Research Paper Sample on COVID-19: Global Pandemic Causes Global Paralysis

Introduction

The Covid-19 virus, also known as Coronavirus, has caused a series of alterations to the daily lives of practically the entire world population. Since the rate of infections and mortality increased exponentially, the World Health Organization stated that the virus had become a pandemic. According to World Meter (2020), the pandemic outbreak of the Covid-19 Coronavirus, which has hit more than 213 countries, infected 24,650,487 people and left more than 836,049 people dead, paralysed the planet and the multiple sporting events that are held on different continents.

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Public Access

When the virus began to spread throughout the world, governments began to restrict public access to sports venues and, finally, teams, athletes, and leagues were affected (Nicola et al., 2020). Day by day, the governments of many countries, health organisations and institutions have been making decisions and determinations to preserve health as the ultimate and supreme goal. In this context, sporting events have been adversely affected, and the pandemic has forced the closure of stadiums, sports centers, and almost all professional sporting activities.

The sports industry has suffered greatly from the current pandemic: the abrupt change in the calendars and dates of sporting events such as the suspension of the vast majority of professional and amateur soccer leagues around the world - except for some countries such as Nicaragua, Tajikistan, Belarus and Burundi, the latter two being the only leagues where football was played normally until their leagues ended, that is, with an audience in stadiums (Dushanbe, 2020). Social distancing, quarantine or confinement, among other measures, were the recommendations of the World Health Organization, and these forced sports Confederations and Associations of the world to adopt precautions and suspend these sporting events.

Suspension of Sporting Events

It should be noted that throughout history there have been very few circumstances that have led to the suspension of sporting events of a marked magnitude as has occurred in the current global health crisis (as a precedent one could mention the "Spanish Flu" disease, which took place between the years 1918 and 1919, which claimed millions of deaths and carried out the alteration of calendars of sports competitions in Europe mainly). The impact has been such that the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, the Eurocup and America's Cup, the main football tournaments for national teams from the Old Continent and South America, scheduled to take place between June and August, were postponed to 2021 (Manuel, 2020). This is without counting suspended or cancelled competitions, including the Giro d'Italia, the English premier league, the Spanish league, the French league, the Bundesliga, the Italian Seria A (although these five leagues were completed last month in empty stadiums) and the Wimbledon tennis tournament amongst many others.

Without a doubt, one of the most important events that should have been held this year was the great sporting event par excellence: the Tokyo Olympics. After discussions between the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and Japanese organizers, the world sports festival was finally postponed to 2021 (Long, 2020). Japan spent $ 25 billion preparing the tournament. At least another 5 billion had been invested by world broadcasters in television rights (Zhu, 2020). In the Japanese domestic market alone, there were expecting advertising revenues of over $ 3 billion, three times the previous record. Many sponsors of the event incurred losses (Zhu, 2020). Among the sponsors, divided into three bands (13 worldwide, 15 gold and 32 official partners), and major sponsorship companies (Coca Cola, Ge, Toyota, Samsung, Alibaba, Visa, Panasonic) not to mention the brands of sportswear (Adidas, Nike, Puma) that the Olympians use as technical sponsors all incurred losses.

International Sports Cancellations

International football was largely affected by Covid-19 cases. Games from various championships around the world were postponed or held behind closed gates. In Europe, all UEFA matches were postponed and later played in empty stadiums. The top five European leagues (England, Spain, Germany, Italy, and France) were also suspended (Benson, 2020). Matches scheduled for national competitions in the Netherlands, Portugal, Belgium, Colombia, the USA, and Japan were all postponed (Benson, 2020). In Argentina, Uruguay, Chile, and Bolivia, matches were played behind closed gates. The Euro qualifiers, South American qualifiers, and Asian qualifiers were also suspended.

After the Tokyo Marathon was held only with elite athletes, the Boston Marathon was postponed for the first time in 124 years (The New York Times, 2020). More than 30,000 runners participate in the race, which was moved from April 20 to September 14 (The New York Times, 2020). Rome, Paris, London, and Barcelona marathons were also postponed. The 2020 Indoor Athletics World Championship was moved to 2021.

The Boxing Pre-Olympic Games, which was to take place in Buenos Aires, Argentina, was also suspended (Palmer, 2020). The Australian Grand Prix (GP), which was to take place in Melbourne, was cancelled. Before the decision was announced, a McLaren employee had tested positive for the Coronavirus, and the team had given up competing in the race (Andrew, 2020). The GPs in Bahrain, Vietnam, and China were all postponed.

The World Surfing League (WSL) cancelled all events from March until a later date (World Surf League, 2020). This included the opening stage of the World Circuit, on the Gold Coast, Australia, which was to take place from March 26 to April 5 (World Surf League, 2020). No decision was made on stages at Bells Beach (April 8 to 18) and Margaret River (April 22 to May 2) in Australia.

The Association of Professional Tennis Players (ATP) suspended the professional circuit for six weeks. Thus, all ATP and Challenger level events scheduled until the week of April 20 did not take place (ATP Digital Partner, 2020). The measure affected the Masters 1000 of Indian Wells (USA), the Masters 1000 of Monte Carlo (Monaco), the ATP 500 of Barcelona (Spain), and other minor tournaments.

The Brazilian Judo Confederation suspended all sports activities, including competitions and field training, until a later date. The International Judo Federation also suspended all tournaments in the sport while the Grand Slam of Yekaterinburg, Russia, was cancelled (Passela, 2020). The Table Tennis World Cup, scheduled to take place between the 22nd and 29th of March, in Busan, South Korea, was rescheduled (Xinhua, 2020). The competition was scheduled for June 21-28, but it was postponed further.

Other sports such as Tennis, Wimbledon, and the ATP world tour have been suspended until 2021 (Aljazeera, 2020). In the case of Rugby, World Rugby (WR), the sport's highest governing body, announced the immediate suspension of all its tournaments. An extreme case is that of the United States Rugby Union (USA Rugby) declared bankruptcy due to the significant economic damage caused by the suspension of the matches due to the pandemic (Impey, 2020). The International Cycling Union (UCI) issued a statement on March 14, announcing the postponement of the Tour de France.

The National Basketball Association (NBA), after suspending its games, reduced the salaries of at least 100 executives, and similar measures were also done regarding the salaries of the players (Quinn, 2020). The World Basketball Association also decided to suspend all its tournaments. The International Volleyball Federation (FIVB) also postponed the League of Nations - male and female (Morgan, 2020). The annual national team championship went from May to after the Tokyo 2020 Games, which was also postponed.

Economic Effects

Covid-19 also had economic effects on sports. It is estimated that La Liga (Spain) lost $ 863-1025 million, the Premier League (England) lost $ 1241-1349 million, and UEFA lost $ 2.698 million in budgeted revenue (Maroto, 2020). There was a loss of 150 to 200 million euros in terms of TV rights, 100 to 140 million of lost profits on partnerships, as well as 50 to 60 million losses in terms of ticketing and services around the matches (Maroto, 2020). In overall, the five major leagues had estimated losses of about €4 billion (Maroto, 2020).

The NBA, according to ESPN, lost more than $ 485 million in revenue after remaining closed until the playoffs (Bontemps & Brian, 2020). Formula 1 lost 38% of its share value between March and May, equivalent to about $ 2.1 billion, according to Formula Money (Sylt, 2020). The sports industry generates around 1% of the world's GDP, that is, the equivalent of USD 647 billion a year (Kearney, 2020). Due to this unfortunate situation, losses are estimated at USD 43 billion (Kearney, 2020). The current scenario of uncertainty in competitions and the sports industry has also generated a series of conflicts not only in the rescheduling of tournaments, cups, but also the return of tickets to fans or the renegotiation of contracts of various kinds (of athletes, advertising, television rights, and digital transmission, among others).

The Covid-19 crisis also postponed the official presentation of the new jersey of the French football team, inspired by the 1998 World Cup. Scheduled for March 23, it was postponed with the delay of the Euro in 2021 (World Today News, 2020). It is important to note that Nike had invested a lot of money and resources in preparing to launch the jersey. With the presentation cancelled, a whole chain was blocked as a result: manufacturers, suppliers, and distributors (World Today News, 2020). Most of the equipment manufacturers manufacturing in China also incurred heavy losses. Sports stores belonging to Adidas and Nike were also closed, resulting in reduced purchases and orders from equipment manufactures.

According to the Observatory of Sports Economics, Coronavirus pandemic would cause a 30% drop in turnover (from 78 billion Euros to 54 billion Euros) in both the professional world and the amateur world this year compared to last year (OECD, 2020). Eighty-five thousand structures without employees, such as amateur clubs or auto entrepreneurs, would experience a loss of activity of around 20 to 40% (OECD, 2020). In terms of the sports business model, the income from sports tournaments is divided into three main aspects, namely broadcasting (sale of broadcasting rights), commercial aspects (sponsorship and advertising), and tournament day income (tickets and hospitality). Massive revenue losses have been experienced regarding ticketing, TV rights, and other commercial revenues such as partners, sponsors, advertising, or merchandising.

The global value of the world sports industry is estimated at the US $ 756 billion annually (Drewes et al., 2020). According to Nicola et al. (2020), Covid-19 has caused millions of workers to lose their source of income, including those who are professionally engaged in sports, sports retail business, suppliers, league-based sports industry services or tournaments such as sports tourism services, transportation, infrastructure, catering and broadcasting media.

Conclusion

The cancellation and postponement of the world and continental sports, has had a detrimental effect on the global and continental social development (Nicola et al., 2020). Sports have long been recognized as the most effective tool in strengthening relationships between human beings and erode language boundaries among fans (Drewes et al., 2020). Proven sports are the most effective tool in building social transformation, and its development is amazing. Without any sporting events, such relations have been adversely affected.