The world pandemic COVID-19 outbreak has undoubtedly wreaked havoc across various industries, with the sporting world over the last month becoming the latest ‘victim’ to witness this.

The last two weeks have seen an unprecedented postponement or cancellation of nearly all sports competitions across the globe concerning all types of sports.

Just like any other industry, such measures and subsequent consequences are abnormal and thus nobody can precisely identify at this moment in time what exactly will be the final effects caused to the sports industry.

While at the time of writing many sports competitions face the consequence of being called off, such article seeks to give a general overview of the responsibilities and considerable adverse impacts that such disruption is causing to the sports industry in a general broad view.  

First and foremost, there is a duty of care that over-rides all other negative impacts that the cancellation of sporting events brings with it.

The principle of duty of care in sport means that everyone adheres to a standard of reasonable care while performing any acts that could potentially harm others, with sport organisers, associations, clubs and teams ensuring that physical and emotional safety of those under their care is always safeguarded as much as possible.

Owing to the negative health impact that such virus has, clubs, associations and sport competition organisers owe a duty of care to the fans, players, coaches and members of staff to take all necessary precautions against such outbreak.

The gathering of large crowds, most especially in indoor venues, brings with it a greater risk that people who might be carrying such virus can spread it more rapidly than in normal circumstances. Ultimately this is the common underlying factor adopted when the decision has been taken to postpone or cancel sporting events.

The biggest repercussion to be felt is a financial one.

Everybody associated with the sports industry will be feeling a financial pinch.

Media outlets will have a drop in their broadcasting revenues from viewer subscriptions and revenue derived from commercial adverts.

Players, coaches and members of staff might also witness loss of earnings which as a result could also impact the lucrative image rights of players.

Questions might eventually arise as to whether players and members of staff are entitled to bonuses which have been previously agreed on in contracts concerning end of season positioning and/or promotions.

Clubs whose shares are listed on a stock exchange, such as Manchester United, are also at risk of having their financials impacted due to the sudden drop in share value.

Another major headache being faced by all sport competitions organisers, as well as the teams and athletes that partake in, concerns the disruptions that have been made to the sports calendar.

With the sports calendar already operating on a tight schedule owing to broadcasting commitments and various competitions relating to the same sport, re-assigning all postponed matches or tournaments is undoubtedly causing a logistical and quite frankly impossible task for organisers.

The questions that are currently being asked are; when do matches and competitions resume? What happens to the rest of the season? What happens in cases where competitions have already gotten underway?

Other uncertainties being faced are with respect to who can be declared winners of competitions currently suspended?

What about qualifications for sports competitions taking place in the next sports calendar year, such as the Champions League and Olympic games?

Calls are already being made for the 2020 Olympic Games and the UEFA EURO 2020 competitions to be postponed to a later date, possibly even to the next year.

Whether these major competitions will actually be postponed remains to be seen. Should such major events be postponed, further impacts will be felt by states who are currently making preparations to host same, such as infrastructure upgrades and accommodation facilities.

An interesting study conducted on fan spending for sporting events held during the past 20 years in America has shown that roughly 60-75% of visitor-spending for overnight visitors is spent on either accommodation or food/beverage consumption.

So, without doubt, these industries will definitely feel a pinch when fans are prevented from attending such games. 

Taking the bold decision to pull the plug on sports competitions and major sporting events is no mean easy feat and endless hours of debates are surely undertaken behind closed doors before such drastic decision is finally taken.

However, ultimately safety and precautions above all else should rule the day and in order to achieve this one must take such precautionary measures, no matter how adverse the impact might be.

One sincerely hopes that our favourite sport will soon be back in stadiums, on television and social media platforms for all to continue debating on who was the better the team or player.