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SAYING GOODBYE TO WHAT WAS SUPPOSED TO BE BLOCKBUSTER YEAR

Bye To the Summer Olympics, Until 2021 At Least

Oh man, 2020 was going to be a great year for the sports industry. A perfect mix of some of the biggest sporting events were all lining up perfectly to make it a stellar year for sports betting fans all around. We had everything in store, the Summer Olympic Games, both the Euro and South American national team's soccer tournaments, a new season of the NFL, NBA, MLB. You name it, 2020 had it, but then it didn't anymore. As the year comes to an end, let's look back at what could've been and tip our hat off as we see one of the worse years for the sports industry in history come to a close.

The Summer Olympics are the biggest sporting event in the world, without a shadow of a doubt. It’s considered to be one of the pinnacles of any athlete’s career. 2020 was poised to see a new edition of the Olympic Games, to be hosted in Tokyo, Japan in mid-2020. Once the Coronavirus pandemic took over the world, the 2020 Summer Olympics were the first major sporting event to be called off. As reported by NBCNews, the Olympic Games were postponed until the summer of 2021. 

While the event was supposed to have drawn at least 600,000 visitors from all corners of the world, authorities from both the Olympic Committee and the Japanese government were quick to take the wisest decision at the moment which was to postpone the games beyond 2020 but not later than summer of 2021. It’s notable to say that this is the first time that the modern Olympic Games have been rescheduled. Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe stated that the games “must be held in a way that shows the world has won its battle against the coronavirus pandemic”.

Continental Soccer Tournaments Suffered As Well

There is no shadow of a doubt that soccer is the most popular team sport in the world. With a worldwide following, professional soccer tournaments are one of the preferred events for online sportsbooks fans to wager on. 2020 and its resident party pooper, the Coronavirus, did not hold back against the “king of sports”. The four most important soccer tournaments in the world, both for professional teams as well as National teams we all either at first postponed and then replayed or moved altogether for 2021.

Both the Copa Libertadores in South America and the UEFA Champions League in Europe were modified to be finished without fans in the stand and in the least amount of time possible. On the other hand the South American Copa America, to be played in Argentina and Colombia and Europe’s Euro Tournament to be played in various cities across Europe were both postponed until 2021 to offer the safest playing environment for teams. Limited hosting of fans in stadiums has been discussed but it will come down to game time decisions with however the world situation regarding the pandemic stands.

NBA, MLB, NFL, With No Fans and Strict Protocols

The three major professional sports leagues in the United States also took severe a pummeling because of COVID-19. In any other year the city of Los Angeles would have gone beyond insane after seeing both the LA Dodgers and LA Lakers be crowned as Champions of their respective leagues, but since it’s 2020 we had to do good with both teams winning their titles without any fans and under strict protocols even for celebrating. 

The NFL decided to still have their 2020 season but again without any fans and with players and coaches all falling victims to the COVID-19 virus in different occasions causing the postponement of games for instance. Super Bowl LV is still in calendar to be hosted in Tampa Bay, on February 7th, 2021 with very strict restrictions and health safety rules, but with the dawn of a COVID-19 vaccine the idea of having a limited amount of fans attending the game is also being tossed around for consideration.

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