Covid-19 impact of football and leagues’ restart

After three months of no action due to the spread of COVID-19, football is slowly coming back with a number of top leagues resuming. The German Bundesliga was the first to return and so far, all has gone well.

The Spanish La Liga followed suit among the top five leagues while the English Premier League restarts on 17^th June. The Portuguese and Turkish leagues are also back on though all around the world it remains a cautious approach with the danger of coronavirus spread still alive.

Fans have been starved of football but they are not the only ones affected; players have lost huge chunks in terms of allowances and salaries, with clubs cutting on spending as a factor of lost revenues.

Sponsors have also been hit hard and television revenues have taken a dip over the three months without football. Last season, clubs in the Premier League registered revenues in excess of £5bn and experts estimate a massive dip this season.

So far, it is estimated the clubs will lose up to £1bn due to Covid-19 and half of this will be lost permanently with the absence of Match Day revenues as well as earnings from broadcast and commercial agreements.

The betting industry has not been spared too, with numbers obviously going down during the period. With the return of football a frenzied return to gambling is expected as both clubs and fans/gamblers feel the commercial pressure.

With football being played behind closed doors and more fans forced to follow on television at home, we expect a rise in betting trends.

In England, it is expected that a huge chunk of the remaining matches in both the Premier League and the Championship will be televised. With 27 of the 44 clubs in the two leagues having betting companies as sponsors, there is a big chance that there will be more commercials on betting.

 

As businesses suffer financial stress due to Covid-19, betting as an industry could reap massively, and even more clubs will be forced to consider having betting companies as sponsors. As an effect, more bookmakers are set to give sign up offers reviews published on Sportytrader to make it easier for gamblers.

There is no more socializing with the return of football, at least as seen in the leagues back on, and those coming back soon. There is also no sign that fans will be allowed back soon. With almost solitary viewing at home, or in isolated places, bookmakers will seek to reach their target markets right on their phones, thus seeing an increase in betting.

In Africa, most leagues have shut doors for the season save for the Burundian, which continued through the pandemic, while Tanzania’s is back after a presidential declaration that the country is Covid-free.

None of the top leagues in the continent has rolled out elaborate plans for a restart. Nigeria, one of the most affected countries in Africa stays in limbo, having reported over 15,000 cases of coronavirus. After 25 of 38 rounds of matches, the top league can only wait for clearance from the government before returning to action.

In South Africa, clubs have been allowed to resume training as the country’s FA tries to salvage the season. However, there is no clear calendar on when action will resume across the leagues.

 

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