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Lionel Messi’s right - soccer will never be the same

FC Yahoo’s Ryan Bailey details the Barcelona star’s recent statement that the sport will be forever changed by the coronavirus pandemic.

Video transcript

RYAN BAILEY: Lionel Messi has said soccer will never be the same after the pandemic, and he's right. Ryan Bailey to Yahoo Sports speaking with Spanish media. Leo Messi has admitted the world's game is set for a big change. Soccer will never be the same, said the Barcelona star, but not only soccer. I think that life, in general, will never be the same.

Messi is absolutely right. It's not hard to notice that the game looks very different right now from games behind closed doors to heighten safety protocols to truncated competitions. These may all appear to be short term changes, but the pandemic will have a knock on effect that could make permanent changes to the sport. For starters, we could see a significant drop in the financial power of teams of all sizes.

As unemployment rises and corporations have less money to spend on sponsorship budgets, the value of commercial partnerships and TV revenues will decrease. That means less money for teams and players wages. And since it's unlikely that stadiums will be completely full around the world, until a vaccine is in place, teams will also find themselves hit by huge drops in match day revenues.

The financial bubble is bursting. And while revenues will eventually build up, again, it may change the way clubs do business. As teams the size of Barcelona have struggled, it's clear that some teams will need to operate with more cash in hand and more within their means. Crucially, the desire of the big clubs to keep revenue coming in could also expedite the inevitable arrival of a breakaway European super league, which would permanently change the face of the sport.

And by extension as clubs break away, we'll likely see more and more small to medium sized teams go out of business as they fail to compete with those on the very biggest stage. The pandemic may also affect the mechanisms of the transfer market. We'll likely see less action in the next new transfer windows, a lot more loan deals, and Barca President Josep Bartomeu is among those who thinks we'll see a lot more straight swap deals in lieu of cash.

The beautiful game will eventually return and stadiums will fill again. But the game, like the world, has changed. For more on the beautiful game, follow FC Yahoo on your favorite social channels and stay up to date on Yahoo Sports. Love to your mothers. See you next time.