Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on sports
According to Japanese public broadcaster NHK, Tokyo 2020 organizing-committee chief executive Toshiro Muto voiced concerns on 5 February that COVID-19 might "throw cold water on the momentum toward the Games.[20] On 20 March 2021, citing international travel restrictions and the need to ensure the safety of athletes, it was announced that no spectators or guests from outside of Japan would be allowed to attend the Games.[21] While there were initially plans to allow venues to operate at half capacity (to a maximum of 10,000 spectators),[22] it was ultimately announced that nearly the entirety of the Games would be held behind closed doors.On 8 June, U Sports announced that it had cancelled all national championships for the fall semester of the 2020–21 academic year, including Canadian football (the first time the Vanier Cup was not contested since its inception), cross-country, field hockey, women's rugby, and soccer.[70] Programs located in the state of New Mexico and in Santa Clara County, California had to relocate practices and games because of legislative bans on any competitive sport requiring physical contact.[113][114][115] In August 2020, officials at the University of California, Riverside, a Division I member, publicly announced that shutting down the school's entire athletic program was one possible option to address pandemic-related financial challenges.[149] The annual Australian Football Hall of Fame induction event was instead held over four nights as a series of television shows with pre-recorded vision and interviews with the inductees.[177] On 16 March 2020, Jim Manion, president of the IFBB Professional League and the National Physique Committee announced that competitions planned through to 10 May 2020 in the United States would be postponed for later in the year or canceled until the 2021 season.[191][192][193] The Swedish Ski Association elected not to send a full squad of skiers and support staff for the first round of the 2020–21 FIS Cross-Country World Cup in Rukatunturi, Finland, 27–29 November.[194] The second round of the World Cup, to be held in Lillehammer, Norway, 4–6 December, was postponed on 12 November, due to the current status of COVID-19 prevention measures, with a new date to be announced later.Espen Bjervig, manager of the NSF's cross-country section said the decision was based on "the risk of travelling, we have experienced that keeping distance and avoiding close contact in the World Cup arena is more demanding than we first assumed", and that "endurance athletes have their lungs as a tool, and we do not know the after-effects of COVID-19.[213][214][211] Due to positive tests among the host broadcast staff, the World Women's Curling Championship suspended all television coverage from 2–6 May, resuming in time for the playoff rounds.[228] The Scotties was held behind closed doors for the second season in a row due to Ontario restrictions,[229][230] with a limited audience of tournament volunteers and local junior curlers from the Thunder Bay area invited to attend the playoff rounds.[268] On 15 July it was announced that the 2020 Premier League Darts rounds which were to be held in Rotterdam, Birmingham, Belfast, Leeds and Berlin would be cancelled, and instead be played at the Marshall Arena in Milton Keynes.[283] After being well-received, a second, 10-event eNASCAR iRacing series was announced for 2021, mainly to fulfill television inventory with its media partners Fox and NBC (as NASCAR continued its COVID-19 protocol of not holding practice or qualifying sessions at events).[301] On 12 April 2020, ISU Vice-president for Figure Skating, Alexander Lakernik, told media that the chances of rescheduling the championship were slim, due to the ongoing pandemic.[316] The 2021–22 ISU Junior Grand Prix series was largely held as scheduled – the second event was relocated from Canada to France – but several countries were unable to attend certain stops due to travel restrictions, resulting in the creation of a reallocation process for quota spots on a case-by case basis.After receiving no applications from eligible members, the ISU relocated the event—intended for non-European skaters—to Tallinn, Estonia, which would host the 2022 European Figure Skating Championships one week prior.The extra delay was intended to give the Tour more time for preparations, as well as take advantage of weeks opened by the cancellation and postponements of majors and the Summer Olympics; only one of the three remaining majors—the PGA Championship—fell within the remainder of the 2019–20 season's schedule.To accommodate no-touch golf, holes were modified with an elevated rim or made shallow with a piece of foam (most often a cut pool noodle) or drain pipe or a safety plate.A rule change was made for the 2021 Sentry Tournament of Champions in Kapalua, Hawaii, which the 30 players who qualified for the 2020 Tour Championship would be allowed to participate due to the reduced schedule.Simulcasts also increased the prominence of lesser-known venues such as Fonner Park in Grand Island, Nebraska—which optimized its schedule for off-track betting, and saw its average daily parimutuel handle surpass its previous single-day record of US$1.2 million on a regular basis.[444] The series ran from 25 July through 9 August just outside of Salt Lake City, Utah, at Zions Bank Stadium with the teams being quarantined and playing in absence of fans."[449] As of 18 March most casinos and other gaming venues worldwide were closed indefinitely, and many upcoming live poker tournaments were either postponed, canceled, or (in jurisdictions where permitted) moved to an online platform.[citation needed] The 2020 Real Tennis World Championship, scheduled to be held at Prested Hall in Feering, Essex, United Kingdom was postponed on 12 March 2020 to October 2020 due to bans on indoor gatherings and sport and international travel restrictions.[486] Stadiums remained at full capacity through the first nine weeks of the competition, but a spike in locally transmitted cases led the country to reimpose restrictions on mass gatherings on 11 August,[487] causing one match in the final round to be held behind closed doors and another to be cancelled and scored as a draw.The 24-player, single-elimination tournament was scheduled to begin on 6 April in Norco, California, then move on to Lone Tree, Colorado and Euless, Texas before semifinals and finals on 17 May in North Brunswick, New Jersey.[551] On 16 June 2020 Governor Andrew Cuomo announced that it had authorised the U.S. Open to be played in New York on its original dates, subject to safety protocols developed by the USTA and being closed to spectators.[574] Novak Djokovic, who was pursuing a 10th Australian Open title, became the subject of controversy prior to the tournament over his attempts to gain a medical exemption to the vaccine mandate.[583] On 13 March, the International Volleyball Federation (FIVB) decided to postpone the Nations League for men (finals scheduled for Turin, Italy) and women until after the 2020 Summer Olympics caused by the outbreak of coronavirus.
COVID-19 pandemicCOVID-19SARS-CoV-2DeathsTimelineJanuaryresponsesFebruaryAugustSeptemberOctoberNovemberDecemberLocationsBy country and territoryAfricaAntarcticaEuropeNorth AmericaOceaniaSouth AmericaCruise shipsNaval shipsEndemic phaseEvacuationsFace masksInternational aidOriginLockdownsby countryMisinformationby governmentsFake treatmentsSocial distancingSoftwareTravelUnited NationsWorld Health OrganizationWTO IP waiverUndercounting of deathsCOVID-19 appsZero-COVIDNational responsesEuropean UnionGermanyIrelandNetherlandsNew ZealandNigeriaPhilippinesRussiaSwedengovernmentfederal governmentVietnamDisease testingBreathalyzerDevelopmentDrug developmentDrug repurposingPublic health mitigationVaccinesHistoryResearchDeploymentAuthorizationsOperation Warp SpeedMisinformation and hesitancyVaccine cardVaccine passportsCoronaVacCovaxinConvideciaJanssenMedigenModernaNovavaxOxford–AstraZenecaPfizer–BioNTechSinopharm BIBPSputnik VVariantsVariants of concernOmicronEpsilonLambdaCluster 5Lineage B.1.617Economic impactrecessionArts and cultureAviationCannabisCinemaDisneyFashionFinancial marketsFood industryFood securityJournalismPerforming artsRetailTelevisionsportscastingprogramsTourismVideo gamesCanadaMalaysiaAssociation footballBaseballBasketballCombat sportsCricketDisc golfGaelic gamesGridiron footballIce hockeyMotorsportRugby leagueImpactsLong COVIDNeurological and psychological symptomsPost-exertional malaiseSocietyAnimals