| On Sunday evening, ESPN will release the first episode of its new Michael Jordan series, perhaps the most anticipated sports documentary since "O.J.: Made in America." It arrives at a fragile time for the most powerful sports media company in the world. ESPN has suffered steep declines in viewership without live events, which are the centerpiece of its schedule all year. Advertisers are pulling back from TV, wondering where else they can reach large numbers of people at once. For years, ESPN has hoarded the TV rights to sporting events so nobody could compete for fans' allegiance. It's built TV networks, shows, radio programs, podcasts and websites around those events. Talk shows "First Take," "Around the Horn" and "Pardon the Interruption" don't work so well when there are no games to dissect. Of course it's not just ESPN that needs the lift. There is an entire sports media ecosystem starved for material. I feel a twinge of sadness looking at morning emails from Major League Baseball, The Athletic and the Los Angeles Times. I love these organizations, and they are trying so hard to satisfy sports fans. But there are only so many times I can read about a baseball player stuck at home, or a retrospective of a game from 35 years ago. Whistle Sports has rebooted its entire programming strategy this summer to come up with new material that isn't about live sports. Barstool Sports is doing the same, turning its podcasts into video series, including one where Dave Portnoy opens packages (what's known on YouTube as an unboxing video). ''We're trying to be as creative as possible," Barstool's Chief Executive Officer Erika Nardini said. "We're producing a lot of new content." That's why you should expect sports media companies to treat this Jordan documentary like the NBA Finals, analyzing moments in each episode like a Lebron no-look pass or a Giannis dunk. ESPN is producing a companion series in which players break down individual games, and also airing two different versions of the documentary (one with swearing, and one without). The Ringer plans to recap old Jordan games every Sunday night after an episode, while Whistle is going to be posting regularly across social media. "We would have done 1 or 2 minor social posts around Jordan," Whistle's Joe Caporoso said. "Now it will be a much higher volume. We're treating it like a live sporting event." -- Lucas Shaw The music industry's lost summer  Photographer: Kevork Djansezian/AMA2018/Getty Images Photographer: Kevork Djansezian/AMA2018/Getty Images While sports leagues and restaurants try to figure out when they can reopen to the public, there's growing recognition among music industry executives that concerts won't be coming back anytime soon. In the past couple of weeks, festivals have cleared out of May and June, while those in July and August are just waiting to reschedule. Summer is the most lucrative time of year for the concert business, and the industry stands to miss out on more than $5 billion in ticket sales if there are no shows all summer. Most promoters and managers tell me they think the industry won't be up and running until some time next year. Taylor Swift and Justin Bieber have already pushed their concerts to 2021. "The live concert industry might be in the most difficult position of any industry in America," said Gregg Perloff, one of the organizers of Outside Lands. "You never hear people talk about it. They talk about airlines. They talk about the auto industry. But the reality is they'll be back in business way before the concert industry is back." (Outside Lands is still on the calendar for August, but is exploring a move to October or next year.) Subscribe to your local newspaper What a brutal week for journalists. - Gannett, the largest publisher in the country, is requiring leaves for every employee making over $38,000.
- The Los Angeles Times, the largest newspaper in California, fired staff, as did The Hollywood Reporter, a leading Hollywood trade.
- Vox Media, one of the largest digital publishers and owner of New York Magazine, announced it was furloughing 9% of its staff.
And that's just to name a few. "You've had whole categories of advertisers just exit the market immediately," David Chavern, president of the News Media Alliance, told Gerry Smith. The advertising slump isn't going to end any time soon. So please consider supporting one (or many) publications with a subscription. News is vital to the functioning of our democracy, and subscriptions are, in most cases, quite affordable. Introducing the Roblox playdate  Photographer: Chris Harnan Photographer: Chris Harnan Move aside Twitch, Netflix and Disney+, we've got a new hot app. With many kids and teenagers stuck at home with little to do, Roblox's usage has skyrocketed in recent weeks. It has become a destination for virtual playdates and parties. On March 21, the company hosted its Bloxys ceremony, which honors game developers. Roughly 600,000 people showed up with their avatars to celebrate and socialize. Founded in 2004, Roblox serves up a vast universe of games. Its millions of offerings are built by its users, who also get a share of related revenue. Two-thirds of all U.S. kids between 9 and 12 years old use Roblox, and it's played by a third of all Americans under the age of 16, according to the company. The week's must-reads | 
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