HOPE-2022

The global COVID-19 pandemic has incurred serious damages to the world sports community. Many sectors of the economy, households, tourism revenues are virtually zero, all the forces are devoted to fighting the pandemic. And its negative consequences are already affecting and will manifest themselves in all areas. Sports will not stand aside...

It can be assumed that Azerbaijan will no longer invite foreign players in some sports, including boxing, wrestling, taekwondo, volleyball and football. It is expected that the head coach of the national football team can also be a local coach, since in this situation it is practically pointless to invite an expensive foreign specialist. If the team is already not ready to fight for high places in international tournaments, then there is no need to spend millions to invite an expensive coach.

Oh, football...

The pandemic hit the world football community as well. Barcelona, Real Madrid, Celtic, Paris Saint-Germain and other clubs have decided to reduce the players' salaries by 30-50%. In an even more difficult situation is the Portuguese Porto. The club, which is famous in Europe with many outstanding players, has gone bankrupt due to the pandemic. If Porto fails to pay off 100 of 250 million euros debt before June 30, bankruptcy cannot be avoided. Therefore, it is expected that the club will sell its leading players in summer.

The crisis will negatively affect the financial condition of Barcelona. According to El Pais, the economic recession will cost the Catalonian club 140 million euros.

In March, Juventus shares fell 21.6%. It was possible to reduce the negative impact of the incident after the team players agreed to get lower wages. Manchester United shares fell 11.06% over the month, while Borussia stock prices fell 37.6%.

The current situation will lead to a decrease in the cost of players. Barcelona Vice President Jordi Cardoner has already recognized the impact of the pandemic on the transfer market. According to him, Barcelona is not preparing for the purchase, but for the exchange of players, since the club has already lost 120-140 million euros from the end of the season. By the way, European clubs are working on an option for bilateral and trilateral player exchanges.

If the matches of the Italian Serie A and the French Championship do not resume in June, the broadcasting channels of these competitions will demand a refund. The main reason mentioned by the representatives of the TV channels is the discrepancy between the agreed amount and the number of broadcasted games.

Billions-worth delays

Unlike the situation in Azerbaijan, the world sports community had one of the strongest hits because of the coronavirus pandemic. The organizers of Formula-1, one of the most spectacular and expensive sports events, are under the risk of losing $300 million. If a new race season does not start before July, there is a chance of cancelling the competition for the whole year, while ticket holders will be refunded.

UEFA lost $300 million for the postponement of the European Football Championship to 2021. UEFA had to also cancel agreements with all the sponsors of the Champions League and the Europa League. The postponement of the Tokyo Summer Olympic Games threatens the IOC and the Japanese government with multi-billion dollar damage.

The Olympic qualification tournament in Oregon, US scheduled for June 18-27 is cancelled. It was stated that the time for this competition was changed in connection with the postponement of the Olympic Games. The tournament will be organized next summer. At the same time, the International Athletics Federation is thinking about postponing other competitions scheduled for this year. That is why the organization is looking for new sponsors.

The organizers of the highly profitable MMA fights also announced a revision of the budget for the next year. UFC management said it would no longer be able to promise athletes competitions with huge budgets. At the same time, a decrease in the number of tournaments in 2021 was announced.

Hopes for 2022

At the same time, marketing specialists are already preparing tips on how to come out of the crisis for the sports organizations around the world. For example, it is not recommended to start holding mass competitions immediately after the pandemic. After all, people who lost part of their earnings during the pandemic are unlikely to be interested in expensive competitions, preferring to watch them on TV. Therefore, experts advise to offer discounts on tickets for football and other competitions.

Sponsors and entrepreneurs will have to take the greatest share of expenses after the pandemic. Influential companies that have recently lost their earnings should not reduce their spending on sports by resorting to reserve funds. That seems the only way for now to revive some sports. Spanish economists predict that sport events will again become profitable only by 2022.