Former head of Olympic marketing Michael Payne believes that although “it will be very painful pulling through it”, sport will nevertheless emerge “healthier and stronger”.
While a leading advertising industry figure warns it will be “nip and tuck” for the organisers of the rearranged Euro 2021 football championships and the Tokyo Olympics, former Formula One supremo Bernie Ecclestone has told AFP the ordinary fan will just be glad to have the diversion of live sport again.
Apart from a few exceptions — the sideshows of football in Belarus or racing in Hong Kong and Australia — sport has been at a standstill since mid-March as the coronavirus pandemic swept the globe, claiming more than 370,000 lives. Only now is it edging back to action.
Payne, who was widely credited with transforming the finances of the International Olympic Committee through sponsorship, said such an unexpected crisis had caught sport woefully unprepared.
“Whether it’s international sports federations, football clubs or F1 teams, many were living way beyond their financial means,” he said in an interview with AFP.
Read more news on Citizen News