Thinking aloud...
...Next big event after those is scheduled for May 2021, although I'm guessing the July events will be held sometime during the coming winter...
...For sure eventually the industry will move to mirrorless RF mount bodies, but I was planning to get 1DX3 as my last SLR body...
Now the thinking aloud part. For sure there'll be 1DX equivalent mirrorless, assumed R1. There's good chance it'll arrive before May 2021.
I wonder if it makes sense to wait for R1...
...Another problem with the plan is that I'd probably buy the 28-70 F2 and 70-200 F2.8 RF lenses. Even if the R1 is only $6000, with the lenses we're looking more than $10k total :/
Kinda side-thought, in theory it's possible R5 is already good enough that it'd work... The indoor AF is the main question for me.
From a business standpoint, I don't think it makes sense to buy anything right now. Personal desire might be different.
My situation is different, but not too much so. I shoot small college sports. The spring season is dead and I have no idea what the fall season will look like.
I was going to buy the 1Dx III sometime during the summer and will likely still do so, but I'll be holding off to see if there will be fall sports. We can probably count on major events being either postponed or having the audience very limited. I doubt that will affect me much, giving that our college sports don't draw that much of a crowd anyway. But, it looks like you cover national/international events. I don't think anyone knows what will happen if seating is cut by 1/2 or more, which seems very likely at large events until there is a vaccine, which is probably a year away. Most experts seem to be saying that big sporting events are likely to see semi-permanent changes (reduced seating, etc.). My point being that with this much uncertainty, I wouldn't buy anything.
The price of R lenses is not going to go up. So, why buy today? Prices may actually drop significantly as Canon and their competitors struggle to meet sales targets. Plus, for sure, retailers will be offering discounts as they struggle to survive. Take a minute and read some of the stories circulating from credible publications. The recession is going to be devastating to many business. I read one expert prediction today that it could take up to 27 months (yikes!) to recover from this recession.
As far as the R5 goes, I'm not as optimistic as others about autofocus performance for sports using
any mirrorless camera. Once again, I am providing a link to
this article.
There are things that are inherently different about mirrorless. It may work for you, but I wouldn't be spending anything on RF lenses until there is a camera out that you can test and see. And, frankly, until you know if your business model is going to work in the coming months.