Christopher BarrettThe US and Israel’s attacks on Iran, and its retaliatory strikes across the Middle East, have led to the cancellation and postponement of major events throughout the region.
With the conflict having seen Iran launch retaliatory strikes towards Israel, and attacks on Bahrain, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and the UAE, the region’s live events industry is watching developments closely.
Among the organisers keeping a close eye on the situation is Formula One, whose teams recently carried out pre-season testing in the Gulf State of Bahrain. Mohammed Ben Sulayem, the president of Formula One governing body the FIA, said a decision is yet to be made as to whether the next month’s races will go ahead in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia: “We are in close contact with our member clubs, championship promoters, teams, and colleagues on the ground as we monitor developments carefully and responsibly.”
“Safety and wellbeing will guide our decisions as we assess the forthcoming events scheduled there for the FIA World Endurance Championship and the FIA Formula One world championship.”
There are numerous major live music events scheduled throughout the region in the coming weeks including the Offlimits Festival in Abu Dhabi on 4 April and MDLBEAST’s A Thousand And One festival in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on 23-24 April.
UK-based live event production agency Far And Beyond (FAB) has worked on many events in the region, including Wireless Middle East in Abu Dhabi. According to FAB founder Jess Shields, the conflict has led to a huge amount of uncertainty and the need for contingency measures: “Where we have events planned for the coming weeks and months we are continuing with planning as best we can with no certainly on whether or not the events will go ahead. We are hoping for the best and planning for the worst, and all of our thoughts are with our colleagues and friends across the Middle East.”
Sports events throughout the region have been postponed including The World Endurance Championship in Qatar, Asian Champions League football matches, and the Qatar Football Association has postponed all matches in the country.
The impact of the conflict is being felt further afield with events worldwide having been hit by travel disruption. Major international travel hubs Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Doha have all been hit by strikes. Ninety thousand people alone change flights daily at those hubs on Emirates, Qatar Airways and Etihad Airways.
Among those already impacted are Olympic medallist PV Sindhu, who has pulled out of the All England Open having been stranded for days at Dubai airport before returning home to Bangalore. Delays experienced by Russian players Daniil Medvedev and Andrey Rublev meant that they were unable to arrive in time to compete in California’s Indian Wells Open after facing flight disruptions.