$146.12m Could Be Lost From Entire Season Without Fans In MotoGP,

As the world is currently in a global pandemic due to Covid 19, it means that events where people will be gathering in crowds will have had to have been postponed or cancelled completely. An example of this would be the Olympics which were due to take place in the summer of last year have now been rescheduled to take place this year. However it may have to be postponed again or cancelled completely depending on how the situation with the pandemic is.

A number of sporting events have been taking place, however to maintain people's safety, these have been happening with out spectators or fans. This will mean that the sport and the teams involved will have a lack of money coming in or revenue being earned. Depending on how big the sports teams involved are, it may mean that some teams may eventually have to shut down because they won't be able to exist with out the revenue coming in from the number of fans who come to watch the events.

A number of races in the 2021 Grand Prix have already taken place this year, but of course with out any spectators, no money will have been coming in and the events will have been a struggle to hold.

Jake Kemp, Sport Analyst at Global Data, comments: "COVID-19 is continuing to jeopardise Grand Prix planning in 2021 in the same manner that it did in 2020. The opening two-race Grand Prix weekends in Qatar saw the grandstands reduced to a maximum capacity of 20%, which already minimized potential profits from ticket sales. Getting fans back watching live action is a huge financial plus for the series and its organizers, but there are no guarantees as to how many, if any can attend each circuit this year.

"The picture remains the same as it was in 2020, with so much uncertainty around crowds, as the world continues to battle against the pandemic. The reduced and reorganized 2020 calendar saw only limited numbers of fans invited to attend three rounds of racing in Italy and France. Had all of its 2020 races been able to host fans, then over 2.42 million fans would have been present across the season. Putting this into a monetary perspective, this equates to an estimated $106.87m of lost revenue from ticket sales."

Another way that sports teams or events in general can generate the funding they need to hold events is through sponsorship but it can be extremely difficult and challenging to find people or companies who may want to or be able to offer sponsorship. It can be very time consuming to search for and find the appropriate people who may be able to offer support and events may have to be postponed in the mean time.

Kemp continues: "In total, MotoGP stands to generate $64.25m from its 21 main-brand partners, which operate on a sliding scale in terms of value and importance. This figure, however, appears to be relatively low when compared against other rival motor racing series such as Formula One. F1 comparatively generates an estimated $230.5m from its sponsorship deals, despite MotoGP boasting a larger following online. While the motorcycling series is taking steps to improve its global popularity, with the introduction of a new documentary series to follow the 2021 season, its value can still be described as low."

There are currently eleven teams competing in the MotoGP this year and sponsorship remains an extremely important element for each of them to enable them to manage and survive. This will also help the local and national economies as sports teams are like businesses and they help give back to the local community in a variety of different ways. If they are forced to close or shut down due to a lack of funding or investment, it will mean that the local economy will begin to suffer and there will be fewer jobs. This in turn means that people will earn less and have less money to spend on the every day items they need to survive.

Kemp concludes: "Team title sponsorship deals offer teams a quick an easy route to profiting from sponsorship deals. Title sponsorship rights in the sport can fetch up to $17m a season, which is the current estimated value of the deal involved in technology brand Lenovo and the factory Ducati team."

There are various systems and web sites which aim to help businesses including sports teams survive. These rely on public support so in order to help the economy, please ensure to help sports teams in your area at this very difficult time.