Premier League clubs face the prospect of playing behind closed doors due to the Covid-19 shutdown of global sports, while France faces several more festival cancellations. Here is a round-up of some of the impacts Covid-19 has had on the live events industry today…
Premier League
Premier League clubs are set to lose out on £177m in match-day revenue if the season is concluded in front of empty stands.
Due to the Covid-19 outbreak, which halted English football last month, there are still 92 games of the 2019-20 Premier League season remaining.
Premier League clubs will meet again on Friday to discuss the issue, with one of the potential options being to finish the season behind closed doors.
Refunding season ticket holders across the league could cost upwards of £101m, according to calculations by the Mirror newspaper, while a further £76m would be lost in corporate clients reimbursements and other sources of match-day income.
Manchester United would reportedly lose the most in match day income if games are held behind closed doors. The club earned £110m in ticket sales and other match-day revenue last year, which would equate to a $25m loss if no fans attend its remaining nine games.
Arsenal, Tottenham Hotspur and Liverpool would lose £20m each after making over £80m in ticket and hospitality sales in the 2018-19 campaign.
Seventeen out of 20 Premier League clubs have already suspended season ticket renewals for next season.
Rescheduling large events
American bioethicist and professor of healthcare management Zeke Emanuel said it is not a “plausible possibility” for concerts and sports events to be rescheduled for later this year.
While many concerts and festivals have been cancelled, such as Glastonbury and Governors Ball, others have opted to reschedule for later in 2020.
Coachella, which was originally scheduled for April, has been moved to two weekends in October, while the South American editions of Lollapalooza, J. Cole’s Dreamville Festival, Live at Leeds Festival and others have also shifted their dates to later in 2020.
However, in a recent roundtable discussion, hosted and transcribed by the New York Times, Emanuel said: “Larger gatherings – conferences, concerts, sporting events – when people say they’re going to reschedule this conference or graduation event for October 2020, I have no idea how they think that’s a plausible possibility. I think those things will be the last to return.”
In addition, Emanuel said he was not “wildly optimistic” about the American economy as a whole re-opening within the next few months.
French festivals
French president Emmanuel Macron has extended the ban on festivals in the country until “at least” mid-July.
The announcement was followed by the cancellations of Eurockéennes de Belfort, which last year welcomed 130,000 people, Solidays, Festival d’Avignon and Main Square.
The announcements follow the cancellation of other French festivals Hellfest and Lollapalooza Paris, which were called off last week.
A statement from the organisers of Eurockéennes, said: “It has now become a reality. Unfortunately this cancellation presents some serious questions about the future of the festival and of (non-profit festival organiser) Territoire de Musiques. Facing a complex financial situation, Eurockéennes will suffer long-term from this dark year.”
Image: HonorTheKing
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