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Covid-19 lockdown day 77 – overnight a new world rises from the ashes (pt 3/4)

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Here in part three, I continue to list the global industries hit the hardest by the recent lockdown. The dice fell as it may and those on the wrong side of the hand of fate were cut off from any way to continue business as usual. As a result they may disappear into history, or at least take the biggest hit in the coming global financial recession. Here are a few more industries worth noting in this regard.

Let’s consider the massive global sports industry, something many of us love dearly, that took such a massive hit this year under the pandemic that even the Olympic Games was cancelled. This has only happened once or twice in history (apparently both times also to Tokyo, who are seen as cursed by this Olympic thing) like during WW2. Add to that all the sporting leagues, whether football, baseball, basketball, soccer, and all the others. No travel, no congregations allowed, so no public sporting events of any sort took place during lockdown. As months went by, sports franchises, teams and clubs could do nothing more than cancel this year’s tournaments, or postpone at best. That means millions if not billions of dollars in revenue lost from ticket sales, television rights, salaries and advertising all lost. Sports and entertainment associated with it, make up about a $12 billion industry globally. This entire year may have to be scrapped as a result of this lost season. Even professional players are being forced to take pay cuts of up to more than 60% of their original salaries. No one is able to stomach those sickening payouts that pro athletes were raking in under the current new economic depression felt by most on the planet right now. During the era of indulgence and debauchery, just last year, it was normal, but those days are gone. We are in a recession now, perhaps a depression, and it may go on for a few years still, so that decadence no longer has any place in our world. The sports industry globally will have to rethink its game plan and come up with an entirely new strategy.

Another massive industry that is collapsing is real estate. And it’s not just home prices but commercial real estate that is taking a massive hit. All those malls that are full of tenants in smaller retail shops, are all struggling to get their money out of those tenants. As smaller shops are forced to stay closed for business, and revenues dry up and they go bankrupt, the landlords of the big malls and commercial office buildings are not getting their rent, and thus are having to foreclose on their loan payments to the banks and the whole real estate industry is buckling and taking a knee under the weight of financial collapse. Even Starbucks want a bailout, or at least a reduction on rent. And that in itself says a whole lot, when the biggest franchise in the world can’t survive the fallout of this lockdown.

And there are other industries that are collapsing or vanishing into obscurity now too that I won’t even go into, for example with the new work-from-home culture that has exploded by force of necessity now, numerous fringe businesses will have to shift, like Uber or taxis in general. Here in my country of South Africa, the minibus taxi service is being forced to double its ticket price for each commuter overnight to stay afloat. One reason for this is because they are now only allowed to carry half the passengers in their little 14-seater vans that are the mainstay of the public transport system here. Social distancing still applies in these vans, and may continue all year at this rate, since the pandemic is not over by any means, according to the WHO, if you care to believe them. Pandemics can take years to burn out, if history is anything to go by. People won’t travel as much, gas/petrol won’t be used so much, the oil industry is already under pressure from decrease demand. Entire nations like Venezuela, Iran, Saudi Arabia and Russia are being affected by the historic crash in the oil price.

More in the next and final part of this series, coming soon. (image pixabay)