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We all know about the high-profile sporting events that have been canceled in 2020. The Open, Wimbledon, and Spring NCAA Championships being canceled, and the Olympics being postponed a full year is the type of news that receives most of the attention.
Having said that, there are other major sporting events that have been canceled or are expected to be canceled all around the world and it’s hard to even begin to imagine what that number may actually look like.
Sports marketing agency Two Circles has published new projections and the number it has come up with is hard to wrap your mind around.
Per the projections, there were approximately 48,803 major sporting events on the 2020 calendar and only 26,424 of those will take place by the end of the year with a possibility of that number increasing. A ‘major sporting event’ is defined as a ticketed event with a projected attendance of at least 5,000 people.
From a percentage standpoint, only 53% of major sporting events will take place by the end of 2020, according to Two Circles.
In terms of revenue, projections show that the global sports industry will generate $73.7 billion in 2020. This is $61.6 billion less than the projected revenue before the pandemic. Last year the global sports industry generated $129 billion in revenue and was anticipating a growth in the industry by 4.9% year-on-year.
The revenue projections, according to Two Circles, is cumulative revenue generated by professional sports rights-owners through their event-day businesses and the sale of media and sponsorship rights.
The most important word of this entire story is ‘projection;’ these are figures that one agency has come up with.
It’s extremely difficult to look at the current situation most countries around the world are facing, let alone what the sports world is up against, but sports will return in 2020 just with a bit lighter of a schedule.
Let’s not forget that there have been plenty of projections and models that have come out on a wide range of topics over the last few months that haven’t exactly been reliable.