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On My Mind… Getting Back to Business 2.0

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Summer has most definitely arrived on the East Coast and with it our thoughts turn to … fall and winter. And that’s good news for team dealers who are in desperate need of good news. A return to normalcy – in the form of a full fall sports school schedule and an optimistic outlook for the Winter 2021-22 season as well as the country continues to get the pandemic under  control – is most welcome to our readers.

But before we look too far ahead, let’s take a quick look back to an editorial I wrote at this time last year for the July/August 2020 issue of Team Insight. In it I said:

“Let’s put this right up front: The next 60 days are, arguably, the most important two months in the history of the team sports business.”

I may have been a bit premature in that statement, since no one knew where the world – and the business of team sports – was headed at the time. Uncertainty, along with fear, ruled our daily personal and business lives.

I also wrote last year that  the survival of many in our world of team sports was at stake with the upcoming fall sports season. That, too, proved true as thankfully enough seasons – disrupted, postponed, delayed, sometimes cancelled – were played and enough product was delivered to keep the small dealers that are the heart of the team sports business afloat.

Of course, the Federal PPP program didn’t hurt.

Here we are on hopefully the other side of the crisis. Spring seasons were held throughout the country – and some fall seasons for football and soccer crowded the schedule in many regions – and optimism abounds for a return to normalcy for the fall and winter school seasons this year. A busy summer league season has helped jumpstart the business as well. COVID has not been defeated – not even close. But the world of team sports has adapted to the new reality and will move forward.

Another great sign that we are getting back to business: The Sports Inc. and Nation’s Best Sports buying group shows were held last month — in-person for the first time in more than a year. The team sports business proved it is ready to move forward.

It is, indeed, time to get back to business. The July/August 2021 issue of Team Insight will say just that — we are calling it Back To Business 2.0. The future is here now and I am glad to play a role in documenting, reviewing and, yes, cheerleading, for it. There have been opportunities even in these worst of times to not only survive, but to thrive in a challenging and changing world. Our readers have done it and will continue to do so and we will be here to tell the world about how you did it.