THE COVID-19 GLOBAL PANDEMIC AND ITS IMPACT ON THE EU SPORTS INDUSTRY AS A PART OF ENTREPRENEURSHIP ENVIRONMENT

This scientific paper brought insights into the effects of the Covid-19 on specific and important part of the EU economy – the sports industry. The main objective of the research made was to identify and quantify the possible impact of the Covid-19 global pandemic on the EU sports industry. There are no doubts that this pandemic has had a significant impact on the world economy and also on the economies of the individual countries. This scientific article connects already published articles, which were focusing on the impacts of the Covid-19 on the global or local economies and their specific industries with the analysis of the impact on the sports industry in the European Union which have not been sufficiently investigated yet. Purpose of the article was to identify and quantify the impact of the Covid-19 waves and restrictions (that have been held against the spread of The Covid-19) on the sports industry in the EU and its individual countries. This paper also seeks to present possible solutions how the EU sports industry could possibly restore its pre-pandemic state. Mainly the empirical, exploratory, comparative and statistical methods of examining secondary data which are connected with the selected macroeconomic indicators (f. e. the industry outputs, state of employment in the selected time period) were used. The most important finding is that the Covid-19 pandemic has had significant impact on the EU sports industry.