In the midst of a season of high-profile sporting events, TVBEurope rounds up the cancellations, disruptions and contingencies brought about by coronavirus.
The Premier League, EFL, FA Women’s Super League and FA Women’s Championship have collectively agreed to postpone the professional game in England until at least 3rd April.
As of 13th March, all league football in Scotland has been postponed until further notice.
Germany’s Bundesliga and 2. Bundesliga have also been postponed until 2nd April.
The London Marathon, due to take place in April, has been moved to 4th October.
The annual Boat Race, originally scheduled for 29th March, has been cancelled, as has the Grand National, which was due to run at Aintree on 4th April.
UEFA’s Euro 2020 has been postponed by a year, and will now take place 11th June-11th July 2021.
In tennis, the French Open has moved from its traditional May-June dates to September-October, with matches starting on 20th September.
The pandemic has also had a severe impact on the Formula 1 season with multiple races postponed, including both the Dutch and Spanish Grands Prix, and the Monaco Grand Prix cancelled due to the global spread of the coronavirus.
Italy has ordered all sporting events to take place behind closed doors until 3rd April, including 32 Serie A football matches and the Six Nations rugby clash between England and Italy. Sky Italia tried to make the Derby d’Italia available for fans on free-to-air TV but were prevented over rights issues.
Spain’s LaLiga has announced the next two weeks of matches, starting from 12th March, have been postponed. The league took the decision after Real Madrid sent all of its football and basketball players home to self-isolate after a member of the Spanish club’s basketball team tested positive for the virus.
In Rugby Union, all three Six Nations matches due to take place 14-15th March have been postponed, with no date confirmed to complete this year’s championship.
The first men’s major golf championship of the year, The Masters, was due to begin on 9 April at Augusta National in Georgia. No new date has been announced yet.
Japan’s Olympic minister Seiko Hashimoto said the Tokyo Olympics could be postponed. “We are doing all we can to ensure that the Games go ahead as planned,” she added.
WARC noted that cancellation of major sporting events could deal a heavy blow to TV growth.
