close or be sold to new owners. At the rate we’re going people may actually be forced to talk with one another or read for entertainment once they’ve exhausted the Netflix library.