ISSN: 2222-6990
Open access
The outbreak caused by covid-19 led to the cancellation and postponement of many international sporting events. Like many sports organizations affected by the pandemic, athletes also have been severely impacted due to the restrictions made by the government to control the outbreak. Therefore, this study investigates the impact of COVID-19 on the sport industry by eliciting information on athletes' physical and mental wellbeing and the risk of virus transmission during sports events and training sessions. This research employed a quantitative method by distributing questionnaires to 109 respondents in Malaysia via Google Forms. The data were statistically analyzed using SPSS (version 27) to determine frequency, mean, and standard deviation. The findings revealed that most athletes agreed to return to their sporting activities after their professional coaches advised them because this approach had a significant impact on their physical and mental growth. Furthermore, results indicated that most athletes in this region found it difficult to stay motivated to exercise because of the restrictions on sporting activities during the pandemic. Many of the athletes in the study concurred that virus transmission increases during sporting events and training sessions. Some of the organizers, on the other hand, did not have any experience or training to deal with the pandemic. Finally, results showed that COVID-19 brought about physical, nutritional, and psychological effects that may impact athletes' ability to return to sports safely and improve their overall health. As a result of missed opportunities and uncertainty about their finances and future, athletes and the sports businesses could suffer severe consequences. This study concludes that the government and athletic federations must help athletes by formulating new and improved guidelines and enforcing them immediately to revive the sport industry during these trying times. Besides, medical, nutritional, and psychological care should be provided more closely during and after the lockdown
Andreato, L. V., Coimbra, D. R., & Andrade, A. (n.d.). Challenges to athletes during the home confinement caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. www.who.int/emergencies/
Are Home Training Workouts Effective? (2019). Retrieved from RealBuzz Team: https://www.realbuzz.com/articles-interests/fitness/article/are-home-training-workouts-effective/
Carmody, S., Murray, A., Borodina, M., Gouttebarge, V., & Massey, A. (2020). When can professional sport recommence safely during the COVID-19 pandemic? Risk assessment and factors to consider. British Journal of Sports Medicine, 54(16), 946-948. doi:10.1136/bjsports-2020-102539
Daley, P., Ho, K., Greyling S., & Haley, G. (2020). COVID 19 - Hong Kong, Singapore and Malaysia: Postponement or cancellation of sports events - Force majeure clauses and other relief. https://www.bclplaw.com/en-GB/insights/covid-19-hong-kong-singapore-and-malaysia-postponement-or-cancellation-of-sports-events-force-majeure-clauses-and-other-relief.html
Gabbett, T. J. (2016). The training-injury prevention paradox: Should athletes be training smarter and harder? British Journal of Sports Medicine, 50(5), 273-280. doi:10.1136/bjsports-2015-095788
Hurley, O. A. (2021). Sport Cyberpsychology in Action During the COVID-19 pandemic (Opportunities, Challenges, and Future Possibilities): A narrative review. Frontiers in Psychology, 12(March), 1–15. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.621283
Hygiene for sport and physical activity. Sport England. (n.d.). https://www.sportengland.org/campaigns-and-our-work/hygiene-sport-and-physical-activity.
Jones, D., Switzer, A., Rawnsley, P., & Bridge, T. (2021). Understanding the impact of COVID-19 on the sports industry. https://www2.deloitte.com/uk/en/pages/sports-business-group/articles/understanding-the-impact-of-covid-19-on-the-sports-industry.html
Lim, M. A., & Pranata, R. (2021). Sports activities during any pandemic lockdown. Irish Journal of Medical Science, 190(1), 447–451. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11845-020-02300-9
Liu, I. Q. (2020). The impact of COVID-19 pandemic on high performance secondary school student-athletes. The Sport Journal, 2020(July), 1–11.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.heliyon.2020.e04315
Loheswar, R. (2020). A look back at 2020: Major sports events planned for Malaysia, and cancelled due to Covid-19.
https://www.malaymail.com/news/malaysia/2020/12/30/a-look-back-at-2020-major sports-events-planned-for-malaysia-and-cancelled/1935914
Maria, J. D., Greve, A., Rogaleva, N. L., Brand, R., Timme, S., Lautenbach, F., Leisterer, S., Walter, N., Kronenberg, L., Manges, T., Leis, O., Pelikan, V., Gebhardt, S., & Elbe, A.-M. (2021). in collaboration with reviewer RB Amateur and Recreational Athletes’ Motivation to Exercise, Stress, and Coping During the Corona Crisis. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2020.611658
Malaysia allows outdoor sports and recreational activities in MCO areas after public furors. (2021).https://www.straitstimes.com/asia/se-asia/malaysia-allows-outdoor-sports-and-recreational-activities-in-mco-areas-after-public
Memish, Z. A., Steffen, R., White, P., Dar, O., Azhar, E. I., Sharma, A., & Zumla, A. (2019). Mass gatherings medicine: public health issues arising from mass gathering religious and sporting events. The Lancet, 393(10185), 2073–2084. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(19)30501-X
Mulcahey, M. K., Gianakos, A. L., Mercurio, A., Rodeo, S., & Sutton, K. M. (2021). Sports medicine considerations during the COVID-19 pandemic. American Journal of Sports Medicine, 49(2), 512–521. https://doi.org/10.1177/0363546520975186
Nhamo, G., Dube, K., & Chikodzi, D. (2020). Impact of COVID-19 on the global sporting industry and related tourism. Counting the Cost of COVID-19 on the Global Tourism Industry, 225-249. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-56231-1_10
Nauright, J., Zipp, S., & Kim, Y. H. (2020). The sports world in the era of COVID-19. Sport in Society, 23(11), 1703–1706. https://doi.org/10.1080/17430437.2020.1834196
Peña, J., Altarriba-Bartés, A., Vicens-Bordas, J., Gil-Puga, B., Piniés-Penadés, G., Alba-Jiménez, C., . . . Casals, M. (2021). Sports in time of COVID-19: Impact of the lockdown on team activity. Apunts Sports Medicine, 56, 1-17. doi:10.1016/j.apunsm.2020.100340
Peng, X. T., Chen, Y. J., and Zhu, X. W. (2017). Effect of social network site appearance comparison on depression:the chain mediating role of body image satisfaction and self-esteem. Chin. J. Clin. Psychol. 25, 959–962.
Pillay, L., Van Rensburg, J. D. C. C., Jansen van Rensburg, A., Ramagole, D. A., Holtzhausen, L., Dijkstra, H. P., & Cronje, T. (2020). Nowhere to hide: The significant impact of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) measures on elite and semi-elite South African athletes. Journal of Science and Medicine in Sport, 23(7), 670–679. doi:10.1016/j.jsams.2020.05.016
Statista. (2020). Coronavirus: impact on the sports industry worldwide. 157. https://www.statista.com/study/71572/the-sports-industry-impact-of-the-covid-19- pandemic-2020/
Schinke, R., Papaioannou, A., Henriksen, K., Si, G., Zhang, L., & Haberl, P. (2020). Sport psychology services to high performance athletes during COVID-19. International Journal of Sport and Exercise Psychology, 18(3), 269–272. https://doi.org/10.1080/1612197X.2020.1754616
Taku, K., & Arai, H. (2020). Impact of COVID-19 on athletes and coaches, and their values in Japan: repercussions of postponing the Tokyo 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games. Journal of Loss and Trauma, 25(8), 623–630. https://doi.org/10.1080/15325024.2020.1777762
Traub, M. (2021). Sports and COVID-19: The impact on the sports-event industry. https://www.sportstravelmagazine.com/sports-and-covid-19-what-happened-earlier-this-summer/
United Nations. (2020). The impact of COVID-19 on sport, physical activity and well-being and its effects on social development.
https://www.un.org/development/desa/dspd/2020/05/covid-19-sport/
Wong, A. Y. Y., Ling, S. K. K., Louie, L. H. T., Law, G. Y. K., So, R. C. H., Lee, D. C. W.,Yau, F. C. F., & Yung, P. S. H. (2020). Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on sports and exercise. Asia-Pacific Journal of Sports Medicine, Arthroscopy, Rehabilitation and Technology, 22, 39–44. doi: 10.1016/j.asmart.2020.07.006
World Health Organization (OMS). (2020). Overview of public health and social measures in the context of COVID-19. World Health Organization 2020., 1-8.
Xiangyu, K., Kailian, Z., Min, T., Fanyang, K., Jiahuan, Z., Le, D., Yuchao, D. (2020). Prevalence and Factors Associated with Depression and Anxiety of Hospitalized Patients with COVID-19. medRxiv. doi:10.1101/2020.03.24.200430
In-Text Citation: (Arumugam et al., 2021)
To Cite this Article: Arumugam, N., Anuar, N., Selvanayagam, S., & Sathiyasenan, S. D. (2021). The Impact of COVID-19 on the Sport Industry. International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences, 11(10), 397–411.
Copyright: © 2021 The Author(s)
Published by HRMARS (www.hrmars.com)
This article is published under the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY 4.0) license. Anyone may reproduce, distribute, translate and create derivative works of this article (for both commercial and non-commercial purposes), subject to full attribution to the original publication and authors. The full terms of this license may be seen at: http://creativecommons.org/licences/by/4.0/legalcode