Education
How the 2019 Coronavirus has Affected the Sports Industry
The coronavirus is now declared as a pandemic by the World Health Organization. Currently, there are now over 140,000 cases related to this. The virus has also caused over 5,000 fatalities. It has already spread to over 100 countries.
It’s definitely become a problem around the world and it also affects many industries. The sports industry is greatly affected by this too. Many sports events have already been canceled. March has always been a great month for many sports fans but for now, it’s become the month of the virus.
Major leagues from around the world have already made the necessary changes to help lessen the spread of the virus. From the NBA, the NHL, the IPL, to the EPL, here are the updates that sports fans should know about.
The NBA
The National Basketball Association abruptly announced the suspension of the rest of its season this week. This is after it was found that one of the players of Utah Jazz tested positive for the coronavirus. This happened just moments before a game began in Oklahoma City.
At first, the NBA was trying to avoid the suspension by only advising its players to avoid handshakes, giving the fans high fives and signing autographs with borrowed pens and markers. However, the confirmed case within the league changed things completely. The indefinite suspension of the basketball games within the NBA has started on March 12.
The Indian Premier League
After weeks of waiting whether the IPL will be canceled or not, the Board of Cricket Control in India or BCCI has finally made an announcement about this. The IPL will still push through but instead of it starting on March 29, it will begin on April 15.
This announcement was reported on Cricket-Betting.in tips after New Delhi and Mumbai have already banned large gatherings for any sporting events. Even the two remaining one-day cricket internationals in India has been called off. People are also saying anyway that even if the I-PL pushes through on the 29th, people will most likely stay away from the stadium.
The Major League Baseball
The MLB has already suspended the spring training indefinitely. The start of the season will also be delayed for at least two weeks. Instead of March 26, the opening day will happen on April 9. This is the earliest date, and so it’s possible that it will still happen later than April 9.
According to the MLB, “MLB will announce the effects on the schedule at an appropriate time and will remain flexible as events warrant, with the hope of resuming normal operations as soon as possible.
It also explained why these were necessary. “Nothing is more important to us than the health and safety of our players, employees, and fans. MLB will continue to undertake the precautions and best practices recommended by public health experts. We send our best wishes to all individuals and communities that have been impacted by coronavirus.”
The English Premier League
The EPL is also now suspended until April 4 because of the outbreak. The governing bodies for the leagues said in a statement, “Following a meeting of shareholders today, it was unanimously decided to suspend the Premier League with the intention of returning on April 4.”
The chief executive of the Premier League also talked about this. He said, “In this unprecedented situation, we are working closely with our clubs, Government, The FA, and EFL and can reassure everyone the health and welfare of players, staff and supporters are our priority.”
He added, “Despite the challenges, it is the Premier League’s aim to reschedule the displaced fixtures, including those played by Academy sides, when it is safe to do so.”
The rest of the soccer matches in England are now also canceled. It was also reported that Arsenal FC’s coach, Mikel Arteta, and Chelsea player Callum Hudson-Ohio were found positive of the 2019 coronavirus.
Three Leicester City players and one Everton FC member are all on self-isolation as they are reported to have symptoms of the virus.
The Masters
The officials of the Augusta National Golf Club have announced that The Masters will also be postponed. The PGA Tour, also announced that it was canceling several golf tournaments until the week of Masters, which is scheduled on April 9 to 12.
The Masters organizers said in a statement, “We hope this postponement puts us in the best position to safely host the Masters tournament and our amateur events at some later date.”
Everyone has been turning their selfies into cartoon characters on social media lately. Our recent piece on how people are creating animated WhatsApp avatars for free proves just how fast these tools are catching on.
But beyond all the fun filters and fast effects, there’s a larger narrative at play here, and that is that AI is revolutionising the way people edit photos. What used to take hours or even days in the past can be done in minutes with a few clicks, and you don’t need to have advanced design skills to get the job done either.
Here’s a look at some of the best AI tools that are making photo editing faster, smarter, and more enjoyable whether you’re a creative or simply someone who is looking to have some fun with your photos.
- Photoshop’s AI Photo Tools: Speed and Precision
Most people know Adobe Photoshop as the go-to program for editing images, but its latest AI features take things to a whole new level. Photoshop’s new AI-powered features can automatically identify faces, exposure, and colour issues, fixing them with the click of a button. The neural filters are especially clever, enabling you to smooth skin, modify facial expressions, swap backgrounds and even manipulate lighting to make everything look more natural.
With the integration of these new tools, what used to take a seasoned editor 30 minutes can now be accomplished in seconds, freeing up your time so you can focus on the creative side of things. Whether you’re editing portraits, creating graphics or resizing images for social media, Photoshop’s AI photo tools help to achieve that clean professional finish without the hassle of manual tweaking. It’s one of the best ways to give your photos a polished, cohesive look, even if you don’t consider yourself a pro yet.
- Lightroom: Simplify Bulk Edits and Maintain Consistency
If you’ve ever wondered how photographers maintain the same feel across hundreds of shots, Adobe Lightroom is the answer. Adobe Lightroom is an industry-standard photo management and editing app built for speed, helping you organise, adjust, and fine-tune large batches of images without getting lost in layers or complex tools. Most if not all professional photographers use Lightroom to edit photos before the final shots are sent on to their clients.
Like Photoshop, Lightroom’s built-in AI editing tools can be used for a wide variety of applications, including automatically detecting your subject and adjusting the exposure, colour and tone so every shot looks balanced. You can even apply the same “look” to an entire collection, making it great for projects that rely on consistent visuals – think wedding photos, product shots for an eCommerce website, or social media posts.
And speaking of social media, Lightroom is especially useful for content creators who want a clean, uniform look to their Insta grid or feed without spending hours editing each image individually. In short, Lightroom keeps your workflow simple, but your results professional.
- Sensei-Powered Auto Tagging and Smart Search
Organising photos can become messy and annoying quickly, especially if you have hundreds of folders full of similar shots. That’s where Adobe Sensei comes in. You might not have heard of it by name, but you’ve probably used this tool without even realising you have. How so? Because Adobe Sensei is the AI engine that runs quietly in the background across Photoshop, Lightroom, and other Adobe Creative Cloud apps. This innovative AI engine is programmed to facilitate a wide variety of processes, including facial recognition, recognising objects, and sorting your photos automatically.
Alongside being used for auto tagging elements in images, Sensei is also adept at using image metadata to organise your photo library, and make it even easier to find specific shots with typed search prompts. Say goodbye to searching through dozens of files trying to remember what you named them — just type in something like “beach” or “red dress” and your shot will pop up instantly. For anyone who shoots a lot or manages content libraries, Adobe Sensei’s generative AI engine makes organising photos simple and stress-free.
- Adobe Firefly: Intelligent Background and Object Replacement
Sometimes you take a great photo, but there’s one thing that ruins it. Maybe it’s an awkward background, an annoying photobomber, or a sky that just looks a bit blah. That’s where Adobe Firefly comes in. With this generative AI tool by Adobe, you can simply highlight the problem areas in your images and type in what you’d like instead, and it will make the changes for you. You could trade a dull sky for a sunset, introduce a gentle blur behind your subject or eliminate distractions entirely.
But it’s not just about fixing mistakes. Firefly is also fantastic for experimenting. You can change the feel of a shot, create atmosphere, or build new visuals for marketing and social media all without starting again from scratch. It’s an easy trick that makes photos look more purposeful and artistic, even if you’re starting off with something that looks average.
- Camera Raw: Smarter Corrections Right from the Start
Every photographer or creator knows that editing starts well before you get to the fun filters. Camera Raw’s built-in AI tools quietly sort out the basics so you don’t have to. These innovative AI tools fix lighting, balance colours, and pull detail back from shadows or overexposed spots. It even cleans up grainy low-light shots and straightens out lens distortion without much effort on your end.
For photographers and hobbyists, using Camera Raw’s AI tools just makes image processing easier, particularly for images that require only minor tweaks and adjustments. The attention to detail of Camera Raw’s editing tools makes autocorrecting blemishes, red eyes, and other small details across digital photography quick and efficient, supporting photographers and content creators in getting their image assets publication-ready.
- Adobe Express: Quick Edits for Social Media
Finally, not every photo edit has to be a full studio production. As this tool’s name suggests, Adobe Express is designed to be quick: you can trim, crop, and colour-correct your posts for social media in a matter of minutes. The AI auto-adjust tools detect the subject and optimise brightness, sharpness, and background balance without you having to do much.
Adobe Express is perfect for influencers, small businesses or creators who post daily content, stories and want to remain active on social media without having to spend hours editing content. You can create multiple versions of one image for different social media platforms and keep everything looking cohesive across your feed. It’s simple, practical, and exactly what you need when you want to share something polished without overthinking it.
Use these AI Tools to Elevate your Photo Editing
Editing photos has never been easier. With AI taking care of the technical fixes like lighting, colour, and cleanup, you get more room to focus on the creative side. Whether it’s for work, social media, or just something fun to share, these tools help you turn everyday photos into something worth keeping.
What really matters is experimenting and finding what feels right for your style. The tech is there to make the process faster, but the creative choices are still all yours. So have fun, experiment, and you just might be pleasantly surprised with the results!
