O rlan d o:
T h e P r o g r es s o f Or la ndo’s
S p or t i n g W or ld S in c e CO V ID -19 Hit
No one can argue that Orlando, Florida, doesn’t have one of the best cultures for sports in the States. Home to teams competing in Major League Soccer, the NBA, the Florida State League of Baseball, the Women’s Football Alliance and much more, Orlando has been a center for sports for a long time. The NBA hosted the 1992 All-Star game at the Orlando Arena, then again in 2012 at the Amway Center. The Bounce House football stadium at the University of Central Florida has regularly hosted NCAA games, being the home field of the UCF Knights. Orlando had the opportunity to host the 1994 FIFA World Cup, and in 2018 the Orlando Anarchy football team won the WFA Division 3 National Championship. Since the effects of COVID-19 began taking hold, there are still a number of codes that are not overly disrupted by social distancing measures such as auto racing, tennis, and golf, to name a few. However, due to the risk posed by large gatherings and crowds, sports that have continued to carry on have been forced to switch to eSports channels.
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Many athletes have used their time in isolation as an opportunity to connect with fans through online platforms, a much-needed experience for fans who are now relegated to spectating online. The most at-risk codes are those in which athletes cannot easily socially distance, such as with baseball and basketball. For amateur athletes, the pandemic has partially if not completely halted funding for athletes training for athletics, and there are fears that this could have long-term effects on producing future competitors in the Olympics and other athletics competitions. And without the revenue that used to come from normal game-days, many lower-tiered sport clubs and businesses may fall into insolvency if they cannot secure other ways of generating revenue. Worse yet, like the major league games, some Orlando high school football games have been forced to cancel and there is pressure to postpone competitions after Evans Highschool’s football team had 5 players test positive for the virus. On a brighter note, the NBA and MLB have invested a lot of resources and have partnered with researchers to launch numerous studies on COVID-19 and have developed effective health and safety protocols for players, staff, and the general public. An example of a possible way for the future of sport, Disneyworld Orlando became the location of the NBA “bubble”, with 22 out of the 30 NBA teams staying in the isolation zone for the end of the 2019-2020 season that ended on the 13th of October, as well as for the following 2020 playoffs.
