“That was My Breaking Point”: COVID-19’s Impact on Local Television Sports Broadcasters Quitting Their Job

In 2020, the sports world shut down for months due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Many local television sports broadcasters found themselves having to adapt to not having games to cover or athletes and coaches to interview. Changes in their workplace roles, or a reassessment of their interest in their current job, created a scenario in which the social identities of these journalists were disturbed, causing some to leave their profession. Less than 5 years later, local television sports broadcasters who left the industry listed four main reasons relating to COVID-19 that led to their career change: a shift in their job duties, the economics of local television post-COVID-19, a shift in life priorities, and new work possibilities.