Governments from all over the world are cautioning against public gatherings and shaking hands as well as advising people on washing hands regularly as a way of minimizing the risk of infection. Italy, the most hit nation by the global coronavirus pandemic, has put the country into a total lockdown and canceled all sporting matches until April 3. North America, on the other hand, has restricted locker room access by all major league baseball and soccer players, National Hockey League, and National Basketball Association players and staff.  

Breakdown of How Various Sporting Activities have Been Affected by the Pandemic

Various areas in the sporting world have been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. Below are some of the affected areas.

Athletics

The World Athletics Indoor Championship that was scheduled for March 13 to 15 in Nanjing was postponed until next year. Other athletic games that were postponed due to the pandemic include Paris, Barcelona, and Amsterdam marathons.

Football

Since the outbreak of the virus in Europe, the Russian League was the only sports competition with the highest number of spectators in the region. However, the Russian Football Union held a meeting on March 17 and agreed to suspend all competitions until further notice.

In Africa, the African Nations Championship soccer tournament which was scheduled for April in Cameroon was suspended indefinitely. The decision was arrived at by the African Football Federation in a statement released in March. 

UEFA, the body that governs European football also released a statement on March 17 and postponed the Euro 2020 tournament until next year. Other bodies that postponed sporting activities in their regions include the South American Football Confederation which postponed the Copa American until next year. 

Tennis

Professional tennis tour for both men and women has been postponed until June 7, while the European clay-court tournaments have been canceled indefinitely. WTA and ATP rankings, on the other hand, have been frozen until further notice. 

The Economic Effect

With many countries and sporting bodies postponing major tournaments, the industry is expected to experience huge economical losses. But for the gamblers, you can continue betting on your favorite online games via betting and online casino websites.

With that said, there are no sports to bet on.

Founder of casinobetting.live Jimmy Norin says that there is a dramatic drop in sports betting activity, while online casino activity typically increases.

But the revenue generated from the betting sector is only a very small part of the picture.

.All the same, it’s hard to ignore the huge amount of money that will be lost following the suspended season. This comes in terms of food and parking fees and merchandise sales for both the teams and arena vendors. 

The arena workers are also highly affected by the suspensions caused by the pandemic, this time harder than when games are not played. In the past, the men and women working as cooks for the fans, security personnel, take tickets and clean the arena have experienced wage loss after:

• Failure to make playoffs by the team
• League labor disputes, or
• Unpredicted disease outbreaks

This time, however, the COVID-19 disease has caused a lot of uncertainty in the industry, meaning that the workers won’t reach the required minimum hours to qualify for health insurance with their respective unions. 

Media partners also risk losing millions in their advertising revenues unless they invoke “force majeure”, which allows sponsors and TV networks to get out of some of the financial commitments in event of extraordinary occurrences. However, this highly depends on the terms and conditions of the contract. 

If you consider all these factors and sporting activities postponement, the industry is likely to realize a financial impact worth billions of dollars. Consequently, the players’ salary cap will also be affected since it depends on the total projected revenue for the leagues’ upcoming season.  

The COVID-19, which has swept across the globe for the last few months, has wreaked havoc in various sectors, among them the sporting industry. As the governments do their best to contain the pandemic, different sporting bodies are disrupting gaming schedules to try and minimize contamination. 

Unfortunately, some of the world’s renowned sportsmen have also been affected directly by the pandemic. Until a permanent solution is found, do your best to stay safe.