With sports competitions cancelled, when will we watch them again?

The spread of the coronavirus pandemic around the world has resulted in more than 150,000 deaths as of April 17 and more than two million infections.

As countries around the world reel from the human and economic fallout of the outbreak, sporting events around the world have been hit particularly hard.

The most significant sporting event to be cancelled was the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, which have now been rescheduled for the summer of 2021.

Globally the sporting industry is worth $480 billion to $620 billion and this year markets around the world will take a massive hit.

Football

Europe

Italy, which has since become one of the hardest-hit countries due to the coronavirus, initially was still going ahead with Serie A football games, but without the spectators.

As the virus took hold and spread throughout the country, the Italian government took increasingly desperate measures to halt the spread.

In early March the government announced that all domestic games would be suspended, a measure that has not yet been lifted.

Similarly, the German Football League cancelled most matches and in a statement alluded to what the financial consequences may be for some clubs.

“The goal is still to finish the season by the summer - from a sporting point of view, but especially because an early end to the season could have consequences that could threaten the existence of some clubs."

Spain, with more than 180,000 infections and almost 20,000 deaths, is one of the worst affected countries.

LaLiga and the Spanish soccer federation (RFEF) have cancelled football across the country until further notice. Given the spread of the virus in the country, it may take a long time to reopen football games.

Following the lead of other European countries such as France and the Netherlands, Russia moved early to cancel football matches and other sporting activities.

Initially, the suspension was to last until early April, however, as the outbreak of the coronavirus has worsened in Russia, the end of May is now the expected reopening date.

According to the Moscow Times, Russian football is one of the top five leagues in Europe and is losing more than $12million per week, putting many clubs under financial pressure.

It wasn’t until March 20 that the Turkish Youth and Sports Minister Muharrem Kasapoglu made the announcement to suspend its football, basketball and volleyball leagues because of the coronavirus outbreak.

The country confirmed its first case on March 11, and since then the government has moved quickly to try and contain the virus.

With broadcasting revenues at stake and the English Premier league indefinitely suspended, football clubs in the UK are mulling whether footballing could simply be a “TV event”.

With many football teams almost at the end of the season, clubs are working together to see whether matches could be held at Wembley Stadium without any spectators, behind closed doors.

Earlier this month the Uefa president Aleksander Ceferin said that the Champions League and Europa League could be abandoned with Europe months away from getting a grip on the coronavirus.

Africa

In Africa qualifying games for the 2021 African Cup of Nations have been postponed putting at risk next year's competition. 

As one of the biggest footballing fixtures on the continent, the Confederation of African Football (CAF) took early precautions even though reported cases have been low.

In a statement, CAF said: “Following the growing concerns of the Covid-19 virus and the declaration by the World Health Organization (WHO) describing it as a pandemic, CAF has decided to postpone the following competitions until further notice.”

Asia

On January 30, the Chinese Football Association said all domestic games at all levels will be postponed in a bid to contain the spread of the coronavirus.

At the time, China was the epicentre of the virus.

The Asian Football Confederation in mid-March decided to postpone all competitions until further notice after many member countries had suspended their domestic games or instituted lockdown.

“Following the imposition of further preventive measures and travel restrictions by several national governments due to the current Covid-19 pandemic,” the body said in a statement. “The Asian Football Confederation has decided today to postpone all AFC Cup 2020 matches until further notice.”

Olympic Games

The signature sporting event of the year would have been the Tokyo Olympics. The last summer Olympics held by Japan was in 1964, and in between, it has held two winter Olympics.

Initially hesitant to cancel the Olympics and only after national teams started to withdraw their competitors, the International Olympic Committee and Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe decided in late March to postpone the games until the summer of 2021.

The Olympics have only been cancelled three times in history and only due to world wars: 1916, 1940 and 1944.

Cricket

The world of cricket was gearing up for the new season when everything was brought to an abrupt halt by the coronavirus.

One of the most popular sports in Pakistan, India and Bangladesh, the seasons in all three countries have been delayed or suspended.

The billion-dollar Indian Premier League was rescheduled to April 15, however, with India still under lockdown it remains unclear when it will start again having been indefinitely postponed.

Similarly, the Pakistani Super League was also cancelled in the knockout stages in late March after English cricketer Alex Hales, who had been in Pakistan for training, sent a message that he may have contracted the coronavirus.

In England, another cricket powerhouse, there will be no official cricket games in England or Wales until May 28 at the earliest.

Tennis

The International Tennis Federation (ITF) said in a statement that 900 tournaments had been postponed.

The London-headquartered governing body also announced that it would furlough half of its staff as it tries to cope with the fallout from the coronavirus.

The Women's Tennis Association in a similar move said in a statement: "The professional tennis season is now suspended through June 7, 2020, including the ATP Challenger Tour and ITF World Tennis Tour.”

For the first time since World War II that one of the most high profile tennis competitions, Wimbledon, was also cancelled in early April, a decision that had looked inevitable.

The 134th Championships will instead be staged in the summer of 2021.

International tennis rankings have also been frozen until the season resumes, which still remains unclear.

Basketball

The death of basketballing legend Kobe Bryant in January earlier this year sent shockwaves throughout the basketballing community and beyond.

His tragic death has now been overtaken by events that have also impacted basketball.

The National Basketball Association (NBA) on March 11 decided to suspend the season after one of its players tested positive for the coronavirus.

In a statement they said: “The NBA is suspending gameplay...until further notice,” the league said. “The NBA will use this hiatus to determine next steps for moving forward in regard to the coronavirus pandemic.”

The Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA) has postponed the opening of the regular season, which was due to start on May 15, until further notice.

In a statement, the WNBA said: “As developments continue to emerge around the COVID-19 pandemic, including the extension of the social distancing guidelines in the United States through April 30, the WNBA will postpone the start of its training camps and the tip of the regular season originally scheduled for May 15.”

Formula 1

In a statement Formula 1 announced: “Our intention is to start the 2020 season at some point this summer. At this time no-one can be certain of exactly when the situation will improve, but when it does, we will be ready to go racing again.”

So far at least nine Grand Prix have been cancelled or postponed with little sign that things will get back to normal.

The Chinese Grand Prix in Shanghai, slated to take place on April 19 has been postponed.

The Azerbaijan Grand Prix scheduled to take place on the 7 June has also been cancelled.