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#1
I don't wish to be negative during these difficult times and although I'm not a pessimist, I am a realist. It's with that in mind I'm posting to air my worries about the uncertainties the current situation creates for the league and the teams.
As we all know UK ice hockey is, as a minority sport, a delicate product but one which has shown growth during the last decade. Despite that, I'm quite fearful that moving forward the resilience of the EIHL is going to be severely tested and I'm not sure if it is strong enough to survive. It's not a concern exclusive to ice hockey of course and other sports (both rugby codes and lower level football spring to mind) are under similar threat.
Losing the back end of the season as we have done is a hit the league and clubs are collectively big enough to absorb but moving forward, I'm not so sure and am pretty worried. Nobody knows exactly how the virus will pan out and I'm not pretending to be some expert here, but what does seem quite clear is that after we are through this peak, we will a) have to somehow incorporate long-term social distancing responsibilities into normal everyday life and b) there will be a continued threat of further outbreaks. It is not unrealistic to think that this these two points are going to cause governments, businesses, local authorities and the general public endless headaches until the vast majority of the population are vaccinated. At which point that will be nobody has any idea but 12 months to create and rollout a vaccine across the entire world would probably be hopeful at best, although again, nobody knows so it could be earlier or later. Far later even.
Considering the risks, until the point where we are scientifically safe from the virus, I cannot see how the government and local authorities will be able to let large crowds to congregate. Again, I don't know this and am not scaremongering but let's be realistic considering everything we do know so far. This will obviously raise massive worries for sports where TV income is not the majority source of income, of which the EIHL and teams fall right under. There is no major TV deal that the league can fall back on and the biggest source of income for teams is easily gameday attendance. Yes, the teams all have their own individual sponsorship deals but these will not be their main source of revenue and without ticket sales they will quickly become unsustainable.
The league and teams cannot comment or speculate for obvious reasons, but the idea we will be able to return to normal life in the months following the lockdown period is absurd. There will have to be longer-term social distancing restrictions in place to reduce risks and although I will most definitely be delighted to be proved wrong, I personally cannot see any sport returning as a spectator sport for a very long time and the EIHL clubs are going to face an enormous struggle to continue.
As I said at the top, I'm not purposefully trying to be negative. I think I raise some very valid concerns which are worthy of sensible discussion.
As we all know UK ice hockey is, as a minority sport, a delicate product but one which has shown growth during the last decade. Despite that, I'm quite fearful that moving forward the resilience of the EIHL is going to be severely tested and I'm not sure if it is strong enough to survive. It's not a concern exclusive to ice hockey of course and other sports (both rugby codes and lower level football spring to mind) are under similar threat.
Losing the back end of the season as we have done is a hit the league and clubs are collectively big enough to absorb but moving forward, I'm not so sure and am pretty worried. Nobody knows exactly how the virus will pan out and I'm not pretending to be some expert here, but what does seem quite clear is that after we are through this peak, we will a) have to somehow incorporate long-term social distancing responsibilities into normal everyday life and b) there will be a continued threat of further outbreaks. It is not unrealistic to think that this these two points are going to cause governments, businesses, local authorities and the general public endless headaches until the vast majority of the population are vaccinated. At which point that will be nobody has any idea but 12 months to create and rollout a vaccine across the entire world would probably be hopeful at best, although again, nobody knows so it could be earlier or later. Far later even.
Considering the risks, until the point where we are scientifically safe from the virus, I cannot see how the government and local authorities will be able to let large crowds to congregate. Again, I don't know this and am not scaremongering but let's be realistic considering everything we do know so far. This will obviously raise massive worries for sports where TV income is not the majority source of income, of which the EIHL and teams fall right under. There is no major TV deal that the league can fall back on and the biggest source of income for teams is easily gameday attendance. Yes, the teams all have their own individual sponsorship deals but these will not be their main source of revenue and without ticket sales they will quickly become unsustainable.
The league and teams cannot comment or speculate for obvious reasons, but the idea we will be able to return to normal life in the months following the lockdown period is absurd. There will have to be longer-term social distancing restrictions in place to reduce risks and although I will most definitely be delighted to be proved wrong, I personally cannot see any sport returning as a spectator sport for a very long time and the EIHL clubs are going to face an enormous struggle to continue.
As I said at the top, I'm not purposefully trying to be negative. I think I raise some very valid concerns which are worthy of sensible discussion.