COVID-19 pandemic severely hindered the entire sports industry by making it difficult or even impossible to organize competitions and matches. This halt was primarily caused by the fact that the virus spreads in close proximity, which means that many sports cannot be played or performed safely. It is important to discuss the topic of sports during a pandemic because it is highly relevant today and will remain relevant until the vaccination takes place on a national and even global scale. The infection resulted in the fact that many issues overrun the traditional sport-related problems, which is why assessing the existing data on the topic is critical. Taking into account the constantly emerging new strain of coronaviruses, one can argue that sports might never return to their pre-pandemic state. Therefore, the given literature review will analyze and overview the recent information on the subject of COVID-19 and sports.
The review will focus on three major areas of sports under the conditions of a pandemic, which are health, commercialism, and structural aspects. In the case of health-related implications of COVID-19, the research suggests the virus can have a significant impact on highly active individuals and competitive athletes (Verwoert et al., 2020). In other words, it is evident that with a gradual decline in infection rates, less stringent restrictions on sports will be implemented. However, it is important to note that athletes are not safe from myocardial damage and myocarditis after their recovery from COVID-19, which can have a detrimental effect on their sports careers and well-being in general (Verwoert et al., 2020). Thus, it is critical for athletes to undergo cardiovascular assessment after they were infected because it can lead to severe complications due to additional pressure of training.
Another health-related concern lies in the propensity of the vulnerable population to suffer from more risk factors than healthy individuals. A study indicates that sports can be a powerful preventative measure that can reduce the size of vulnerable groups, such as people with obesity and diabetes (Denay et al., 2020). It is important to note that the virus causes the body to overreact or over-respond to the infection, where it destroys vital organs and tissues, which are not necessarily infected (Denay et al., 2020). In addition, there are a number of risk factors, such as hypertension, physical inactivity, type 2 diabetes mellitus, older age, obesity, and racial or ethnic minority status, which can make a person be more vulnerable to the specified complications (Denay et al., 2020). However, sports can be helpful in preventing the occurrence of these metabolic issues, which improves an individual’s resilience to COVID-19. Therefore, the importance of sports as a source of entertainment shifts towards public health enhancement tools, which is why sports experts need to adjust to these changes.
Moreover, one needs to be aware that the area of sports medicine is also being affected by the pandemic. In conjunction with previous ideas, sports medicine became less relevant in regard to entertainment-based sports but more important for public health-based ones (Gilat & Cole, 2020). In other words, sports medicine experts and scientists need to shift their focus on utilizing sports as a public health improvement factor. It means that the focus should shift from studying professional sports to health-promoting aspects of physical activity.
The coronavirus pandemic had a detrimental effect on professional sports not only on the basis of health but also economically. Commercialism in sports was one of the largest segments of the professional arena, which became non-existent under the conditions of the pandemic. Research, which is focused on soccer, indicates that many such organizations exhibited a great deal of entrepreneurial flexibility under stringent restrictions, such as an exclusion (Drewes et al., 2020). It is evident that gathering people to watch a game is not a plausible idea, which is why soccer teams decided to complete the season by utilizing closed doors ghost games. Such a flexible approach can be utilized by many high-contact sports in order to increase the control levels of each event. The main reason is manifested in the notion of testability of the limited number of people, which is impossible in the case of traditional fan included games. Although the given measure is not as profitable as open doors alternatives, it still generates some cash flow, which might help these organizations to survive the pandemic.
Nonetheless, the described approach is only valid in the case of seasons, which started before the lockdown. An assessment study states that many anti-doping agencies, such as China Anti-Doping Agency, suspended their activity during the current conditions (Garcia-Garcia et al., 2020). It also states: “The reasons for this are obvious. The global anti-doping regime involves relatively close physical contact with anti-doping officers who unexpectedly—and, at least for some athletes, frequently—go to homes, gyms, and other places where athletes are to administer tests. This requires anti-doping officers to move around and be in close proximity to the athlete. The testing protocol is clearly problematic during the Covid-19 outbreak as it involves significant risks of transferring the virus between athlete and anti-doping officer and, by extension, a risk to their health” (Garcia-Garcia et al., 2020, p. 116). In other words, the integrity of sports in regard to doping control is severely hindered by the mere risk involved in conducting the tests. It means that although closed doors games can be organized, the integrity will not be the same due to the specified limitations.
Growing under the shadows of the traditional sports before the pandemic, e-sports is becoming a dominant force in the field, which is not impacted by the current healthcare issues. One might argue that it even became more popular and prominent due to the elimination of competition. The most evident reason is the fact that e-sports involve videogames, which are not dependent on distancing or close proximity, and it relies on technology rather than physical contact (Kim et al., 2020). In other words, the coronavirus cannot spread between competing players or teams, the game takes place in a digital sphere and not a physical one. With people being unable to engage in regular sports, videogames are becoming more popular, which also draws more eyes toward e-sports.
In conclusion, COVID-19 had a major impact on sports by affecting sport-related issues, such as health, commercialism, and other structural elements. Professional athletes are in danger of cardiovascular complications, which can have long-term ramifications. Sports, in general, is shifting from entertainment toward a public health improvement measure and a similar trend can be observed in the sphere of sports medicine. Many popular sports, such as soccer, find ways to comply with restrictions but also not terminate major events by using closed doors games. E-sports is growing at a higher rate than before due to their intrinsic nature of safety. Therefore, it is evident that sports might never be able to return to their pre-pandemic state since vaccination does not stop the emergence of new virus strains. Professionally, it is important to shift the focus from sports as a source of entertainment to public health enhancement tool. In years to come, e-sports might become one of the largest sports categories and sources of entertainment.
References
Denay, K. L., Breslow, R. G., Turner, M. N., Nieman, D. C., Roberts, W. O., & Best, T. M. (2020). ACSM call to action statement: COVID-19 considerations for sports and physical activity. Current Sports Medicine Reports, 19(8), 326-328. Web.
Drewes, M., Daumann, F., & Follert, F. (2020). Exploring the sports economic impact of COVID-19 on professional soccer. Soccer & Society, 1-13. Web.
Garcia-Garcia, B., James, M., Koller, D., Lindholm, J., Mavromati, D., Parrish, R., & Rodenberg, R. (2020). The impact of Covid-19 on sports: A mid-way assessment. The International Sports Law Journal, 20, 115-119. Web.
Gilat, R., & Cole, B. J. (2020). COVID-19, Medicine, and Sports. Arthroscopy, Sports Medicine, and Rehabilitation, 2(3), 175-176. Web.
Kim, Y. H., Nauright, J., & Suveatwatanakul, C. (2020). The rise of E-Sports and potential for Post-COVID continued growth. Sport in Society, 23(11), 1861-1871. Web.
Verwoert, G. C., de Vries, S. T., Bijsterveld, N., Willems, A. R., vd Borgh, R., Jongman, J. K., Kemps, H. M. C., Snoek, J. A., Rienks, R., & Jorstad, H. T. (2020). Return to sports after COVID-19: A position paper from the Dutch Sports Cardiology Section of the Netherlands Society of Cardiology. Netherlands Heart Journal, 28, 391-395. Web.