SPORTS MARKETING
Business Unusual As
World Catches The Flu
Bringing Sports To A
Standstill!
By Richard Wanjohi
W
ho would have ever imagined?
No Olympics in 2020... No
Euro Cup or Copa America
either... UEFA Champions League and
Golf Open tournaments postponed...
World Athletics Under-21 Championships
in Nairobi postponed indefinitely... the list
of sports events is endless. We’re living in
unprecedented times! Never in our living
memory has the world ground to a halt
as it has been brought to its knees in such
magnitude - the closest being the 2nd
World War.
For the past couple of weeks now, stadiums
and other sports venues are empty, fans
restricted to their houses and locales
while curfews and lockdowns are imposed
city upon city and entire countries too.
Globalization has shown its chilling side as
the connectedness and traversing the world
have been one of the main catalysts of the
L eague
pandemic.
Social distancing an anathema in the
world of sport suddenly must be exercised.
Handshakes, hi-fiving had been banned in
most kick-offs by the time the leagues were
suspending play. Fist and elbow bumps
may become the new form of salutation in
the interim as we go back to the basics on
hygiene practices.
The business of sport has been heavily
disrupted with sports organizations
forced to consider the health and human
side of the individuals, teams, managers
and support staff. Estimates from sports
business experts at Forbes and KPMG
calculate an initial loss of $ 9.35 billion
by the sports properties globally halted for
at least two months - this is ticket sales,
sponsorships and concessions as well as
the golden goose in TV rights fees.
The European football leagues which
had initially dithered to stop the games
stopped once players in Italy, England
and parts of Spain, a top manager in
England and Italy as well a club owner
in Greece and England tested positive
for the Covid-19 virus, better known as
the Corona Virus.
These leagues in England, Spain,
Germany, Italy and France are likely to
lose $ 4.35 billion if the football games
are completely stopped. The English
Premier League would stand to lose the
most with as much as $1.4 billion, with
revenues coming from broadcasting
expected to suffer the effects of the crisis
the most.
The breakdown of the numbers is shown
below;
M atchday B roadcasting C ommercial TOTAL
170-180 million 700-800 million 250-300 million 1.15 – 1.25 billion
150-170 million 500-600 million 150-200 million 0.8 – 0.95 billion
B undesliga 130-140 million 300-400 million 200-250 million 0.65 – 0.75 billion
S erie A 90-100 million 350-450 million 100-150 million 0.55 – 0.65 billion
L igue 1 50-60 million 150-200 million 100-140 million 0.3 – 0.4 billion
E nglish P remier L eague
L a L iga
90 MAL35/20 ISSUE