In an interesting twist, rigid traditions and practices that have drawn increasing criticism over the past few years seem to have put sumo in a better position to weather the COVID-19 storm than most other sports.

The new coronavirus is wreaking havoc on the sporting world across the globe. One of its first victims was USA Rugby, which declared bankruptcy in March. Already struggling financially, the impact of canceled games was the final straw for rugby’s governing body in the United States, but even sports that had previously been swimming in money are feeling the pinch.

That was seen this week with Major League Baseball’s widely derided plan to play games in Arizona in May. Attempting to justify such a reckless decision with platitudes about fans deserving to see baseball and guff about psychologists supporting the idea fooled few. Clearly that sport’s main concern is lost revenue from ticket sales and television rights.