The global sporting shutdown caused by the coronavirus pandemic has affected fans, organisations and broadcasters alike.
Fans are missing out on the sports they love, while competitions and rights holders are losing out on crucial revenue streams.
With the suspension of various leagues and competitions worldwide, Esports content has helped fill the void in the minds of athletes and fans.
It might not be quite the same, but to see F1 drivers and professional cyclists taking part in virtual competitions has added to the interest for fans around the globe.
In an ideal world, we could have been three races into the F1 season, watching Lewis Hamilton on his path towards a seventh world title. Similarly, with football, we could be watching the final matches of the season across various European leagues.
We’ll have to make do for now, and enjoy whatever sport is coming our way as there is no certainty as to when the calendar will re-commence.
For F1 fans, a virtual series has been created to enable people to continue watching races. And to highlight it’s popularity, the first race two weeks ago, won by Guanyu Zhou, pulled in 3.2 million viewers across Facebook, YouTube and Twitch.
Just last weekend, the second Virtual Grand Prix took place, with a grid featuring Charles Leclerc, Lando Norris, Nicholas Latifi, George Russell, Alex Albon and Antonio Giovinazzi.
Ex-world champion Jenson Button took part alongside other former F1 drivers Stoffel Vandoorne and Esteban Gutierrez as well as England cricket star Ben Stokes and Leclerc’s 19-year-old brother Arthur.
On the Formula One YouTube page, there were two pundits in the studio to preview and review the race, plus a full commentary of the 28-lap race.
Over 1.5 million people tuned in on Facebook alone to watch a classy Leclerc lead from start to finish. The joy of victory for the Monaco man matched by the responsibility to entertain those locked down at home.
Hahaaa, 1st Win of the season ! 🏆
— Charles Leclerc (@Charles_Leclerc) April 5, 2020
This was very fun, I hope you had fun watching me live wherever you are in the world, but take care of yourself and I hope we make this difficult times a bit happier. ❤️ pic.twitter.com/6igWCL81p9
“(I practiced) at least five hours each day and at the end of the week we all linked together with George, Alex and the others and stream everything live and it was very fun so we’ll continue to do that,” Leclerc told Formula One.
“Obviously it’s a hard time for absolutely everyone staying at home so we try our best to entertain everyone at home and hopefully this was the case tonight and we’ll try to do many more in the next few weeks.”
The postponed Chinese Grand Prix will take place next in two weeks’ time online again, with Leclerc hoping to make it two wins from two after missing the Bahrain Grand Prix.
In football, leagues across the world may be shut down, but the stiff competition between teams is set to carry on in the virtual world.
One of Spain’s leading Esports personalities Ibai Llanos stepped in to fill the void, hosting a three-day virtual tournament with 19 players from La Liga.
Players included Barcelona’s Sergi Roberto, Real Sociedad’s Adnan Januzaj and Real Madrid’s Marco Asensio, who beat Leganes player Aitor Ruibal to win the tournament.
Over one million people tuned in across YouTube, Twitch, La Liga Sports TV and social media channels, and was even broadcast live on some television channels.
In cycling, there was a virtual Tour of Flanders streamed live across various YouTube channels and watched by hundreds of thousands of people.
The virtual 30km course also included video links to all the participating riders as well as a full race commentary.
Belgian Greg van Avermaet was crowned winner of the race as 13 riders competed in the one-day event on training bikes in their homes.
Sure, the race wasn’t the real thing but the power numbers put out by the riders showed how gruelling it was. Van Avermaet, for example, put out an average of 434 watts during the 43-minute race.
“My heart rate hasn’t been that high for a long time, I think,” Van Avermaet told Sporza. “I’m certainly satisfied with my performance. It’s a bit peculiar to race from home, but I did my best.
“At the beginning, I was shocked by the speed and because of that I had to drop back on the Kruisberg, but a bit like in real life I put everything into the Paterberg. After that, it was like dying to the end. I was really a bloc.”
In horse racing, nearly five million viewers tuned in to watch ITV‘s live broadcast of the Virtual Grand National on Sunday.
The Grand National is one of the biggest races of the year, attracting a global audience of about 500 million people annually. The 2020 race was set to be the 173rd edition of the 30-fence epic, raced at Aintree in Liverpool.
Welsh Grand National winner Potters Corner held on to beat Walk In the Mill in the 6.9km race, with two-times Grand National winner Tiger Roll finishing fourth.
“In addition to the extensive viewership, Virtual Grand National was trending second worldwide on Twitter on Saturday,” said Steve Rogers, Chief Commercial Officer of Virtual Sports for Inspired.
“This is a great example of how virtual sports can plug the gap and bring people together for some relief during these difficult times just as real sports do.”
The audience is certainly there for Esports, and with more money being spent, we can expect the industry to continue to grow.
During these tough times, sports fans are crying out for live action on our television screens. It’s a viable option while we wait for the global situation to improve and just hope our sports of choice resume very soon.
The current situation may have given Esports a huge push forward, expediting its entrance into mainstream sports events. Something that was always inevitable but may now be happening even sooner given the numbers we’ve seen and the potential for stream revenue.
