The Men Who Pause

Lives matter more than holding a T20 tournament. IPL has to wait out the pandemic even if it means huge financial losses.

- Santosh N. & Harsh Talikoti

IN any crisis, sport is always considered a uniting factor. Something that helps take your mind off the worrying reality. As Nelson Mandela said, “Sport has the power to change the world. It has the power to inspire. It has the power to unite people in a way that little else does. Sport can create hope where there was only despair.” Unfortunately, the current pandemic has shackled this powerful tool. As the world continues to reel under the coronavirus crisis, economists are debating whether the fallout of COVID-19 will be bigger than the 2008 financial crisis or the Great Depression of the 1930s, or something far worse. Never has the world gone into a lockdown where nearly 75 per cent of the population is indoors. The economic and financial ramifications of the shutdown of global sports leagues are equally bad as livelihoods of millions directly or indirectly depend on these sporting leagues.

All major sporting leagues or events are either suspended indefinitely or postponed. Olympics 2020 and UEFA EURO 2020, the two major sporting events this calendar year, are postponed while Wimbledon has been cancelled for the first time since World War II. All major football leagues across Europe and events by National Basketball Association (NBA) and National Football League (NFL) in the US are suspended indefinitely.

The Indian Premier League (IPL), one of the most keenly-awaited sports events in India, has also felt the heat of the pandemic. The government of India and various state governments have mandatorily banned public gatherings in view of public health and safety concerns. As a result, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has decided to postpone the 2020 season, and the threat of full cancellation is quite real.