The Wuhan Covid-19 virus has dispatched the whole world to hell. Due to covid, the world economy is in the drain. If we ask you to name one person who isn’t affected by the coronavirus, we bet you will not answer the question.
That is how much damage it has done to us humans. There is no business or livelihood that was left unaffected. The same goes for sports as well. Due to covid all the sports event in the world were either canceled or postponed to uncertain dates. This article will discuss precisely how covid affected the sports industry and how it prevented us from entering a sports stadium.
Coronavirus and its effect on sports
At first, when the world only saw a few hundreds of coronavirus cases, we were relaxed. People were usually living their lives; we visited stadiums, coffee shops, malls, etc. After which, the number of cases exploded, and in a blink of an eye, it was uncontrollable. Even the most powerful country, the USA was gasping for some relief when covid was choking the life out of the USA.
Sports fans have suffered so much due to the covid-19 pandemic. Due to the coronavirus, many stadiums were closed for the general public. Almost every single sports event was either canceled or postponed. A few sporting events took place when the covid infection curve started going down, such as IPL. But these events were closed to the public, and the players played the match in an empty stadium.
Ray of hope
From what we have witnessed, everything seems like bad news for a sports fan who loves to cheer in a stadium. But in reality, as we are battling with this pandemic, we are also moving forward to normality. And this reflects on the policy of many countries like the UK. Recent news reports confirm that the UK government has made some decisions regarding sports and stadiums. It is confirmed that:
- Indoor events will be capped at only 50 percent capacity. And up to 1,000 people are allowed at max. Whichever is lower.
- For outdoor events, this capacity will also be only 50 percent capacity or at max 4,000, whichever is lower.
- Special order has been issued for larger outdoor seated venues such as football stadiums. The larger stadiums will be allowed up to 10,000 people or be a quarter full, whichever is lower.
- There are talks that this capacity can be increased up to 75 percent if everything goes well in the near future.
How sports betting industry got affected by the coronavirus
The only industry that will be affected most after the cancellation and postponing of the sporting events is the sports betting industry. Punters are unable to bet on sports as many sports events were canceled. As a result, experts estimate that the sports betting industry is estimated to lose billions in 2020. Currently, it is expected to grow exponentially as we move on to 2022 from 2021.
Ever since a few sports have been successfully conducted in closed stadiums, the sports betting industry has seen some sunlight on a rainy day. During the covid crisis, the only thing that has prevented breaking the backbone of sports betting is esports events. Unfortunately, these sports events were virtually unfazed by the pandemic. As a result, many people turned from betting on traditional sports to virtual sports. Here is a list of esports that became super popular during the coronavirus pandemic:
- Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (CS: GO)
- League of Legends (LoL)
- Dota 2
- Overwatch
- Rainbow Six Siege
If you are wondering, is there anything special you need to learn before you also start betting on it? Then the answer is no. It works just like any other sports betting, where you have to start researching on both teams like checking live scores, their past performance, etc. and then place bets according to it.
Conclusion
In this topic, we have covered how covid-19 has destroyed the economy of the world. Along with how it has also shattered the dream of many sports fans of screaming and cheering in a stadium. The coronavirus has also affected the sports betting industry very much. We have also discussed how we are recovering from the virus and started to move on. Many countries have found different ways to operate sports events during the covid crisis. Feel free to comment and let us know what you think about the covid affecting or sporting events.
