ABSTRACT
The COVID-19 pandemic has hit sport hard worldwide at both elite and grassroots level, but the economic detail has not yet been aggregated into a conclusive cost-benefit analysis. Nevertheless the experiences of sport during the financial crisis of 2008 and the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic can provide a template for dealing with future crises that impact on sport. This includes having contingency plans for coping with revenue loss and for reducing costs. Crisis-proofing sport will require collective action regarding revenue sharing, directives (and their enforcement) on clubs accumulating financial reserves and living beyond their means, and making evidence-based claims to pressure governments to underwrite emergency relief to sport, particularly at grassroots level.
