Irrespective of our own personal views on the pandemic and the resulting lockdowns, all of us Cricket fans are going to have to get used to the fact that moving forward, at least over the short term things are going to change regarding the sport we love.
Today I want to take a look at and explore what those changes are going to be, for they are certainly going to affect us all. However, at the end of the day, Cricket will soon be returning to our TV screen and it will not be awfully long now until we will soon have the opportunity to venture out and start watching live Cricket matches too.
Admittedly, it will be matches that are being played in countries that have come out of lockdown first that we will be able to watch on television and watch first but keep the faith Canadians should not be waiting too long nor for things to get back to normal.
The lockdowns have of course cost the sporting industry deal, and the Betting.ca author Doug Hirdle has said that whilst many brick and mortar sportsbooks will take years to recover from their lost revenue, many online cricket betting sites have been doing well, thanks to them offering different gambling opportunities.
Cricket Ground Capacity May Decrease
The powers that be keep on telling us that we will have to get used to a “new type of normal” when lockdowns finally come to an end, and that does fill us all with dread of course.
As for what that new normal will be, when it comes to the sport of Cricket, well there are a few things I can predict with some form of certainty.
In the short term I would expect social distancing to still be a very real thing, so when attending any Cricket matches that are going ahead do not expect to be allowed to sit or stand too close to other spectators.
I would also expect anyone attending a Cricket match to be asked to wear a face covering too, however that will not go down well with some people, for at the end of the day not only will they be social distancing, but they will be sat outside too. But it is of course all a case of wait and see as to how thing progress moving forward, which they surely will do.
Cricket Teams May Suffer Financially
We should also spare a thought for the financial plight of Cricket Clubs during the pandemic too, for as us fans of the sport are eagerly awaiting some form of normality to return so we can go and watch matches once again in a way we once used to do, many clubs are not going to make it through the pandemic.
The financial pressure of having to close down their activities for months on end will be too great to bear for many clubs, for with income streams drying up and bills still coming in it is a sad fact of life without financial support many Cricket Clubs will go under.
Income from ticket sales has of course been non-existent, so too have revenue from televising such events, and not only will sponsors not be forthcoming for quite some time, many of those one time sponsors and advertisers will be experiencing financial pressures themselves.
As is often the case, it will be down to us diehard fans of the sport to support our local Cricket Clubs once things get back to normal, so when they do please make something of a concerted effort to attend a live Cricket match, even if the teams you are watching are not the ones you may usually support, every Dollar counts right now for many of those clubs.
So, if you are in a position to visit any local matches, then make sure that is something you consider doing, and take some friends or family members along with you too.