THE Covid-19 pandemic’s negative effects should be approached as a glass that’s half full with water—and not half empty—as windows of opportunities emerged for the positive transformation of both domestic and global sports.
This was the view aired by Ramon “Tats” Suzara, one of the major personalities in the country’s hosting of the 30th Southeast Asian Games, who stressed that “no one is invincible against Covid-19—not even athletes who are physically fit and definitely not even sports.”
“In the near future, as we slowly restart everything, one possibility is for sports to review the possibility of holding competition behind closed doors,” Suzara said. “For sure, we lose revenues from in-venue spectators, but it could present us with more opportunities for broadcast, sport presentation, fan engagement through social-media platforms, etc.”
Suzara said that continental and international federations would always look after the health and well-being of all stakeholders—especially athletes and spectators—besides them “having to strictly follow state or government orders related to ceasing all public gatherings and simple stay-at-home protocols.”
“Admittedly, and just like all other sectors or industries, sports is suffering from huge revenue losses,” he said. “The sports calendars for 2020 has been subject to a lot of postponements and cancellations. Therefore, we have to look into reprogramming the scheduled events.”
Suzara, noting the postponement of the Tokyo Olympics to next year, said: “Federations usually base their calendar [with] several factors: national team season, club or professional league season, and the Olympic Cycle.
“Adjustments will greatly help all sports stakeholders to reformulate their calendars,” he stressed.
Suzara said it would also be helpful to boost initiatives for eSports and to hold events with remote competitors while ensuring the integrity of the games against issues such as hacking, data privacy and other forms of cyber risks.