It is the one question that caused the greatest divergence between what was hoped for and what emerged. The fourth wave of The Onside Sport Industry Monitor, a snapshot of how over 100 member organisations of the Sport for Business community feel on a wide range of issues, was published this week and the confidence on when we will see a return of fans to venues is alarming.
Given the challenges that are being presented in terms of a vaccination roll-out, they are perhaps though reflective of a realistic take on what we can hope for.
It is an area that we will dive into in detail in two weeks time when we host the Sport for Business Return to Sport Conference, drawing on experience from here in Ireland and around the world.
We will hear from Kevin Quinn of Leinster rugby on the antigen test pilot event submitted to the Government for approval and reported on yesterday. We will talk to Max Hamilton of the European Tour on the different approaches being taken in golf across the continent; to Katie McIntyre of Sports Venues Business, a woman with her finger on the pulse of the international market place; and with Jonny Madill of Sheridans who has been advising with Sport England on the return of fans in our near neighbour.
The numbers we revealed this week are drawn from representatives of governing bodies, venues, sponsors, agencies, media and other stakeholders.
75 per cent believe we will have up to 25 per cent attendance at venues in 2021 but almost half of that number believes it will not be until the last three months of the year.
Within that number 42 per cent believe that the ceiling on numbers will get to between 25 and 50 per cent where it starts to become financially viable, but again only 13 per cent feel that will be possible before October.
14 per cent feel it could be at 75 per cent by the end of the year.
Perhaps of greatest concern is that one-third of our member organisations see the possibility that full stadia will not be possible until the final three months of 2022.
As with all things, the rollout of the vaccine will be critical, together with other new test or technology improvements that may come along as well.
A positive outcome from allowing fans back into grounds in England over the coming weeks will perhaps change the perspective on how safe it will be and all operators will be watching carefully as the results of the initial test events become known.
The British government is still expressing hope that from the end of June they will be fully open for business and that 0ver 80,000 fans will be present at Wembley for the final of the UEFA Euro 2020 Championships.
We can only hope that this is the case because if it is then surely the tight restrictions we are currently under will begin to ease at a faster pace. The important thing is to do so safely with as much evidence-based knowledge as possible.
Here was our session with John Trainor of Onside where we went a little deeper on some of the headline figures from the report.
The Report has been sent to all sport for Business Members who took part in the research. If you’d like to know more contact info@onside.ie or rob@sportforbusiness.com.
Sport for Business Partners
