Can other sports step into the void now that baseball, hockey, and basketball are done until 2021?

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Major League Baseball is done and dusted until April, after the preseason favorite Los Angeles Dodgers finally won that elusive title for the first time since 1988.

The NBA is done as well, until at least Christmas but more likely after New Year’s Day, after another Los Angeles team took home that title.

The NHL will not start until January either, after a long season ended with a second Tampa Bay Lightning title in franchise history.

So what is left for sports bettors to wager on right now? Of course, there are the two big sports, NFL and NCAA College Football. This Friday night, the 0-1 University of Wyoming Cowboys will host 1-0 Hawaii under the lights (7:45 p.m. EDT FS1 and Fubo.tv) at Jonah Field War Memorial Stadium.

The NFL is always the top sport with sportsbooks, who see a large jump in revenue and action from September through January, not coincidentally when NCAA Football is playing.

But what is there right now?

One sport that has been growing exponentially with fans and bettors alike around the country was also the one that stood alone in May, June, and July during the height of the COVID-19 sports shutdown.

Soccer, and more specifically, the leagues in Europe. The German Bundesliga and English Premier League took advantage of a void in the late spring and early summer, as did leagues from Belarus, Taiwan, and other far-flung places around the globe. But with the internet, and now ESPN+, CBS All Access, and other streaming apps, there really are not too many far-flung places left.

One of the benefits of soccer is that it never ends: when the domestic seasons finish, there are usually summer tournaments, like the EURO 2020 (now 2021 next summer) and World Cup 2021 betting bonanza. During the seasons, many leagues play on the weekends, with cup tournaments during the week. The UEFA Champions League and Europa League got huge boosts last August, finishing their tournaments while there was not much else to watch or bet.

The numbers back up that the sport has caught on all over the country: the television numbers were higher than ever once again, what else was on?) and the betting intake by U.S. mobile sportsbooks from around the country in places like New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Colorado showed that people were wagering a lot of money on the sport.

Can the momentum continue? I think so.

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Wyoming is one of just eight states left in the country that does not have a current bill or have already passed legislation legalizing sports betting. The state legislature voted 32-27 against it in February, and may try again in 2021.

Prediction:

In the Wyoming Hawaii contest, the Cowboys will be starting freshman Levi Williams, after Sean Chambers was hurt last week.

The numbers clearly favor the Rainbows, who come in 5-1 against the spread in their last six, and 4-2 ATS in their last six on the road. Wyoming, though, is 0-5 in its last five contests as an underdog, which they are right now, though just slightly (+1).

Tough to do here, but have to side with Hawaii.

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