Yet given the way different variants have spread and the general waning effectiveness of the first round of boosters, the question remains: Will what we saw during this past winter potentially happen again? NBA Commissioner Adam Silver speaks before Game 1 of the NBA Finals between the Golden State Warriors and the Boston Celtics in San Francisco on June 2, 2022. Nearly every pro league has a 95-plus percent vaccination rate, something few regions in the U.S. Make no mistake about it: If the public at large was as vaccinated in the percentages that pro sports leagues and many collegiate programs are, the numbers based around COVID-19 would be drastically different. The NHL had to take even more drastic measures, suspending the season around the Christmas holiday for a short period of time and backing out of its original plans to participate in the Olympic Winter Games in Beijing. Some NBA games had to be rescheduled, with players coming out of retirement on 10-day contracts to fill rosters of teams dealing with multiple COVID positives. There were moments of genuine concern for both the NBA and NHL because of the omicron variant that surged around the United States and Canada during the winter months.

Unlike the previous season that was held with fan restrictions in nearly every arena, this year’s NBA and NHL seasons were almost always held in front of crowds allowed at 100 percent capacity, and those that started the season with masking and vaccination requirements eliminated those protocols by the time spring came.īut the seasons will be remembered for more than just having been completed and with revenues more in line with traditional expectations. With the NBA season and the Stanley Cup Final cementing the end of the NHL’s season, the 2021–2022 winter pro sports have been able to complete another season that was complicated by COVID-19. Could Booster’s Waning Effects Hurt Sports Next Winter? Here is a look at where things stand.Ĭlick here for the latest on COVID-19’s Effect on the Sports-Event Industry. Nearly every major sporting event has been canceled, moved or postponed.

The coronavirus outbreak has forced difficult decisions for the sports-event industry.

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