COVID-19: When will we play sports again?

Sharif McCurdy ’22
Contributor

COVID-19 has, in one way or another, affected everyone around the world.

Cancelled sports events have affected athletes worldwide. Whether you are an athlete, coach or even a spectator at St. Paul’s, the absence of sports due to COVID has affected your livelihood.

The sports that have been pushed back, rescheduled, or cancelled at St. Paul’s so far this year are volleyball, football, basketball, wrestling, hockey, curling, and indoor track.

The postponement of these sports outside of St. Paul’s has affected more than just the livelihood of the athletes. Sports are a major industry in which colleges, schools, and cities generate revenue.

The NFL, MLB, NBA, Indian Premier League, British Premier League, and the NHL generate 45.43 billion USD (58.05 billion CAD) annually in revenue and provide millions of jobs.

The uncertainty of their shortened seasons and lack of ticket sales have taken a big hit to the professional industry’s revenue.

Mike Lemcke, from Richmond, Va., sits in an empty Greensboro Coliseum after the NCAA college basketball games were cancelled at the Atlantic Coast Conference tournament in Greensboro, N.C., Thursday, March 12, 2020. The biggest conferences in college sports all canceled their basketball tournaments because of the new coronavirus, seemingly putting the NCAA Tournament in doubt. The vast majority of people recover from the new coronavirus. According to the World Health Organization, most people recover in about two to six weeks, depending on the severity of the illness. (AP Photo/Ben McKeown)

Although professional seasons have still continued at some capacity in most places, college and high school sports have been cancelled or postponed across Winnipeg, not just at St. Paul’s.

We still managed to have practices for football, volleyball and cross country, although heavily restricted. The seasons are all delayed and all of the fees students paid to run these programs have not been put to use, and may never be of use.

Despite all of the effort put in by Manitoba sports associations, some sports seasons will inevitably be entirely cancelled or shortened greatly. This will affect scholarships and will take away the final season of many seniors.

This was supposed to be their best and most exciting year. To combat this, colleges have added an extra year of eligibility, although that would be impossible at the high school level. However, there is still hope of a spring season that most high school athletes are clinging onto.

We hope COVID-19 cases will decrease enough for us to play. On top of all this, if there is a spring season, what sports will get priority?

How long will the seasons be and what will the government do to keep everyone safe? Athletes have a lot of questions and too few answers.

Photo credit: Ben McKeown/AP Photo, ttps://www.ocregister.com/2020/03/15/new-cdc-coronavirus-guidelines-could-mean-no-sports-for-much-longer/

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