The global pandemic has affected the entire world in a devastating way that has rocked not just the healthcare industry to its core but also every single industry there to exist, all over the world. As a matter of fact, there is no single profession or industry that has not had to deal with the adverse effects in the face of the deadly virus by the name of the corona virus and the English Premier League is no exception to this worldwide affliction. Covid has indeed affected the English Premier League and not in a good way.
Effects Of Covid On The EPL
The English Premier League has the largest audience among other football leagues. Hence, the football industry has suffered largely, on all sides, including the management, the teams, the fans as well as a large amount of other people involved and passionate about football in England. The damage has been extensive but it rounds up to two broad major effects that covid has had on EPL. Those two major effects are:
Financial Aspect
It’s been months since the corona virus initially hit and resulted in football matches getting cancelled at first and played with closed stadiums as a later development. This has in turn resulted in a loss of revenue for major football clubs like Chelsea, Liverpool, Manchester United, Manchester City, Tottenham Hotspur and others, as they rely heavily on their income from gate money from the stadiums that matches are hosted at.
Half of the previous season was played with closed stadiums and with the new season having begun on September 1st, it is being played in closed stadiums so far as well. Having to continue football matches the same way as before without the usual income is naturally putting a lot of stress on the football clubs and their management teams.
Life Of The Stadium
Another factor that has had a hugely negative effect on both the team players as well as the fans of the sport from an emotional perspective, is that of being deprived of the real feeling of watching the match a few meters away from it happening from the fans’ point of view and the feeling of being cheered on and knowing that your fans are there to support you from the point of view of the players.
Many famous football players of the EPL have reported that the haunting feeling of the ghost audience at an empty stadium is very different compared to what they are used to and that in a way the life of the stadium is not there.
Current And Future Prospects For EPL
The current situation seemed to be favorable as previously the United Kingdom government had released a statement saying that they would finally say goodbye to the closed matches culture from 1st October of 2020. However, unfortunately the second wave of corona virus has led them to revoke that statement and the future of the life of the stadium for EPL matches remains uncertain for now.