COVID-19 is an inevitable world changer, radically upturning and down-turning every business in all industries in our global marketplace. In fact, the speed and scale at which corona virus is changing the global landscape is quite unprecedented and still continuing. From public to private, from politics to policing, from sports to sewing, from technology to teaching and from flight to the filming industry among many others, COVID-19 has adversely affected lives and livelihoods. The sports and entertainment industries are a few of them still suffering disruptions resulting from the consequences of the pandemic.
But even before the arrival of corona virus pandemic which began in the last couple of months in 2019, sports had begun to experience significant level of disruptions arising from uneven distribution of wealth, climate change, accelerating urbanization, rapid increasing population, politicization of sports, attacks on media, ageing, etc. Such disruptions in sports create enormous challenges and uncertainties governing bodies and lovers of sports, especially for athletes, players and promoters.
There are needs, therefore, for discourse, action plan and execution of decisions reached to ensure that sports become more competitive, more enriching, and more beneficial. And except all the stakeholders tackle these growing challenges made worse with the menace of the corona virus pandemic, sports may lose its place of importance in the global marketplace in the next 10 to 20 years.
Such discussions should focus on the importance of developing a more creative consumer-focused and commercially-propelled sporting activities that benefits all the stakeholders. There’s need to overhaul our consumption patterns and ensure that the production and consummation of sporting activities are in tandem with sustainable environmental standards, especially when organizing and hosting mega multi-sports events of global proportions.
Also, there is need to soften some of the entry rules to make it easy and attractive for new players to participate in competitive sports events. Invariably, it’s imperative to ensure that athletes with reasonable number of following are provided with opportunities to participate in international competitions.
It’s equally significant to make the rules for entry and pricing easy and affordable for consumers. After all is said and done, it’s about creating wealth and pleasure. The more the merrier the better the urn over for all the stakeholders in the sporting industry.
