Sports events: crowd dynamics and relevance in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic | Fact-sheets collection from the Portuguese COVID-19 pandemic Task Force on Behavioral Sciences

Abstract

Cultural and sporting events hold significant social value, promoting cognitive, emotional, and interpersonal skills. The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted these events, necessitating a careful examination of safety conditions for their resumption. This policy brief summarizes evidence on safety predictors in organizing large-scale sporting events, focusing on crowd dynamics and relevance in the context of the pandemic. Emphasis is given to the importance of understanding crowd behavior, noting that violent behavior is an exception rather than the rule. Various factors need to be considered for promoting public health safety in the pandemic context, including the nature of the sport, spatial organization, and socio-demographic characteristics of the audience. Key recommendations include maintaining physical distance, organizing outdoor events, and perceiving crowds as compositions of smaller groups with shared social identities. Clear communication, consistent messaging, and involvement of informed individuals to guide crowd behavior are also crucial. Mega events can be used to promote COVID-19 health behaviors and to enhance collaborative actions among various stakeholders, including government bodies, sports organizations, and the media, to ensure safe sporting events.