While Wimbledon and the Olympics carried comprehensive insurance policies covering cancelation due to a pandemic, the major U.S. sports leagues are not covered. Those decisions were made, in part, because the loss of entire seasons was regarded as unthinkable, industry sources told ESPN.

"It's like hell began freezing over," one sports executive said.

For example, the crisis stands to wipe out more than $3.25 billion that fans would have spent on pro sports.

An analysis completed for ESPN estimates that the sudden disappearance of sports will erase at least $12 billion in revenue and that number will more than double if college football and the NFL are wiped out.