Does COVID-19 change MMA and sports forever?

[Legendary]

A few people that I know in the BJJ world with schools are really concerned that it will change the business forever. Even when things begin to reopen, less people will go to BJJ class because it has so much physical contact. People will also be hurting financially and wont have as much time to pay for BJJ.

I guess this applies to MMA gyms, boxing gyms, or anything that has heavy physical contact.

Public gatherings might be limited. Shit they are already talking about stopping hand shaking.

If gyms start to close down, then less fighters will be able to participate in the sport. There are enough gyms and fighters currently to keep things running for a while, but what about 5 years from now? A mix of these things could lead to a downscaling of the sport. Less cards, smaller venues, smaller talent pool.

 

[Deleted member 278323]

Fighting is too primal a sport to completely close shop. There might be fewer martial artists, a shallower talent-pool and less quality 5-10 years down the road, but the audience will still be there and I am not sure that the quality of the fights affects the size of the audience. Neither Garcia vs. Zombie nor Griffin vs. Bonnar was technical masterpieces, but people seemed to like those matches well-enough.

 

[HHJ]

YES of course it does. Just to what extent is what we will have to wait and see.

 

[HHJ]

It changes EVERYTHING. I work for a museum. If there was a vaccine,and we opened tommorow,it would still take a long time for people to start coming back. Its going to hurt bad when we try to run operations as we normally did with all the staff,cleaners,caterers,engineers,security, etc etc etc and nobody is coming to the museum.

 

[PlayTheGame]

Sports in general will take a huge hit.

Movie streaming platforms and video games are gonna thrive though as primary sources of cheap and safe entertainment.

 

[burningspear]

Until a vaccine.

 

[Slippage]

Not forever. A vaccine is probably 10-12 months away (if they get past clinical trials quickly).

Once a vaccine is widely available, everyone will be able to do all the same close contact activities they used to without much fear.

In the short term though, before that, yes, many businesses are fucked, and not just limited to MMA and combat sports. We are going to go into a massive global recession and depression because of Covid-19.

One way to help contact sports and activities before a vaccine is here, is easy availablelity for a Covid-19 test that anyone can pick up from a chemist or drugstore. If everyone can take a quick test before training in gyms or dojos (and everyone has to declare the result), that should go a long way to making people feel safer and less exposed.

 

[KONG-D'SNT-TAP]

Life will not be normal until a vaccine is made public.

 

[HHJ]

Life will not be normal until a vaccine is made public.

Even when it is,it will take a long time. Plus judging by some of the cynics we see in here,some will consider it a global conspiracy to get vaccinated,where they implant chips in all of us.

 

[ZOD66]

RIP COVID-19

 

[YourfatherII]

A few people that I know in the BJJ world with schools are really concerned that it will change the business forever. Even when things begin to reopen, less people will go to BJJ class because it has so much physical contact. People will also be hurting financially and wont have as much time to pay for BJJ.

I guess this applies to MMA gyms, boxing gyms, or anything that has heavy physical contact.

Public gatherings might be limited. Shit they are already talking about stopping hand shaking.

If gyms start to close down, then less fighters will be able to participate in the sport. There are enough gyms and fighters currently to keep things running for a while, but what about 5 years from now? A mix of these things could lead to a downscaling of the sport. Less cards, smaller venues, smaller talent pool.

Good questions all around. I think a lot of young people will get back to their routine almost right away. I’d like to know what how people got back to their lives after the Spanish flu as that was more deadly that covid. Truly this is awful for the world, how is anyone going to spend when they are scared like this.

 

[KONG-D'SNT-TAP]

Even when it is,it will take a long time. Plus judging by some of the cynics we see in here,some will consider it a global conspiracy to get vaccinated,where they implant chips in all of us.

Yeah we’re more than a year out before the world gets back to where it was before. Especially when it comes to sports and restaurants. No way stadiums or arenas are gonna be filled. All it takes is one sick person to start another wave of this virus.

 

[HHJ]

Good questions all around. I think a lot of young people will get back to their routine almost right away. I’d like to know what how people got back to their lives after the Spanish flu as that was more deadly that covid. Truly this is awful for the world, how is anyone going to spend when they are scared like this.

Its gonna be overboard,when the bars and shit start opening again

people gonna be fucking in the streets.

NYC is going to be insane

 

[Slippage]

Good questions all around. I think a lot of young people will get back to their routine almost right away. I’d like to know what how people got back to their lives after the Spanish flu as that was more deadly that covid. Truly this is awful for the world, how is anyone going to spend when they are scared like this.

Like I said, a mass market, widely available Covid-19 test will help a lot before a vaccine is available. People will feel safer doing close contact activities if they at least know everyone around them has been tested and is negative.

 

[Goatenstein]

I have no respect for pussies scared of a fucking cold.

 

[HHJ]

I have no respect for pussies scared of a fucking cold.

 

[Slippage]

I have no respect for pussies scared of a fucking cold.

That "cold" is killing family members. That's the problem with this thing. It's a basically a lottery as to how hard it can hit you. A family of 4 can all get it....3 of them might get mild symptoms or none. But the 1 unlucky family member that gets it hard can end up in ICU, being intubated and fighting for their life.

The virus is mutating as well. When it was hitting China first, we were mostly hearing that only over 70's and those with underlying health conditions were fatalities. Now we are seeing much younger people and those with no known underlying health conditions dying.

People do not want to risk getting this virus and giving it to someone who it may hit hard.

 

[thobra]

Of course it will. promotions will go bankrupt, gyms will go bankrupt, the ones that survive will look very different, probably smaller And need to do even more cost-cuts. Travel restrictions will probably last for a very long time.

Several people that buy ppvs or tickets have been laid off, some will be scared for a long time to go to events....

And so on...

 

[Leonard Haid]

A few people that I know in the BJJ world with schools are really concerned that it will change the business forever. Even when things begin to reopen, less people will go to BJJ class because it has so much physical contact. People will also be hurting financially and wont have as much time to pay for BJJ.

I guess this applies to MMA gyms, boxing gyms, or anything that has heavy physical contact.

Public gatherings might be limited. Shit they are already talking about stopping hand shaking.

If gyms start to close down, then less fighters will be able to participate in the sport. There are enough gyms and fighters currently to keep things running for a while, but what about 5 years from now? A mix of these things could lead to a downscaling of the sport. Less cards, smaller venues, smaller talent pool.

Forever is a long time. There have been worse epidemics and pandemics in human history than COVID-19, yet up till COVID-19 hit the world developed as it did. I think things will get back to pre-COVID-19 normalcy eventually. Maybe it'll take a year or two though. People are highly social creatures, the majority of them live and are active in areas and arenas where there are a lot of people around, so they'll naturally gravitate towards going back to living the kinds of lives they were living before COVID-19. It may be a slow and cautious return, but that's the direction it will go. That is our nature, and that is how our societies and systems are set up.

 

[essie]

Probably not forever but I don't think we will have any major sports at least in the United States for another two years or more. I don't know if the UFC can survive that kind of drought and most of the fighters will probably have moved on.