Five Harmful Trends to Watch Out For As Sports Restart Post-Covid

It seems we are coming out of this for real. Vaccine distribution is outpacing many even optimistic expectations and trendlines are headed in a positive direction. People are demonstrating far greater confidence in their choices, including this author, who even dined out inside and took public transportation for the first time in 13 months within the last week. This means that sports at all levels will be resuming soon in earnest. The global Covid-19 pandemic was remarkable not just for its disruption or the weight of its toll in lives lost and families impacted, unlike most other crises we have faced it also stopped sports on a global scale- the place people go to escape from the sometimes painful reality of life. Covid in some cases wiped out iconic events, in others postponed them, and required major concessions for others to go forward.

Now I would caution that I am a sports lawyer and sports business professor, not an epidemiologist and cannot make informed predictions about what hopefully will be the final months of the pandemic in terms of safety and risk. But making informed predictions as to emerging risks and safety concerns for the recovering realm of sports, that is what I do every day. It would be an understatement to say that sports engagement, on multiple levels, will recover rapidly once public confidence is combined with lifting public restrictions. Sports engagement and participation will recover dramatically, perhaps explosively, with people making up for lost time, and organizations making up or seeking to make up for lost revenue and revenue opportunities at every turn.

But what negative trends run hand in hand with a potentially robust return to normalcy? What challenges will confront sports on new or increased levels? Here, five are identified as likely to present at new or heightened levels of risk. At the heart of all prevention or compliance programs are: awareness; assessment; and preventative education. For those of us who love sports and believe they have an important role both in shaping our culture but also representing it, should be aware and watchful of these five areas of heightened risk in the days, weeks, and months ahead.

1. Will Replacing Lost Revenue Lead to Ethical Corners Being Cut
Not every business suffered during the pandemic. Some were very resilient and some even prospered. The sports sector certainly had winners in this dimension, think home fitness and digital or connected training platforms. But for the most part, traditional areas of sports: fan attendance; athletic participation; team and club sports; all have lost revenue directly or lost opportunities at significant amounts of revenue due to Covid. In the race to get even, to get back to normal, will corners be cut? Human behavior and history suggest that ethics will take a back seat to profits in such boom times. There are many issues to connect with ethical corner-cutting and the pressure to replace lost dollars quickly. But one issue to keep a special watch on is the independence of sports medical providers as everyone wants to get back in the race. Will medical advice and best practices be effectively communicated and heeded by athletes, especially younger athletes? The risks in this area are as high as life and death.

2. Increased Sexual Misconduct Arising Out of Sports Interactions
The return to more normal interactions in sports will invariably lead to more instances of sexual misconduct. Misconduct is used here to describe a range of sexualized behaviors from exploitation, to harassment, to inappropriate relationships, to sexual assault. Recognition of issues in this area, of unethical individuals, and the need to provide greater education around issues of consent and limitations on conduct will be required- no matter what type of setting. Adults will need to educate, model good behavior, and help provide critical and thoughtful response to these complicated interactions.

3. More Instances of Coaching Abuse or Coaching Malfeasance
Monday’s column in this space, “Coach-Protect Yourself,” comes as both a warning and a curse. There will be more instances of abusive coaching and simply bad coaching exposed in the coming months. The stakes are heightened with athletes making up for lost time, coaches making up for lost revenue with too many athletes and hurried training. Combine more competitors with a finite range of competitive opportunities and there will be pressure on coaches to breach best practices, be reactive rather than analytical, and coaching resources and ethics will be stretched thin.

On the other side of this same coin, a lack of athlete and parental patience after athletic dreams having been so long deferred will also bring a larger number of false or inflated claims against coaches. This means otherwise good coaches must be aware of best practices to limit exposure to such charges including: keeping training group sizes manageable; giving appropriate attention to all athletes; and being mindful of safe sport and inclusion and belonging best practices.

4. Advances in Social Media Use Will Challenge Sports
When sports closed down in March of 2020, several now popular social media platforms, including TikTok, were in their relative infancy. Now, these platforms which allow immediate exposure are much more mainstream and there are few, if any, secrets that social media can’t reveal- in real time- warts and all. This provides a brave new world in which sports resume, a new world that many don’t fully understand. But privacy, bullying, defamation, copyright infringement, are all topics that demand greater attention. The unrelenting desire to build one’s brand must be tempered by education that helps young athletes (and coaches) understand the risks and responsibilities of their social media activity.

5. Challenges Related to the Integration of Legal Sports Betting Into All Sports
The widespread legalization of sports betting in 2018 was slow to catch hold. But fast forward to April 2021 and sports betting has already been approved in 22 states or bills have been introduced in 47 states that will allow legalized sports betting. This means that the long-believed greatest threat to sport is now mainstream. As more states seek to replace lost revenue the variety of exotic bets will increase. This means every sport will need to be vigilant as to the risks associated with bet manipulation, in-game betting, and proposition (prop) betting. While large sports organizations are embracing betting entities and taking betting dollars, that only raises the risk of an athlete or coach trying to cash in by fixing or manipulating a contest. No sport is safe and no athlete free from temptation.