Sport in the time of Covid-19: Game Over?

Covid-19. You could be living under the world’s largest rock, and still know about the Pandemic. The world is in lockdown, things are at a standstill, and Liverpool becoming a successful club again isn’t the biggest problem anymore. How we wish it was!

For sports fans though, this is an alien feeling. You turn on the television, tune-in to your favourite channel and, damn - the ‘Live’ logo is missing. The worst part? It’s not coming back anytime soon.

Game over?

Well, maybe not. Sure, live, unscripted action is a big reason fans fall in love, but the essence of sport is also the emotions it triggers… hope, despair, jubilation, heartbreak, ecstasy, and sometimes all of it at once. That’s why now, with Live Sport turned off, fans will feel a void. How is this being filled right now?

By the fans

Let’s be honest, fans make sport the glorious beast that it is. Now, it’s fans who are stepping up to keep it going during the lockdown. Take this father-daughter duo for example. Their innovative idea of commentating on historic cricket moments has attracted over 112k views on just one Twitter video. Andew Miller, the UK editor of ESPNcricinfo, has been sharing videos of his cat replaying famous cricket dismissals with #CatCricket (Cat + Sport = imagine the possibilities! You might scoff at the views, or retweets, but don’t forget… those who enjoyed it are #CatCricket fans for life).

By clubs

Football is suspended, football clubs aren’t! In times of social distancing, the distance between football clubs online seems to have been bridged. Take Southampton and Manchester City for instance, the two clubs engaged in a battle of Tic Tac Toe. A hilarious exchange that sent engagement numbers through the roof! 

Through content creators

Sports content creators aren’t far behind in the race either. ESPNCricinfo has taken its key service of providing live ball-by-ball commentary and gone retro, now covering games from past eras. Like this 1992 World Cup final clash between England and Pakistan. Cricbuzz has been pushing out videos of Cricketers and how their life has changed in lockdown. Gaurav Kapoor has been hosting the IPL (Isolation Premier League). Sportstar has been digging into the archives to pull out some fascinating stories. Oh, and as always Football Transfer News is thriving, thanks to Harry Kane admitting a desire to move away from Spurs live on Sky Sports’ instagram feed.

So, what’s the lesson here? People are locked down but their hunger for sports content isn’t. Sport has always been their biggest escape from troubles in life, so when a trouble of this magnitude comes knocking… obviously they turn to sport. Now, the most creative content will thrive, and the creators who stay idle will miss out on possibly the biggest window that non-live sports content will ever offer. The choice is simple, get creative and engage!