COLUMBUS, Ohio — Recent COVID-19 outbreaks have forced Ohio sports teams to postpone or cancel events, impacting the sports ecosystem.

Teams, including the Cleveland Browns and Columbus Blue Jackets, battled outbreaks of COVID-19, forcing them to postpone games.

Matt Cacciato, Director of the Master of Sports Administration Program at Ohio University’s College of Business, said the moving of games has bigger implications than just inconvenience. 

“The solution is ongoing and it evolves,” said Cacciato.

He said postponing games disrupts what is called the sports ecosystem.

“It starts with the fans, the employees of the organizations, their media partners and sponsors,” said Cacciato.

While broadcasting rights and sponsorships are important to teams, Cacciato said those contracts are long term. He said the biggest impact is on communities.

“Whether it’s refreshing your wearables, going to the store and buying tailgate items, planning with friends, using the infrastructure that cities have for sports, public transportation, Ubers, taxis,” said Cacciato. “When you’re not going to the event, all of that stops.”

And while the games were only postponed, not canceled, there’s still a chance fans wouldn’t be able to make the new dates, no longer bringing business to the respective cities.

Cacciato said it’s easier for fans to opt out of rescheduled games now, too.

“They could have likely bought insurance, event interruption insurance,” he said. “And we see, again, customer service going to another level, technology providing a platform and level to protect themselves.”

He said while there’s no clear solution to the problem, sports protocols have come a long way since 2020. 

“So much innovation from an event standpoint,” Cacciato said. “If you look at what golf tournaments did, if you look at what Muirfield did during the pandemic and to the biggest leagues and Ohio State, innovation at every level really saved sports.”

The Browns were able to play their Christmas Day game at Green Bay as scheduled, but the Blue Jackets’ continue to see postponements with Tuesday’s game versus the Blackhawks postponed.

In the college ranks, Ohio State canceled its game Monday versus New Orleans, its third consecutive cancellation.