The onslaught of COVID-19 on the Indian sports fraternity and events is being prominently felt with each passing day. All the major and minor events have been cancelled due to the lockdown imposed and regulated by the Central Government and respective State Governments across India.
Administrative and financial support is required
The impact is severe both from the economic and social fronts. Correct assessment of the effect can only be possible after the lockdown when everything begins to recoil to normalcy, but as of now, the situation is not quite promising and requires mammoth administrative and financial support from the government in near future.
No IPL
IPL or the Indian Premier League has been cancelled in this year’s edition. No doubt this is a huge heartbreak for the fans, players, and administrators, alike. Most of you had hoped to cheer for your teams in the gala sports entertainment saga, but practically there is no scope for it this year.
Loss of investment
The various cricket teams had already traded international players but the investment will not bear any fruit this time. Moreover, the sponsors have lost a considerable amount of money. This may go a long way for the cricketing fraternity to bring back the confidence for the large advertising groups and concerned stakeholders.
Domestic season severely hampered
The domestic season for the crickets has also been hampered to a huge extent by the COVID-19 crisis. The tours have been cancelled. As of now, there is no schedule to conduct the cricket league matches like those in Ranji Trophy. Besides BCCI, the profit of state cricket boards are also bound to plummet and it will take quite some time to recover from such a perilous situation. The employees associated with cricket boards and sponsors are also in a fix about meeting ends meet due to lack of income.
Damages in the domestic football league
The same can be said about the immensely popular domestic football league. The players are sitting idle due to the coronavirus crisis. The administrators have rightly postponed the schedule due to the lockdown situation. The state football boards and the central association will witness heavy losses in this season that will most likely have negative repercussions in the following season.
Other sports events affected
Other major sports in India like badminton, boxing, shooting, wrestling, hockey and table tennis are going through the same ordeals. The concerned authorities managing these sports are suffering heavy losses in terms of revenue streams. All the events have been postponed. New schedules will be crafted and implemented one the lockdown ends. But heavy planning with coherent strategies is required to be properly placed in order to nullify the current losses and achieve a normal growth trajectory.
Negative impact of media profits
One of the crucial impacts of cancelling or postponing sporting events in India will be on various media channels. They are losing and will lose unprecedented amounts of money on sponsorships. The crisis is not letting them to gain TRPs that they would have otherwise cashed in.
Hoping for a better future
It is hoped that the sporting fraternity, the managing authorities and the government will work in tandem to bring back everything to normalcy when the crisis will be over.
