Long Live Sport: Stay at home content week 9 — Sport Looks to Resume
With the German Bundesliga (soccer) returning to action this weekend, it becomes the highest profile sporting league to recommence following the Covid-19 shutdown. Sports in South Korea like baseball (KBO) and soccer (K League) have actually already returned to action. No doubt eyes from around sport’s most prestigious properties will be looking to Germany and South Korea for ideas, learnings and as test beds for their own eventual return to action.
While many competitions have either cancelled or voided their seasons already for the 2019/2020 season (see our tracker for basketball updates) many others are still brainstorming and diligently working to see how they could minimise the risk of completing their seasons. There are significant differences between sports and geographies. Outdoor sports and those that by their very nature are either non contact or lower risk (golf or tennis as examples) will likely find it easier to return with fewer compromises.
But it’s also an important time for sport to consider its role and place in our society. There will be many people that hold the opinion that any level of risk (even small) is too great to justify sport returning. There will also be the public relations side of returning to uphold, ensuring it does not come across that sport is diverting important resources from where they are needed during this difficult time.
But there are also powerful economic and cultural factors pulling in the other direction. It’s no surprise that the competitions with the most money tied into broadcast deals, sponsorship obligations and player salaries are more likely to be the ones not ruling out a return to action. It would also be false to depict the motivations for returning as strictly financial. Sport undoubtedly plays a crucial role in millions of people’s lives around the world. The positive impact on morale and general optimism among people towards the gradual return to normalcy that sport can bring cannot be understated.
But how can sport most effectively return with minimal risk? There are some key issues and debates that will dominate plans for sport to return.
Competition Structure
The structure of the competition and date at which a sport is able to return must be considered. On top of the guidance of governments, many sports will be wary of their plans also heavily impacting the calendar of the following season. Depending on the sport and competition, this may mean reducing league fixtures or forgoing league games entirely in favour of a manageable playoff format. Differing examples would be the German BBL (basketball) has confirmed it will return with a 10 team tournament held in Munich to conclude its season, whereas conversation around the Spanish ACB (basketball) focuses on potentially playing remaining league games and forgoing playoffs.
The Cost of Returning
In order to minimise the risks posed to athletes, team personnel, game officials and everyone involved in sport returning, there will be significant costs. For the English Premier League to return, it is estimated that £30,000 would need to be spent per week on testing alone, based on testing twice per week. The NBA is discussing creating what it describes as a “campus” to create a protected bubble in which games can take place and athletes (and their families) can live in a controlled environment. The infrastructure and investment required to create this on the scale required is significant. Combined with the removal of the income from fans attending games, for many competitions the economics simply won’t work until that changes.
Fan Engagement
The impact of fans will not only be lost in their financial contribution to sport, but also their direct influence on games. Played in empty or neutral arenas, the related advantages of playing home fixtures is completely negated. Depending on the weighted difficulty of their remaining fixtures, many teams within a competition could also rightfully feel aggrieved that they will lose this advantage.
For sport’s return to be worthwhile, it must have a sound strategy for how it will engage with fans remotely. For the highest levels of sport, this will point towards large scale, big budget TV production. But the additional costs this will incur (factoring TV crews into a “bubble”, testing protocols, etc) and the additional risks that come with every additional person involved in a production must also be considered.
Innovation
With the caveat of not making light of current circumstances, being forced into such an unprecedented scenario does also provide opportunities for sport in addition to challenges. Innovation is something that sport often thinks of as something it struggles to dedicate the necessary time towards, outside of the highest and most well-funded levels of competition. But time is something that sport currently has more of than usual.
Automated Production presents a significant opportunity to ease sport’s return across all levels.
- Low risk broadcast — with cameras that operate independently, the risk associated with manual filming is removed.
- Scalability — Once setup, automated production allows all games, across all levels held in that venue to be produced at the same quality. Not only can fans engage with top teams, but parents can stream youth games if unable to attend in person due to restriction, addressing the immediate need and providing benefits well into the future
- Reduce Costs, Increase Revenue — As discussed, there will need to be careful consideration of the financial pros and cons of sport returning in the coming months. Automated production is not only by its nature cheaper than a manual production, but also potentially provides additional commericialisation opportunities and revenue channels to help sports bounce back.
- Increase Exposure and Fan Engagement — Sports fans are a truly captive audience now. Withdrawn from their favourite teams, players and the ritual of watching games, there’s a huge appetite building for live sport. Benefitting from its early return, South Korean soccer recently generated 3.4M views on Twitter alone.
The next few months are key for sports and the industries that support them. At every level clubs, teams and leagues must protect the health and wellbeing of their players, employees and fans as they return to playing the vital role of entertaining and uniting communities when they need it most. Innovation and creativity will need to be at the heart of their response, and out of this we expect to see developments that will make sports even more exciting and accessible.
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