As COVID-19 continues to suffocate the world and its people, one industry that is truly hurting because of the virus is the sports industry. Revenue and jobs are disappearing by the millions with very minimal, if any, plans in place to try to alleviate some of the damage. Many lower status sports leagues are even facing the very real possibility that they may not survive the crisis.

There are unfortunately too many losers to count and name as they are both widespread and plentiful. Coronavirus has affected all sports, including professional, international, college, and even youth leagues. In an effort to project the losses suffered over the last few weeks, calculations have come back estimating that professional, college, and youth sports have lost $5.5, $3.9, and $2.4 billion, respectively. (And this does not even include less popular sports like NASCAR, fishing, and the like). Other than the money lost in general, though, the countless jobs that have been eradicated are extremely worrisome. They make up a very large portion of the jobs lost all over the country and unfortunately, do not appear to be coming back anytime soon as any sports from here on out will most likely occur without fans for a long time. 

Although no one in the industry is coming out of the pandemic unscathed, some sectors are doing rather well for themselves considering the circumstances. Electronic sports, or e-sports, have benefitted profusely from an entire world sitting in their homes quarantined as people that are typically otherwise consumed by live sports are looking elsewhere for sources of entertainment. Twitch, a popular game streaming service, has reported a 31% increase in viewership since March with a jump from 33 million to 43 million viewers just from March 8 to March 22. But once the world slowly begins to return to normal, will people simply switch back over to regular sports or will the virus have manifested long term investment in esports? The answer to this question, like much else, is uncertain and those involved can only hope for the best in such trying times.