Research on the Impact of COVID-19 on Professional Sports in China and Development Strategies

Abstract

Since COVID-19 lasted for three years, it had a considerable impact on most industries, and the professional sports industry, where many people would gather, was inevitably among them. There was no uniform statement about the extent of its impact. Therefore, this paper explores the impact of the epidemic on professional sports in China and the future development strategies of professional sports by collecting data on the income of the professional sports industry before and after the epidemic and conducting a comparative analysis of the data and interviews with a portion of people with game watching habits. The two investigations show that the impact of COVID-19 on professional sports is significant. Therefore, it is recommended that professional sports games return to normal as soon as they are allowed and enhance the viewing experience both online and offline this is important to increase both revenue and spectator sentiment. This study objectively analyzes the impact of COVID-19 on professional sports in China, which facilitates the recognition that the current strategies made by the professional sports industry in response to the epidemic are inadequate and do not consider the economic pressure caused to teams as well as athletes.