Open Access

Jonah Hynes

• The COVID-19 pandemic is impacting the entire world in every aspect of life. The global economy is experiencing enormous setbacks in every economic sector. Specifically, the sports industry is facing a massive revenue loss since the outbreak of the virus, resulting from the implementation of pandemic containment measures. Every professional sports league has to adapt to the given circumstances and create solutions to keep the operational business alive. This study focuses on the clubs of the Deutsche Eishockey Liga. Due to the novelty of the topic, previous literature has hardly mentioned the economic consequences and long-lasting effects on the organizations and their ecosystem. In addition, the pandemic is a continuous process, leading to new results and insights consistently. To this end, the present research highlights the economic consequences of the pandemic and exhibits the conditions under which the league operation can be executed. Following a qualitative research design to answer the research questions, a detailed literature review and analysis was carried out to provide theoretical delineations. Subsequently, primary data was collected through six semi-structured interviews with managers of a sample of DEL clubs to explore the problems, concerns and attitudes towards the pandemic’s effects. The results demonstrate that the main source of income of the clubs are partly or completely eliminated because of the pandemic. In particular, ticketing and sponsorship, which are the main sources of income for the clubs, were affected. Overall, the outbreak of the virus led to a chain reaction of events, ultimately impacting the league operation. Consequently, the clubs need to rethink their business model and implement tactics to conquer this situation. Furthermore, the league operation of the 2020-2021 season can only be guaranteed if risk minimization actions and crisis management strategies are applied. In sum this research provides a clear and transparent overview of the operational business of the DEL clubs under the effects of the pandemic. In addition, this research represents a starting point for future comparison and functions as a guidepost and support for a post pandemic economic analysis.