When the World Health Organization declared the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020, all major professional and collegiate organizations responded by suspending operations indefinitely. This effect was passed down to the world of sports broadcasting, which includes live coverage of thousands of events on an annual basis through stations and network available over the air, through cable, satellite, and IPTV companies, and via streaming and over-the-top services.

Coverage on March 11 and 12

The game on March 11 between the Utah Jazz and the Oklahoma City Thunder which was scrapped when Rudy Gobert tested positive for COVID-19 was to have been shown on AT&T SportsNet Rocky Mountain, Fox Sports Oklahoma, and NBA League Pass. Minutes later, the NBA announced that the season would be put on hold, but that the rest of the night's games would be played as scheduled. ESPN was covering the Denver Nuggets-Dallas Mavericks game; upon hearing the news, ESPN courtside reporter Rachel Nichols interviewed, and got reaction from, Mavericks owner Mark Cuban. That was the first of two scheduled games on ESPN that night. The second was to be New Orleans Pelicans versus the Sacramento Kings; however, that game was postponed when it was discovered that one of the referees scheduled to work the game had a similar assignment on a game earlier in the week in which the Jazz was one of the teams playing. ESPN responded by adding an edition of SportsCenter recapping the night's events.

On March 12, various TV channels and streaming services had planned to cover various conference tournaments in college basketball, The Players Championship on the PGA Tour, various NBA and NHL games, Major League Baseball spring training games, and other sports events. Of those, only the PLAYERS, the first half of a quarterfinal game in the Big East Conference tournament, and the spring training games in Florida (one of which was shown by MLB Network) went off as scheduled.

Once all events were scrapped, ESPN extended SportsCenter to an all-day live program, while ESPN2 aired some of that show as well as some simulcast content from ESPN Radio. ESPNU and Fox Sports 1 re-aired basketball games from earlier in the season, NBCSN elevated its coverage of the Mecum Auto Auctions show in Kissimmee, Florida from an exclusive stream, and Big Ten Network and SEC Network extended their studio programming.

First weekend after shutdown

On March 13, the college basketball tournament games on Friday were replaced on ESPN by SportsCenter, Get Up!, and First Take, by ESPN2 with the 30 for 30 episodes about the Celtics–Lakers rivalry, by ESPNU and Fox Sports 1 by re-airs of games from earlier in the season, on B1G by docuseries, and on SECN by a re-air of the 2019 SEC Championship Game. Golf Channel re-aired the second round of the 2019 Players Championship, and FS1 replaced the canceled NASCAR Cup Series session from Atlanta Motor Speedway with a replay of the 2019 Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500. On March 14, ABC showed other episodes of 30 for 30 and replaced a scheduled NBA telecast on the night on March 14 with reruns of American Idol and Shark Tank. CBS, which was to show the Big Ten Conference semifinals, instead showed the 2018 title game. NBC re-aired the third round of the 2019 PLAYERS, and FOX returned its scheduled time to the affiliates, including a rerun of The Masked Singer that night in part of what was supposed to be the Big East title game's time slot. ESPN elevated UFC Fight Night: Lee vs. Oliveira from ESPN+, while ESPN2 showed the documentary Basketball: A Love Story. On March 15, CBS affiliates programmed the hour which had been set aside for the announcement of the men's basketball tournament field, after the network had shown the 2019 Big Ten title game. FOX also returned airtime to its local stations after the Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500 was postponed. Meanwhile, ABC re-aired Game 6 of the 2008 NBA Finals, NBC the final round of the 2019 PLAYERS, and ESPN had another marathon of 30 for 30. NBCSN, which was to show the IndyCar Grand Prix of St. Petersburg, instead re-aired the 2019 Indianapolis 500. FS1 reran the previous week's XFL and MLS matches. Throughout the weekend, Tennis Channel re-aired its coverage of the 2019 BNP Paribas Open, as the 2020 edition had already been canceled. There were only three live sporting events on major U.S. networks that weekend. FS1 had two of them: the PBA World Series of Bowling and an Australian Football League game. As mentioned, the other was the UFC Fight Night card on ESPN.

Long-term replacement plans Previously to the pandemic, the last extended shutdown of most major U.S. sports was in response to the September 11 attacks; however, in that case, those leagues in season returned within two weeks. As it would take far longer for sports organizations to return this time, networks and channels on all levels had to scramble to find, or create, alternative programming. These eventual plans fell into four basic categories:

Telecasts of available events Even before most organizations returned, some sporadic live programming was available to air on some channels. Thoroughbred horse racing continued at most U.S. race tracks, so FS1 expanded its America's Day at the Races series and NBCSN reached a deal with TVG Network to simulcast its programming. ESPN reached a deal with the Korea Baseball Organization to air the games of the KBO League live for its 2020 season. The announcers were ESPN talent such as Karl Ravech, Jon Sciambi, Eduardo Pérez, and Tim Kurkjian, who called the action off-monitor from ESPN headquarters in Bristol, Connecticut. ESPN also aired the American Cornhole League on weekend afternoons, although some of that coverage may have been planned before the pandemic. ESPN showed the entry drafts of the WNBA on April 17 and the NFL from April 23 through April 25. Both drafts were virtual, with ESPN's studio being the hub of each telecast. NFL Network canceled its usual separate feed and instead aired ESPN's; NFLN draft host Rich Eisen instead hosted a "Draft-a-thon" that aired on NFL.com and various social media channels. On May 9, the preliminary fights to UFC 249 returned TV coverage of that league to ESPN. This was followed by FOX's telecast of a live NASCAR Cup Series race from Darlington Raceway on May 17, the same day as the TaylorMade Driving Relief charity event that was on NBC, NBCSN, and Golf and a Professional Bull Riders event on CBS. On May 24, Woods and Peyton Manning faced off against Mickelson and Tom Brady in The Match: Champions for Charity which aired on TBS, TNT, truTV, and HLN. The PGA Tour also returned before either the NBA, NHL, or MLB, as the Charles Schwab Challenge took place from June 11 to June 14; the tournament was shown on Golf Channel and CBS.

Re-airs of prior events

Television CBS replaced its planned coverage of the 2020 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament with re-airs of its network daytime programs in the afternoons, primetime reruns on weekday nights, and past NCAA tournament games on weekends. TBS, TNT, and truTV (the other partners in the coverage partnership) aired movies and other alternate programs. Time slots for postponed PGA Tour tournaments were replaced by the same events from 2019. In place of the 2020 Masters Tournament, which would eventually be held in November, CBS reran the 2004 final round on April 11 and the 2019 final round on April 12. Integrated into the re-airs were remote interviews with the respective winners, Phil Mickelson and Tiger Woods. NBC and Golf Channel continued to re-air PGA Tour events from the previous year to replace postponed events. On May 2, when the Kentucky Derby was supposed to take place, NBC aired a virtual race with the 13 horses that had won the Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing as of that time. "Bets" were placed on each horse, with proceeds going to charities providing COVID-19 pandemic relief. Secretariat was the winner. On that date - as well as the pre-scheduled dates of the Preakness Stakes and Belmont Stakes - the same races from 2015 (the year American Pharoah won) were re-shown. NBC also re-aired past NHL games in some afternoon time slots in place of the previously scheduled live games. ESPN settled on a "game of the week" pattern, in which Monday Night Football games would air on Mondays, MLB game re-airs were on Tuesdays, previous NBA games on Wednesdays, and college football re-airs came on Thursdays. Other re-airs included old versions of the Scripps National Spelling Bee and the Little League World Series - neither of which would be held in 2020 - as well as three past episodes of WrestleMania and a cycling competition using Peloton stationary bicycles. Shows on ESPN2 included marathons of tennis matches, championship boxing matches, and Major League Soccer. Fox Sports started a new series called Greatest Games/Greatest Races with re-airs of MLB and NFL games, as well as NASCAR races. FOX offered these on a syndicated basis to its affiliates, which could choose to air all, some, or none of them. These also aired on FS1. By mid-April, it also had a "game of the week" format: College football on Monday, WWE shows on Tuesday, "Wednesday Night Showdown" (virtual short-track auto racing) on Wednesdays, and NFL games on Thursdays. Fridays after horse racing, FS1 aired re-runs of This Week in Baseball, sports movies, and Texas hold 'em poker. Starting in June, reruns of the 1989 roller derby series RollerGames joined the lineup on weekends. NBCSN launched weeklong marathons of past games and other programs in primetime. Those included Sunday Night Football re-airs, past Super Bowls, Stanley Cup playoff games, the Summer Olympics, auto racing from NASCAR and IndyCar, "From the Vault" (a variety of sports), and even episodes of Saturday Night Live hosted by athletes. In addition, NBCSN aired "Hockey Happy Hour" from 5:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. Eastern time each Monday through Thursday, with game re-airs, long-form interviews, and special programming from NHL.com. On Saturdays, NBCSN aired edited game replays and interstitial programs from the Premier League. In May and June, coverage of the 2020 French Open (which would eventually be held in the fall) was replaced by past championship matches, while later in June, coverage of the 2020 Tour de France (which would eventually be held in August and September) was supplanted by "The Ultimate Tour," re-airs of past stages. MLB Network rebroadcast dozens of games under the title All-Time Games and also launched a new program MLB Network Game of the Week. It also incorporated some films, such as Field of Dreams, Bull Durham, and The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad!. On March 26, MLB Network joined with FS1, MLB.com and social platforms for a daylong event called "MLB Opening Day at Home." NBA TV aired both traditional rebroadcasts and other versions with virtual panel discussions and enhanced information on-screen (the latter inspired by Pop Up Video). NHL Network re-aired its Raising the Cup series (Stanley Cup-clinching games) as well as other past NHL contests. CBS Sports Network also re-aired old NCAA tournament games in place of rebroadcasts from 2020. In April, it re-aired a number of NFL games that had originally aired on CBS Sports. Regional sports networks also went with telecasts of past games for the most part. For example, NESN aired Boston Bruins games in the afternoon and Boston Red Sox games in the evenings, while Fox Sports Southwest carried games from the Dallas Mavericks, Dallas Stars, and Texas Rangers.

Radio Westwood One re-aired men's college basketball and NFL games. St. Louis Cardinals flagship station KMOX re-aired every game from its 2011 championship run, from August 25 (when they were 10½ games behind the wild-card spot in the National League) to their win in Game 7 of the World Series. WFAN radio re-aired selected New York Mets, New York Yankees, and New York Giants games.