The Triumphant Return of Bundesliga

Germany is a country that has a lot of areas in which they can take a great deal of pride. There are many different aspects of German culture which have become internationally and globally renowned, and their sporting prestige is one of them.

We’re talking, of course, about the Bundesliga new season. The incredible sport, likened to soccer in terms of how it’s played and its overall appeal, is something which has been locked down by the COVID-19 pandemic. However, it made a triumphant return earlier in May, and this means that a lot of people can get back to doing what they do best, watching the games, while still adjusting to social distancing protocol.

The Effect of COVID-19 on Sport

It’s safe to say that the sporting industry is one of the most impacted areas as a result of COVID-19. You have to understand the sporting industry relies entirely upon the generation of revenue thanks to people watching the games live, going to the stadiums, and general audience participation. It’s a very public oriented sport, so when the public were locked down, this caused the sporting industry to crash pretty much over the period of a month.

The financial impact of COVID-19 has not yet been calculated, but in terms of a thriving sports industry, this has not been the case for the past month, nearly 2. By April 2020, the entire world was basically in lockdown, and this meant that the sporting industry itself was left with no choice but to shut down and hope for the best.

A Hopeful Return

Thankfully, at the start of May, the German people received some optimistic news. Chancellor, Angela Merkel, announced that there were plans to restart the soccer tournaments by the 16th of May. The Bundesliga was back, and it was the start of the return to normality.

For a lot of people, this represented the moment that they could get back to doing what they wanted, watching the games. The Bundesliga season takes a break between Christmas and late January. Normally this wouldn’t be an issue but in this case, it means that the season had barely gotten started before COVID-19 had come into play and shut it all down.

So there were thousands of fans who were suddenly without any kind of matches to watch. They didn’t have a support network, they didn’t have any sense of community, and the connection that they hand to the rest of the fan base was temporarily extinguished. Understandably, this left a lot of people feeling quite upset, because they did not have the necessary social connections they required to feel good about everything.

Relevant Social Distancing Measures

It is important to know that just because the sporting world has restarted in Germany, this does not mean that adequate social distancing precautions will not be taken.

Naturally, the safety of both players and fans will be the top priority of everybody, so the following changes will be made to make sure that people remain as safe as possible.

First and foremost, the games will take place in empty stadiums. This may seem like something of a strange choice, but if you think about it, it makes perfect sense. Your average stadium will have thousands of people in it, all crammed together in a confined space. It is a fast way for COVID-19 to spread and infect thousands of people, who will then go on to infect thousands more.

To try and counteract this, the stadiums will be empty except for the players, sporting officials, and strategically positioned filming crews who will be recording the match live and transmitting them on major sport networks. Obviously, these individuals and groups will be taking adequate safety steps, and operating under social distancing measures of at least 2 m apart.

Understandably, this is quite a difficult decision for anybody to have to have made. The level of success of a soccer match will naturally have a connection to the number of people in the stadium cheering for each team. To take that away could potentially have an impact on play or the overall atmosphere. However, in these trying times, sacrifices must be made, and this is the only way to ensure the safety of everybody who is attending.

In addition to this, it has been announced that all players and match officials will be tested for COVID-19 prior to entering the stadium and playing the game, so the potential likelihood of someone actually having the disease and bringing it in is kept to a minimum.

In conclusion, the return of the Bundesliga is good. This is such a significant sporting event for the people of Germany, and has global appeal. It is a good first step that people have been allowed to resume playing again, and we can only hope that this will mark the start of similar re-openings for other important parts of the industry. It is easy to see that great care and attention has been taken wherever possible, because people want to make sure that it is safe to play sports and film the matches. COVID-19 is still running rampant around the world, but there has to be an element of restarting businesses just enough to keep the industry ticking over, so this was a strategic decision and one which will hopefully pay dividends in the future.