Sports Four ways Joe Biden's presidency could impact the world of sports

Although there are many issues Joe Biden will address now that he has defeated Donald Trump to win the 2020 presidential election, Biden's policies are likely to have an impact on the world of sports.

Decisions on many key sports issues — such as stadium financing and sports gambling — are often made at the state or local level, so a change in the White House probably won't prompt a dramatic shift. In other ways, though, the election of Biden and his running mate, Kamala Harris, could lead to change.

© Robert Deutsch, USA TODAY Sports Will more championship teams visit the White House with Joe Biden in office than have under Donald Trump?

"It will be nice as a sports fan — and also as somebody that follows the business of sports — to have less acrimony between government and sports," said Patrick Rishe, a sports business professor at Washington University in St. Louis.

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Donald Trump was a showman whose election in 2016 was in part due to his fame from The Apprentice, but President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris will come into office with much closer ties to the entertainment industry. The new administration will likely usher in a much more receptive vibe from Hollywood figures, reminiscent of Barack Obama’s presidency, when the White House routinely hosted movie screenings, celebrity-led workshops and In Performance at the White House concerts.

Biden reiterated his election-night demand that all votes be counted to ensure that the will of the electorate is done. Biden ' s post-election approach has been in line with an Axios report Tuesday that said he would assert control and behave as the president -elect as soon as media outlets report him

Joe Biden in New Hampshire last year. The former vice- president pledged to be a unifying force. Biden won the presidency by clinching Pennsylvania and its 20 electoral votes, after several This could also strain the fragile detente with progressives in his own party, who are demanding he meet

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Here are four potential sports ramifications of the presidential election, from the extremely broad (the country's COVID-19 response) to the extremely narrow (sports teams celebrating championships at the White House).

The COVID-19 response

Biden made the nation's COVID-19 response a key pillar of his campaign. And although it is not an issue specific to sports, that response — and how it changes under a Biden administration — has had and will continue to have a significant impact on sports at all levels. It could be particularly pivotal for pro sports leagues such as the NBA, NHL and MLB, all of which are hoping to welcome fans back to their games next year.

Read Joe Biden’s 2014 Memo to Staff About Putting Family First: 'This Is Very Important to Me'

"I do not expect nor do I want any of you to miss or sacrifice important family obligations for work," reads the letter"I would like to take a moment and make something clear to everyone. I do not expect nor do I want any of you to miss or sacrifice important family obligations for work," reads the letter, dated Nov. 7, 2014. "Family obligations include but are not limited to family birthdays, anniversaries, weddings, any religious ceremonies such as first communions and bar mitzvahs, graduations, and times of need such as illness or loss in the family. This is very important to me.

Mr. Biden has defeated President Trump by promising to restore civility and stability to American politics and vowing more aggressively to combat the surging coronavirus pandemic. The Associated Press said Joe Biden had defeated President Trump in Pennsylvania and won the presidency .

Biden ’ s signature issues. Mr. Biden , who has served in public life for around a half-century, is emphasizing his government experience, seeking to cast himself as a steady, seasoned hand in a dangerous and uncertain world . As the coronavirus crisis has unfolded, he has looked for ways to

Biden has appeared more willing than Trump to aggressively address COVID-19 in the short term with hopes that it will curtail the spread of the disease in the long term. He has supported a national mask mandate and said in August that he would implement a national lockdown if scientists recommend taking that step.

"If you have a reproduction rate in a community that's above a certain level, everybody says, slow up," Biden said during a presidential debate. "More social distancing. Do not open bars and do not open gymnasiums. Do not open until you get this under control, under more control."

What exactly does that mean for sports? It's too early to tell, and difficult to unspool all of the potential effects. But what's clear is that Biden's approach to COVID-19 will be significantly different than Trump's, and the ripple effects of that shift will be felt across industries — sports included.

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Joe Biden on the verge of taking the presidency after pulling ahead in Pennsylvania as Georgia The race for the presidency is usually decided in a small number of key battleground states that switch Due to these rules, a candidate can win the election without getting the most votes at the national level.

Mr Biden wrote that as president , he would focus on national issues first. That said, there is little to suggest that Mr Biden ' s values on foreign policy have shifted away from multilateralism and engagement on the world stage, in opposition to Mr Trump' s unabashedly isolationist one.

Title IX implications

With Trump in the White House, the U.S. Department of Education — led by Betsy DeVos — has made or pushed for several changes under the umbrella of Title IX that have sports implications.

For example, the department implemented regulations that altered the handling of sexual assault allegations on college campuses, giving schools more leeway in deciding whether certain employees, such as coaches, must report allegations to the Title IX office. It also has argued that allowing transgender athletes to compete as girls violates the rights of cisgender athletes.

Biden has pledged to reverse course on both fronts and more closely align with the policies and processes of Barack Obama's administration — in which Biden was, of course, the vice president. His campaign platform, for instance, includes a promise to "restore transgender students' access to sports ... in accordance with their gender identity" on his first day in office.

NCAA reform

The rights of college athletes — including whether and how they should be able to profit off their name, image and likeness — have generated significant discussion in Congress. And, to be clear, the eventual makeup of both the House and Senate will have more of an impact here than who occupies the White House. While there's been bipartisan interest in addressing name, image and likeness, Democratic legislators have been more willing to consider a more comprehensive reform of the NCAA, while Republicans' interests are more narrow.

The Biden presidency could change the terms of the climate debate in Canada

The significance of this year's presidential election for U.S. climate policy came down to a basic difference between the two rivals. One candidate accepted the reality of climate change and wanted to do something about it. The other denied the threat and actively reversed attempts to combat it. So Joe Biden's victory is of no small consequence. "It's been a long, tough slog these past four years internationally on climate action,"So Joe Biden's victory is of no small consequence.

With all of that said, Biden's victory does mean that Democrats in favor of NCAA reform will have an ally in the White House in Harris. During her tenure in the Senate, she was among those who supported a college athletes "bill of rights," a proposal that goes beyond issues of name, image and likeness and calls for a host of other benefits for athletes.

Champions' White House visits

It's the least consequential change on this list, but it will be a change nonetheless: With Biden as president, more championship sports teams will likely visit the White House — particularly in basketball and women's sports.

Championship visits have been put on pause due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but prior to that, Trump had yet to host a championship team from the NBA or WNBA at the White House — either because he declined to extend an invitation, members of the team said they wouldn't attend or, in some cases, both. (Trump did, however, host the Baylor women's basketball team in 2019.)

While some athletes might still choose to skip the ceremonial trip because of Biden's presence, as a few did when Obama was in office, it will likely go back to being more of a routine than a question mark.

Contact Tom Schad at tschad@usatoday.com or on Twitter @Tom_Schad.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Four ways Joe Biden's presidency could impact the world of sports