Sports, We Miss You
By: Craig Conway
Springtime is the time of year that many people look forward to. The weather becomes nicer, trees and grass become green, flowers bloom, and the days become longer. Another thing about springtime that gets people excited are sports. There is so much going on in the world of sports during this time that it is hard to keep track of it all. The winter sports such as basketball and hockey are nearing the ends of their regular seasons and the beginning of the playoffs.
One of the most watched sporting events every year is the March Madness tournaments for men’s and women’s college basketball. The best 64 teams in the country work all year to reach this tournament and try to prove why they are the best of the best. The NBA playoffs were also set to start in April and were shaping up to be one of the best playoffs we have seen in some time. The start of spring training in baseball also started with teams going down south to be in the warmer weather and work the rust off from the winter break they had. Spring football was also set to start after a hiatus from America’s most watched game. Springtime has so much to offer in the world of sports, but Covid-19 had other plans.
At the beginning of this pandemic, there was still hope that all things sports would continue as normal, with the biggest fear being that there would be no fans allowed to attend any games. Yes, this would have been strange to watch, but at least sports would still be around to watch on television. Now, not only can we go to live games, but we also cannot watch them on television because all games have been cancelled, something that everyone took advantage of when it was happening.
There are so many aspects of this pandemic that are being overlooked or not talked about enough. The college athletes that were in their final year of eligibility won’t be able to finish out their seasons and just like that their careers are over. The NCAA released a statement saying, “When it comes to decision-making, our commitment is this: protect the health and safety of college athletes.” The statement later goes on to say that all remaining winter and spring sports would be cancelled. Due to students no longer being on campus and sports not happening, many colleges and universities are losing a great deal of money. Because of this, the University of Cincinnati recently cut it’s men’s soccer program, which would save the school around $800,000. However, by doing this, the athletes no longer have a team to play for and many will look to transfer schools. This is another burden added to these athletes during already trying times. Some good news is that the NCAA has granted an extra year of eligibility to spring athletes due to the cancellation of their season this year.
There were some interesting occurrences in the tennis world due to this pandemic, as well. For the first time since World War II in 1945, Wimbledon had to cancel the most famous tennis tournament in the world. This tournament is one that some tennis players work their entire careers to play in. The same goes to the Open Championship during the PGA tour. Both have sizable crowds each and every year with many big name sponsors that pay a great deal of money to be a part of. Wimbledon was set to lose around £250 million by cancelling the event. However, for the past twenty years, Wimbledon has been paying for pandemic insurance for the unlikely event that something like this may happen. Well, paying that insurance has certainly paid off, literally. Wimbledon will receive £114 million ($141 million) from the policy, according to the Action Network. “We’re fortunate to have the insurance and it helps,” said Richard Lewis, Wimbledon’s outgoing chief executive, in an interview with The Guardian. “The insurers, the brokers and everybody involved have been excellent to work with so far, but there’s still a lot of work to do.”
There has been no sports for about almost a month and it has felt like an eternity. ESPN and other sports media producers have begun airing old games or documentaries to give their viewers some sort of sports intake. This will have to hold everyone over until this virus is over and we can get back to enjoying sports normally.
