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Reframe: Episode 77

When Sport Stopped: COVID's Impact on a Global Industry

Reframe Episode 76

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When the coronavirus suddenly shutdown the entire sport industry, fans and athletes everywhere were forced to reckon with the magnitude of the pandemic. Since then, many teams and leagues have returned. But nothing is as it once was, and the future is still uncertain.

To understand what happened, and how the industry can move forward, two Miami University researchers talk about the new book, Sport and the Pandemic: Perspectives on Covid-19's Impact on the Sport Industry, which explores all aspects of this once-in-a-lifetime event.

 

Read the transcript

(Music up)

James Loy:

This is Reframe, the podcast from the College of Education, Health and Society on the campus of Miami University in Oxford, Ohio.

James Loy:

It was a once-in-a-lifetime occurrence when all across the world, nearly every athlete on nearly every team, playing almost every sport, suddenly stopped. Since then, since the outbreak of COVID-19 and the global pandemic, most leagues and teams across the sport industry have come back. But nothing is as it once was, not yet. And during the shutdown, two Miami University sport leadership and management professors, Brody Ruihley and Bo Li, along with their colleague, Paul Pedersen from Indiana University, moved quickly to understand what was happening and how the industry might move forward. So they put out a call asking sport researchers all around the world for articles about the impact COVID-19 is having. And here's what happened. Here's Dr. Brody Ruihley.

Brody Ruihley:

We receive an overwhelming amount, over 150 proposals, which is unheard of. And so immediately we knew we were onto something.

James Loy:

And this not only led to a special double issue of the International Journal of Sport Communication, it also led to a new book called Sport and the Pandemic: Perspectives on Covid-19's Impact on the Sport Industry. The book is out now and today Brody Ruihley and Bo Li are here to talk about the impact COVID-19 has had on athletes, on fans, the good and the bad, and just where the industry might go from here.

James Loy:

Dr. Ruihley, Dr. Li, thank you for being here today. This book covers so much. As the title suggests, it covers the global impact on the sport industry. You have articles on the Olympics being postponed till 2021, the European soccer league, Israeli sport broadcast, but also how administrators and managers and fans and athletes are all coping and adapting. So let's just start with fan engagement. What does that look like? What did it look like during the shutdown? What does it look like now and what kind of unique ways are teams and athletes now engaging with fans that might continue forward as we enter this new normal?

Brody Ruihley:

Yeah, so I think the fan engagement piece is interesting in this time because we had less access to the sport. We weren't able to go to a stadium, we weren't able to access sport that way. During the shutdown, athletes were able to communicate directly with the fans because they weren't even playing, they weren't participating. And so we saw more access to the fans and to the athletes during that time. One other thing that makes this interesting in the sports world is the fan boards. When you look at like an NBA game or WNBA game and they have the screens up on the wall, they're piping in Zoom. And so you've got fans that are sitting right there at the game, but they're digital. There's a lot of different stories about those fan experiences, where they actually go into a Zoom room and they can either choose to watch the game, they can communicate with their other fans, they can still be a part of that experience, even though they're not at the game.

Brody Ruihley:

I think that's something that sport organizations will look at in the future is: How do we engage during the game like we are now? We can get people court side, all we need is a camera. We can get people closer to the action and put them into social groups, even though they aren't in the arena, which typically comes with what? A ticket price, right? Bo, what do you think about some of the communication and interaction aspects?

Bo Li:

So I think I agree with Brody, during the pandemic, obviously, players if they don't have the game to play, so they have so much free time. So they are using social media as a platform to disseminate more information. So one of the example I remember is Stephen Curry. He interviewed Dr. Fauci on Instagram, which attracted a lot of people's attention. So they give people the opportunity to know the athletes, how they're able to really care about each of individuals, in the pandemic, not just about the sport itself. And also some tennis players, for instance, they organized a series of these online chat with the fans. So like two or three tennis players like Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal, and Novak Djokovic invited fans to participate in the conversations. I think they really increase the intimacy between athletes and fans. I think it's a really important part, a very interesting part, during the pandemic, how these athletes are using social media nowadays to really develop their personal brands.

Brody Ruihley:

And what I see, a lot of this interaction was a little more genuine as opposed to, "Oh wow, I'm drinking vitamin water. This is so good." Now it's more genuine about community relations, about social justice messages, about making sure people are safe and doing what they can to keep our environment healthy. They feel a little more genuine as opposed to the cliche branding or the cliche marketing social media messages. So to me that might be something that comes out of this regardless of how we get back to normal is that we might see some more genuine social media messages.

James Loy:

And along with just the pure fan engagement, do you think there are other impacts on just the social and cultural landscape of how we perceive the virus too? Because .... especially when you mention just the Instagram interview with Dr. Fauci, that made me remember how I perceived the situation. Back in March, I believed the healthcare professionals, I had no reason to doubt their assessment of the situation. And I'm also a pretty casual sports fan. I don't really follow any teams or leagues. However, when the NBA then came out and announced that they were canceling the season, that just laser-focused ... like, it cemented the seriousness of the situation of like, "Oh, this is a big deal." So do you think the impact on us culturally and socially also helped people to start realizing how serious this situation really was?

Brody Ruihley:

Yeah. When sports shut down, you're absolutely right. It impacts people. That's so much a part of our daily life. It's tuning in to watch spring training at that time because baseball was just getting ready to get started. It's college sports. Of course, that was right when college basketball was coming to its peak with men's and women's March Madness tournaments and it didn't happen. And that really put it in the minds of people that this is a real thing. And now even towards whatever, six months later, college football is either on or it isn't in some conferences. And that really impacts the way people think and feel about this particular pandemic. You even saw coaches, college football coaches, doing public service announcements, almost saying, I'm paraphrasing, but almost saying, "If you want college football back, then you got to wear a mask. You got to stay six feet apart. If that's the only reason you want to do this is for college football, then do it." And so we did see some of those messages come out because sport is so much a part of our daily life.

Bo Li:

Yeah, I agree. I think when the pandemic started, I think fans were really frustrated because people started watching like Korean Baseball League, because that was the only live games going on, on ESPN. People started watching Australian cricket, because that was only few sports are still playing in the world at that time. Now, more sports are coming back right now. Sports fans will still find out they couldn't go to the stadium. Right? Most of these events are held in the empty stadiums. So even the NFL, for instance, so Bengals allow about 1500 fans per game to go and watch the games. But the fans' experience would not be the same, right? Their experience will be completely different because they have to wear a mask, they have to practice social distancing. The way they enjoy sport is no longer the same.

James Loy:

Yeah. It is very different. And now that many sports and leagues are back, each is handling the return differently. I know there's different logistical and practical concerns based on whatever it is that you're doing, like NASCAR is very different than tennis, which is very different than football. So they have to figure things out for their own particular sport. But now that many of the leagues and teams are back, which ones do you think have handled the return the best or have done it most successfully? And which maybe do you think could have done a better job?

Brody Ruihley:

Yeah, I think in the United States right now, we are maybe three to four weeks away from the NBA completing their season. And that was quite an unexpected outcome. And what the NBA did was they created a bubble, along with the WNBA and Major League Soccer, they were able to create a bubble at Disney's Wide World of Sports. And so there's hotels, there's transportation, and they've got so many athletic fields and courts and places to play. You came in, you had to wait, you had to quarantine, you had to be tested. And then once you're in the bubble, you're safe. The officials are safe, the coaches, the players, and that made a huge, huge difference.

Brody Ruihley:

The positive of that is you've got a lot of control. So I would think MLS, WNBA and NBA have done it the best with that bubble environment. The cons to that, the negatives to that, are that it's very difficult on the athletes and the coaches and their families because we're talking weeks and weeks and months away. I'm sure the hotel room is getting pretty small to people that are used to larger homes. Their lifestyle has changed dramatically. So that's a downfall to that.

James Loy:

Yeah. How about globally? Dr. Li, any thoughts there?

Bo Li:

So from my perspective, professional sports in Europe, they were using a very different strategy to deal with COVID. If you will look at professional soccer leagues, French soccer league, they decided to stop their season when the pandemic started. So they were basically one of the biggest professional sports league decided to stop their season internally. So obviously that decision was really controversial at that time. The other professionals sports league, like English Premier League, so they came back to play in June and they finished the season, I think in August. So they were having a lot of pressure, most of the professional sports league in Europe, because the game was not just broadcast in their own local market, but also there is still a lot of broadcasting rights to the international broadcaster. So since they are ready sold this broadcast right, so they have to let the game going. But they also understand a lot of broadcasts are suffering financially because they pay the money is in front.

Bo Li:

So for English Premier League for instance, they refunded about 330 million Pounds to the local broadcast and to the international broadcast. It's very difficult to say who actually did the better job, because if you look at professional soccer leagues in Europe, they just finished the season in August, the new season starting in September. For the fans, they feel like they didn't really have the break between two seasons and for athletes' perspective obviously, this is really tight. They just finished last season and now they continue to play in the new season. I think the schedule wise is really tight for them.

James Loy:

I absolutely do want to talk about how the athletes themselves have been impacted. And you touched upon it a bit, Dr. Li, when you mentioned about the European soccer leagues, finishing one season in August and then turning right around and starting another one in September, which must be grueling. And Dr. Ruihley, you earlier mentioned the hotel rooms must be feeling very, very small for the NBA players in the bubble. Are there other ways athletes have been impacted? What are some things that fans might be surprised to learn?

Brody Ruihley:

Athletes have been impacted significantly with mental health. We're seeing that a lot more. Athletes are speaking about mental health. The fact that you are cooped up into a hotel room or being locked in Disney World is still being locked in Disney World. You're still not able to go out and do your normal activities. One thing that the NBA did was they allowed family members to come into that bubble in the second round of the playoffs. And of course, they had to go through all the quarantining and testing, but that still allowed them to have a family member in.

Brody Ruihley:

But we've got athletes that are trying to train, trying to practice, they're in their hotel rooms. They have to have certain protocol to get back into the gym if they wanted to do that. Where a normal year, they can just go do what they want, practice when they want, train when they want. Those athletes that have a little more freedom, so we're talking college athletes, professional baseball players, NFL, National Football League players, it's up to them to make sure that they stay safe, their family stays safe in how they go about their social life, because they're not in a bubble. But they are accountable to their team and their league. And so that to me would feel like a lot more pressure. What do you think Bo?

Bo Li:

Yeah, I think definitely, for the athletes' perspective, they're definitely suffer significantly right now when they have to play in the stadium without fans. So they get used to playing in the stadium with so many fans supporting them, cheering for them, but now they're playing empty stadiums. They definitely have to make a lot of changes in order to get used to with this new environment.

Bo Li:

The second part is about the labor relationship between these athletes and these professional sports league. Due to the pandemic, a lot of these athletes, because they have no game to play, so some professional sports club decided not to pay their salary. So there were a lot of, with the labor conflict between the athletes and the professional sports teams in some clubs. I think that also will become something they have to look at in the future.

Brody Ruihley:

One more thing to add to that, many athletes, the calendar for athletes is so permanent usually that you can plan things out, right? So family members plan their weddings around the sports calendar. And we've seen several instances where athletes and their spouse are getting ready to have a baby in the middle of this new season. Well, they planned it out because it should be the off season. It should be the off season where they can have their baby and have time. And so we are seeing many athletes having to choose to go be with their spouse or stay in the bubble, if it's an NBA player, because their calendars are so off, but the planning has been taking place for months and months and months. So that's an unusual thing that we're in right now, too.

James Loy:

Absolutely. Yeah. Also college athletics have been in pretty unusual situations recently. College football is back. It seems to be going well so far. But that was also after that surprise reversal of the decision that finally allowed college football to happen. So what was the hang up there? High school football had been back before that, NFL and also already decided that they figured out what they were going to do, but why was there such a problem to get college football going? And what was the whole contention between the back and forth there?

Brody Ruihley:

I think what we're seeing is in line with what our country is right now, which is everybody disagrees on everything and that's unfortunate. There's different opinions on all of this and how to return to sport play is also a concern. So high school, they want to go back and forth because that's part of the experience, right? That's part of the growing development of teenagers and having that camaraderie or having that purpose in high school to be a part of a team. So you see that pressure. The pros? It's a job. It really is, it's a profession, it's their profession. And so they had the option to not play and opt out or they could play with the safety procedures.

Brody Ruihley:

College athletics is so unusual because it's wrapped up into state run organizations, or state funded organizations. And so you've got a little more responsibility to the community and to the state, but we're also seeing how travel can be in college athletics. It can be from state to state, region to region. And if you're talking about transmission between different states and regions, especially with college students that sometimes maybe follow the social distancing rules and some don't, I think you can see that spread exponentially.

Brody Ruihley:

But every conference had their own decision to make. And there was political pressure, there is pressure for money, there's pressure because one conference may be amazing in football, volleyball, basketball, and they don't want to miss out on a chance to win a championship. And then of course, there's still that pressure of you don't want to waste the time of the student athletes, because this is their time, this is their experience. And, really, every conference had their own decision to make. The NCAA did not step in and put a firm hand down to say, "This is what you're going to do," or "This is what you're not going to do," because that's what they consider not their place. That's up to each conference and school to decide.

James Loy:

How about with fantasy sport? Dr. Ruihley, I know you're also an expert in that area. That's a huge industry. If there's no sport, how is there fantasy sport? How did that adapt and evolve and what's happened since sport has come back?

Brody Ruihley:

Yeah. So we're in a really unique time in the gaming industry. And the unique part about this year is that we went from zero sports to everything happening at once. And so fantasy sport is on ultra overdrive right now where everything is going on at once. So the fantasy sport industry recovered fairly well. They were able to basically extend their preseason outlooks, they're drafting... Pre-draft information and analysis, have mock drafts. They were still able to provide content because the light at the end of the tunnel was closer than maybe other industries. Now, if sport would have been shut down for an entire year or a year and a half, then they're going to have to start figuring out other ways to handle that. And then once sports happened, everything went back to somewhat normal. Now inside a fantasy sport play, you had to have different procedures based on if someone got COVID.

Brody Ruihley:

If your team is severely impacted by COVID. I know for leagues that I participated in, we had different checkpoints to administer the prize money. If we didn't get to this point, then everything goes back to normal. If we did get to this point, then we can have the prize money because no one was sure that the season would end. It might just stop. And so there's a little uncertainty there with how the fantasy season played out. But for the most part, the industry survived. So it's almost zero to 60 in just a matter of a couple of months.

James Loy:

Okay. So that sounds like fantasy sport seems to be recovering nicely and sport in general is back for the moment. And so where do we go from here? In the book's synopsis, this is a quote from your summary. It says, "Crucially, the book asks how the industry might move forward." So I just want to ask you exactly that, where do we go from here? What are some lessons learned? What do you think this looks like for the future of sport now?

Bo Li:

Yes. I think the biggest lesson we learned from this global pandemic is definitely the risk management. Risk management has been really emphasized in the sports industry. It's like we were prepared [for] what kind of potential risks would happen in the future, so we develop different types of risk management plans. However, definitely no one expected things like pandemics happening, right? No one ever experienced things like this before. Right? All those potential risks that we planned before were just maybe, for instance, like security, stadium security, is one of the things that we plan. We can know what kind of policy is in place that we can minimize these potential risks for happenings. But such a big global pandemic, that's something we have never experienced before. So definitely, they give us lesson to learn how we're able to really plan, develop a risk management plan in the future. If that happens, how we're able to better prepare and better respond to that kind of crisis. How about you Brody?

Brody Ruihley:

One thing that we've learned from this is how much sport is a part of our daily life, how much it is a part of us, the adage of you don't know what you have until it's gone. And so when you're sitting there at night and there's not a baseball game on, or when your Sunday afternoon rolls around and there's no NASCAR, there's no golf, there's no NFL football, we feel it. And I think that's something that we all knew, but we never had to experience it or feel that loss.

Brody Ruihley:

I think moving forward, fans recognize that, and organizations should recognize it. And not take advantage of it, but embrace it, that they are a part of the community in ways that aren't just, "Oh, our community fund gives money." No, you're a part of the community based on pulling people together and giving them common purpose and giving them something to think about that's not work-related or goes beyond their relationship or their home life. It's something that's a part of their life. And college sport does that, professional sports teams do that, youth sport and high school sport, having those gone really impacts a community. So I think coming out of this, we will know how that feels a little more and how that's a part of our lives.

James Loy:

So now that things are happening again, but there's also this talk of the second wave of COVID, whatever that means, if we're even out of the first wave. But that is something that people are concerned about. Do you think the industry has learned enough about what it's already gone through to avoid a second shutdown if this potential second wave of COVID happens?

Brody Ruihley:

If we have a second wave of this virus, I do think that professional leagues and college athletics have learned enough to move forward. It will likely involve the bubble, right? Any sort of bubble. And that's where... As long as there's enough testing and there's enough turnaround time or a good enough turnaround time for testing, I do believe that sports will continue. One, because again, it's a fabric of our society. As Bo mentioned, there's broadcasting ramifications there with money and broadcasting dollars. And if there's a second wave and cities start to shut down, sport can play a major part of keeping normalcy. And that goes into our mental health and our body and how our body reacts to stress and crisis. If we're locked in our homes at another time, but we have a game on and we're able to do fantasy sports or do something like that, that's going to help our society. It really is. So if that second wave comes, I think you'll see a bubble like atmosphere where teams can still play in a safe way and hopefully not in a reckless way.

James Loy:

Dr. Brody Ruihley and Dr. Bo Li both research and teach sport leadership and management at Miami University. And the new book called, Sport and the Pandemic: Perspectives on Covid-19's Impact on the Sport Industry, is out now.