ABSTRACT

The impact of and response to the COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic varied among sports organizations around the world. At the top tier of the American soccer pyramid, Major League Soccer (MLS) played two fixtures before the league office suspended the season and announced an action plan that included teams continuing play later in the year. The National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL) delayed the start of its season and later released plans to become the first professional team sports league in the United States to resume play. The pandemic impacted lower-tier soccer leagues and teams differently. Initially, leagues such as the fourth-tier men’s United Soccer League Two (USL 2) and the fourth-tier Women’s Premier Soccer League (WPSL) publicized plans to delay the start of the 2020 season. However, some teams in these leagues immediately withdrew from competition due to unique structural conditions. This article examines the case of one of these organizations.

摘要

世界各地的体育组织对COVID-19（冠状病毒）大流行的影响和反应有所不同。在美国足球金字塔的最上层，美国职业足球大联盟（MLS）在联赛办公室暂停本赛季之前发挥了两个作用，并宣布了一项行动计划，其中包括今年晚些时候继续比赛的球队。全国女子足球联赛（NWSL）推迟了赛季开始，并随后发布了成为美国第一个恢复比赛的职业球队体育联盟的计划。大流行对低级足球联赛和球队的影响不同。最初，四线男子联合足球第二联赛（USL 2）和四线女子超级足球联赛（WPSL）等联盟公布了推迟2020赛季开始的计划。然而，这些联盟中的某些球队由于独特的结构条件而立即退出比赛。本文研究了其中一个组织的情况。