With Sports 'Benched' by COVID-19, What Do We Do Now?

Photo by Hailey Womer

As I sit quietly on my living room couch flipping through channels on my second week of quarantine, the news from government officials shows little promise for change any time soon. The severity of the situation set in days ago, leaving my family and I questioning just how long this pandemic will last and what will be affected during this time of uncertainty.

These same questions are being asked by PR practitioners around the globe. Many subsets of the PR industry are lucky and can assist clients virtually, develop digital campaigns, and handle all organizational matters through video chat. However, many practitioners in the sports industry are facing additional difficulties with the postponement of virtually all sports for an undefined period of time.

As soon as the spread of the virus started affecting U.S. citizens, all large organizations overseeing live sporting events began postponing or cancelling their events. The first to go was the women’s and men’s NCAA spring and winter championships and tournaments. The NCAA March Madness tournaments were originally to be played without spectators. Many die-hard fans and tournament watchers like myself questioned how one of the rowdiest tournaments in sports could be played without the fans. Unfortunately, that plan quickly changed and the tournament was cancelled after the number of cases began to rise.

Shortly after this announcement, professional sports began to follow suit. The NBA tried to continue their seasons without fans, but once the first player tested positive, Rudy Gobert with the Utah Jazz, the NBA commissioner suspended the season indefinitely. The NHL also decided to suspend the 2020-2021 hockey season and many of the other professional sports scheduled to play during the spring have been postponed until further notice. The MLB season, French Open, NASCAR races, all global soccer leagues and tournaments, The Masters and PGA Championship, all horse racing events, the XFL, MMA and many more sporting events have been postponed until the pandemic subsides.

In addition to the March Madness tournament, the NCAA decided to suspend the seasons of all spring 2020-2021 college sports. This decision devastated college athletes, especially those in their senior year and final year of eligibility. Many of my friends who were entering their final season of college softball expressed their heartbreak over social media, posting their final thank yous and memories sooner than expected. The NCAA tried to relieve some of the heartbreak by giving all spring athletes another year of eligibility. Unfortunately, like many of my friends, many senior athletes have post-grad plans already set in place, preventing them from taking that extra year on the field.

This unexpected pandemic has left millions of people without jobs, including those in the sports industry. Players, coaches, and team personnel all the way trickled down to stadium workers, concessions, and security are left uneasy and unsure of when they will be able to return to their jobs.

Since the invention of sports, they have served as an outlet for both fans and players to escape from the world around them and get lost in the game for a while. Sporting events helped make light of many major world events in the past, helping people come together in a time of collective sadness. However, this is a situation we have never truly faced before. With people asked to stay apart and no major sporting events on TV or in person, the sports community can no longer act as that outlet like it has in the past.

I spent my Saturday of no online classes watching reruns of old baseball games, “Top 10 Best Plays of All-Time,” and ESPN anchors bantering on video chat over what the future holds for sports. While this is a difficult and strange time for everyone, we must remember that this is temporary. As long as everyone stays home and takes the proper precautions to keep themselves and the people around them out of harm's way, things will be back and better than ever. ESPN will have hours of live games to watch, stadiums around the country will fill the stands with eager fans and athletes will get back to doing what they do best.

We can use this time as a lesson to never again take anything for granted and appreciate every moment, whether that be (hopefully) watching the Summer Olympics in 2021 or simply leaving the house to spend time with friends!