COVID-19 has affected many worldwide business sectors, but arguably none more so than the sport industry. 

Many games have been hit by the coronavirus, with a Europa League soccer game on Thursday between Italy's Inter Milan and Bulgarian team Ludogorets at the San Siro stadium being played behind closed doors and the Six Nations rugby clash between Ireland and Italy in Dublin, which was due to be played on 7 March, being postponed.

Simon Chadwick, director at the Centre for the Eurasian Sport Industry, Emlyon Business School, discussed how much the virus has cost the sports industry. "Thus far, it's very difficult to know exactly how much has been wiped off the value of sport as a result of the virus. Obviously its developing, we know that events such as the Olympic Games, Formula One, European football are monitoring the situation very closely," he said.

"My view is, at some stage there will be postponements and money lost. There are noises coming out of China already from, for example, sportswear manufacturers that suggest up to half of their business has been wiped out. But to be able to aggregate this, we need a clearer picture of what's been postponed, what's been cancelled, who's been affected in what way. But I think it's safe [to say], in general terms, we're talking about millions, possibly billions, of dollars," Chadwick added.

There has also been talk about whether worldwide sporting events such as the Euro 2020 soccer tournament and the Summer Olympics in Tokyo would have to be postponed. But Chadwick thinks that will only happen as a "last resort."