It was in late December, a few days before 2019 and 2020, that is, when people first heard the news of a new virus in China. He heard it but probably, perhaps carried away by the festive atmosphere of the day, he did not pay so much attention.
"People continued to underestimate this virus, as even now we all have a hard time figuring out if it is."coronavirus"Coronavirus", people continued to be relaxed considering it to be a flu that is simply "advertised" more, people were finally shocked when the death toll began to rise and the World Health Organization declared a… pandemic!
And as is the case in such cases, the implications will be great at all levels. More important, of course, in our health, in human life, but beyond that there are others, such as economics. And this also applies to sports, where the amounts have escaped to such an extent that those directly involved do not even want to think about the damage that will occur now.
This is what we will try to do today, with a necessary footnote from the beginning: The amounts may not be accurate, and in some cases the damage will be so great that no one has yet calculated its exact size.
Such cases, for example, are Champions League or Euro 2020. Of course, no decision has been made, at least not yet, for a final suspension (Champions League) or a postponement (Euro), but everyone can understand that if that happens, UEFA will be damned. As is already the case with some teams or leagues, that is.
Italy, the country (excluding China) that has been hit hardest than any other at the moment, has already announced the suspension of all sporting activities until April 3rd. Given, in fact, that he was found positive in her coronavirus football player Serie A -and specifically Daniele Rougani of Juventus- means that it is quite possible that there will be a final suspension of the football championship.
For now, however, with the suspension of Serie A until April 3, the teams are losing about 100 million euros. Calcio & Finanza, Europe's most prestigious financial / sports instrument, made the calculations and came up with this amount as a loss for Serie A due to the suspension until April 3, with Juve losing the most and specifically 12,3 million.
If there is a decision for a permanent suspension of the championship, the amount will obviously increase even more, as the number of cases starts to increase in other countries, with the consequence that we have a suspension of the other championships as well.
In Spain, for example, Barcelona announced that the damage from the Champions League match against Napoli, which was scheduled to take place behind closed doors, would amount to 6 million euros. If we assume that this is the income of the Catalans in a sold out home match, let us then calculate that Barça has five more home games until the end of the season.
If, now, we take the possibility that the championship will not start again this year, then its 20 teams La Liga will lose more than 600 million euros from TV rights, tickets, total revenue from the stadium on match days, etc.
In Germany, where the situation is also deteriorating, for the first time it was decided to hold some of its matches behind closed doors. Bundesliga, before the suspension is finally decided and there. A look at last season shows that the revenues of the 18 teams in the category from their home games reached 520 million euros.
With nine games left for the end of the league, another 81 games will have to be played and if we assume that this year the revenue would reach last year, then the Bundesliga teams will lose a total of 137,7 million euros. Dortmund has already announced, in fact, that it expects a loss of 3,4 million euros in each home match without people.
In England, its people Premier League They did not seem particularly interested in the scientists' warnings about the spread of the coronavirus, but were eventually forced to comply when their first cases and groups were present. In this country, after all, the amounts are higher than in any other league and the losses will be even greater.
Sky and BT are paying $ 5,8 billion to have the TV rights for three years and various reports claim that the TV stations did not want and do not want matches without people. Details of how much each team will lose if the empty stadium solution is chosen when action resumes are not yet known, but when you see the BBC report that a month of empty stadiums will mean a loss of € 130 million, you understand that things will be very difficult.
Not so much, however, as it will be for Japan if the Tokyo Olympics are canceled. The International Olympic Committee has addressed the issue, leaving open the possibility of such a thing happening and if it does, it will look like an economic disaster.
International media have estimated that canceling the Olympics would mean a loss of $ 74,1 billion for Japan, equivalent to 1,4 percent of the country's GDP. At the same time, the corporate income will decrease by 24,4% compared to 2019.
And all this, without the damage of the NBA being known yet, where the suspension of the championship was announced until recently. A development for which the Americans were not prepared and therefore no analyzes were available for the extent of the financial damage, at the same time that Formula 1 enters the dance after a McLaren employee tested positive for the virus and it was logical to decide Postponement of the Australian Grand Prix.
And you do not have to be an economist to understand that in F-1 the amounts are as frightening as the speed with which the cars fly. Or as frightening the coronavirus, which spreads everywhere with insane speed, causing damage at all levels.