British Public Weigh In On Coronavirus Cancellations – YouGov Sport
The Coronavirus pandemic has applied a pause to the sporting calendar with postponements and cancellations affecting many events.
The knock-on effect of this has led to numerous governance and financial issues for everyone within the industry, but it has also impacted fans, who no longer have sport to follow as social distancing measures come into place.
YouGov Sport, a Sport Industry Awards 2020 partner, asked the British public for their views on where sport stands in their priorities and what they think should happen next.
According to the data, most respondents were clear that sport plays an important role in public life, with just 35% saying that sporting events were unimportant in the current climate. YouGov Sport, however, says that this number closely mirrors the proportion of the population who have ‘little or no interest’ in sport as a whole – a number that stands at 38%.
Overall, the British public generally supports the postponement of sport in the current crisis, with 52% believing that it’s the right thing to do. Almost a quarter (23%), however, caution that each event is unique and that cancellations or postponements should be handled on a case-by-case basis.
Despite supporting social distancing measures, 42% of those polled say that major sporting events are good for the nation’s spirits, with a similar number (39%) acknowledging the sport’s importance for the UK economy – strong figures when taking into account the 38% who don’t tend to care for sport.
Yet, despite sport’s importance to the British population, only 14% of those polled believe that events and games should continue behind closed doors.
For organisers, who are looking to stage their events or conclude their seasons when it is safe to do so, thoughts must also turn to governance decisions like deciding on the fairest way to bring leagues and competitions to a close.
The most popular option among the public is for seasons to be completed no matter far into the future that may be. 39% are in favour of that strategy, while 28% believe that a long suspension in the season should lead to abandonment with no winners at all. Fewer still, 21%, believe a long pause should result in abandonment with winners and losers found in an alternative fair manner.
Should abandonments occur, however, the most popular option amongst the public was to decide that there should be no winners or losers at all this year (39%), while 29% say current points totals should determine success, 17% favour some more sophisticated calculation based on unfulfilled fixtures with only 2% favouring a coin toss.
YouGov Sport also asked questions of its respondents on the Premier League specifically, where one in three Brits (36%) say Liverpool should be given the title in the event of abandonment, compared to 17% who do not – but a high proportion (42%) felt they didn’t know enough to comment.
Excluding this group of non-football followers, however, the figures show that 68% of those who do have a view think that Liverpool should be crowned champions, compared to only 24% who think they should not.
