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Abio-secure bubble, also known as abubble,[1] orhub city,[2][3] is a hosting arrangement for sporting events, under which events were held at a centralized site, oftenbehind closed doors, with strictquarantine and safety protocols in order to prevent the spread of illness. A bubble was established for a single sports season, tournament, or for an ongoing series of events, allowing them to still be held and made available to broadcast audiences.
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A bio-secure bubble typically consisted of multiple sites comprising a secure perimeter (often near each other), including player residences (such as hotels), training facilities, and the venue proper. All participants, including players, team staff, and other staff (such as broadcasting staff present on-site) were screened and tested for COVID-19 before entering the bubble,[4] live within its confines for the duration of the event, and were prohibited from leaving the perimeter until they had completed play. The participants were screened and tested regularly for COVID-19, and restricted from access to and by the general public. Participants were reprimanded and penalized if they breachedbiosecurity protocols while within the bubble.[4][1]
As they were usually held without public spectators, events within a bubble were typically produced with television audiences in mind, and broadcasters were able to employ production techniques not possible in a typical venue with fans, such as different camera angles (including drone cameras)[5] and enhanced microphone configurations.[6] The venue was customized with video boards andartificial crowd noise to simulate the experience of the designated home team's venue,[7][8] anddisplay mosaics of "virtual" fans viavideoconferencing.[9]
Taiwan'sSuper Basketball League was the first basketball league in the world to move competition into a bubble setting in order to complete the season.[10]
TheNational Basketball Association was among the first major American sports leagues tosuspend play due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[11][12][13] In June 2020, the league's board of governors approved a plan to complete the remainder of the2019–20 season, including the remaining regular season games and the playoffs, within acentralized bubble at theESPN Wide World of Sports Complex atOrlando, Florida'sWalt Disney World.[14] Players were housed in three of Walt Disney World's resorts,[15] and games were held at one of three arenas within the complex (with one, the AdventHealth Arena, designated as the flagship venue to host nationally televised games and the final rounds of the playoffs).[6]
Themixed martial arts promotionUFC established a bubble known as "Fight Island" to conduct international events, which comprised a quarantine zone onYas Island inAbu Dhabi, and used the du Forum concert venue as its competition site.[16] UFC later returned to Yas Island to holdUFC Fight Night: Holloway vs. Kattar in January 2021; although branded as a Fight Island card, the event was held with limited spectators at the newly openedEtihad Arena instead.[17][18][19]
The July 2020test series between England and West Indies was conducted as a bubble, with players staying in a hotel on-site.[20] On 16 July 2020 during the morning of the second Test,Jofra Archer was excluded from England's squad after breaching COVID-19 protocols by leaving to his home after the first Test. Archer was fined, and ordered to self-isolate for five days before returning.[21][22][23]
The2020 Indian Premier League was re-located to bubbles in theUnited Arab Emirates.[24][25]
The firstOne Day International (ODI) inEngland's tour of South Africa on 4 December 2020 was postponed to 6 December after a South African player tested positive for COVID-19; matches were being held inNewlands andPaarl, with players staying at a hotel inCape Town. The match was called off after two employees of the quarantine hotel tested positive. Two English players were also reported to have unconfirmed cases, after which the second ODI on 7 December was postponed. On 7 December, the remainder of the ODI series was called off.[26][20][27][28]
Curling Canada hosted most national championships for the2020–21 curling season, including the2021 Scotties Tournament of Hearts,2021 Tim Hortons Brier, and theWorld Men's andWomen's championships, at a bubble using the Markin MacPhail Centre atCanada Olympic Park inCalgary. All events were held behind closed doors.[29][30]
Major League Soccer conducted an in-season tournament—theMLS is Back Tournament—at a bubble within the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex.[5][31]
The2020Chinese Super League split its teams betweenDalian andSuzhou.[32] ThePhilippines Football League is noted for hosting its2020 season in just under two weeks under a bubble with a downsized format, due to financial and logistics issues caused by the pandemic.[33]
TheNational Hockey League established a bubble in two Canadian cities to conduct its2020 Stanley Cup playoffs, withEastern Conference teams being initially hubbed atScotiabank Arena in Toronto, andWestern Conference teams being hubbed out ofRogers Place in Edmonton. Beginning with the conference finals, all games were played in Edmonton, including the2020 Stanley Cup Finals.[34][8]
The2021 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships were originally awarded to Edmonton and Red Deer. Due to COVID-19 restrictions, the IIHF established a bubble for the tournament and hosted it solely at Rogers Place.[35][36]
WWE introduced an arena residence inspired by bubbles in August 2020 known as the "ThunderDome", which became the home arena for its majorpay-per-view events and weekly programs (such asRaw andSmackDown). It replaced the smaller studio of theWWE Performance Center, a training facility where WWE originated the majority of its programming since the onset of the pandemic. Its stage featured avirtual audience displayed on agrandstand constructed from rows of LED screens, and it was promoted as featuring an in-arena production on par with WWE's pay-per-view events before the pandemic.[37][38] The ThunderDome was initially situated atAmway Center in Orlando, Florida.[37][38] In December 2020, WWE relocated toTropicana Field inSt. Petersburg, Florida, as Amway Center was needed by the arena's sports tenants.[39] In April 2021, after holdingWrestleMania 37 as its first major in-person show since the onset of the pandemic, WWE relocated the ThunderDome setup toYuengling Center on the campus of theUniversity of South Florida inTampa, as Tropicana Field was needed by theTampa Bay Rays.[40] In mid-July, WWE resumed its live touring shows.[41]
Other professional wrestling promotions similarly held shows behind closed doors.All Elite Wrestling (AEW) held empty arena shows atDaily's Place inJacksonville, Florida (with a brief few weeks in March–April 2020 at The Nightmare Factory, AEW'sde facto training facility inNorcross, Georgia). To make up for not being able to have live fans, employees and contracted wrestlers served as the live audience during matches in which they were not involved.[42][43] In July, AEW began experimenting with invited guests in selected seating areas for a plan towards allowing ticketed spectators. Episodes were done in consecutive days so wrestlers can spend two days every other week. In August, with NASCAR Holdings having successfully held twoDaytona International Speedway race meetings (one IMSA and one NASCAR) and one IMSA meeting atSebring International Raceway, AEW began to readmit a limited number of fans (10–15% venue capacity),[44] with a gradual increase in spectators running frequently before running full capacity shows in May 2021.[45] AEW resumed live touring in July 2021.[46]
Television and film directorTyler Perry used a bubble model to resume production at hisTyler Perry Studios inGeorgia, United States in July 2020, with season 2 of hisBET comedy dramaSistas being the first scripted primetime series in the U.S. to complete a season of production under COVID-19 protocols. The studio is situated on the site of the formerFort McPherson military base, with cast and crew staying and quarantining in the various historic homes, barracks, and permanent sets on the lot, which include a replica of theWhite House and a "neighborhood" of functioning houses. This arrangement was aided by the quicker turnaround time of Perry's productions in comparison to other television series, as well as his productions rarely performinglocation shoots outside of the lot.[47][48][49]
The use of bubbles by major professional leagues in North America have been considered largely effective; theNational Basketball Association[50] andNational Hockey League[51] did not record any new cases of COVID-19 within their respective bubbles during the duration of competitions staged there. By contrast, the 2020 regular seasons ofMajor League Baseball and theNFL—which had teams travelling to individual venues as usual (albeit with MLB realigning its schedule to reduce travel)—were affected by outbreaks among players that led to various postponed games.[52][53] Major League Baseball eventually decided to use a neutral site model for its2020 postseason in order to reduce the chance of further disruption, with games split between venues in California and Texas beginning with the Division Series round, and the2020 World Series held atGlobe Life Field inArlington, Texas. Most games were held behind closed doors, except for theNational League Championship Series and World Series in Arlington, which hosted spectators at 25% of the new stadium's capacity.[54][55] There were examples of failed bubbles leading to outbreaks duringThe Spring League (an American football league's)autumn 2020 season[56] and thewinter 2021 season of theNational Women's Hockey League.[57]
Concerns have been raised over "bubble fatigue", as players are isolated from their families and the outside world for an extended period of time until the event concludes or they are eliminated.[58][59] IPL playerShikhar Dhawan described the experience as being "almost likeBigg Boss [the Indian version ofBig Brother]", and a test of his "mental strength".[60]