Sports Event Tracker: June 29 update
Two Circles analysts track the number of sports events taking place globally against an originally-scheduled, pre-Covid-19 sporting calendar. Only events for professional, competitive sports events with a projected paid ticketed attendance of at least 5,000 (pre-Covid-19) are considered.
Update: June 29
Time period: January 1-June 28, 2020
Originally scheduled number of events: 24,456
Actual number of events taken place: 11,499 (47.0%)
2020 Global Sports Calendar (Cumulative Weekly Events)
German sport weathers Covid storm with Bundesliga completions
The proportion of events taking place in Germany compared to the pre-Covid-19 calendar is projected to be 29% this week, dropping below 100% for the first time since mid-May following the successful completion of the Bundesliga football and basketball seasons.
On May 16, the Bundesliga became the first of Europe’s Big Five football leagues to return to live action since the Covid-19 pandemic swept the world in March – and on June 27 it became the first to conclude its 2019/20 season. In the top-tier, 81 games were played in 42 days and only the relegation play-off games between Werder Bremen and Heidenheim are now outstanding, the first leg taking place on Thursday.
The country’s top-tier basketball league, Basketball Bundesliga, also completed its season on June 28 having returned on June 6 in an adjusted ‘tournament’ format – playing 35 games over the course of 22 days at neutral venues.
Bundesliga football’s ‘post-Covid-19 return’ approach has been the trailblazer for sport across Europe. Fans were banned from matches indefinitely, while other key measures included no more than 300 people in a stadium on matchday, home players arranging their own transportation to games, each club appointing a medically-trained hygiene officer, the disinfection of balls, a centrally-organised antibody-testing mechanism and virtual press conferences.
On June 17, UEFA announced that the Europa League will be completed in a ‘final eight’ tournament in August, with Germany chosen as host across four venues: Dussedorf, Cologne, Duisburg and Gelsenkirchen. An equivalent tournament for the Champions League will be held at two venues in Lisbon, Portugal.
UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin had previously praised the German league and government’s co-operation in bringing football back safely and successfully.