The coronavirus pandemic has wiped out most of the major sports events in the US and Canada over the next month — at least. On Thursday, other major leagues and events followed the NBA’s lead and suspended its games for the time being.
Oregon sees sweeping closures as COVID-19 concerns grow
Here’s a list of the major events postponed or suspended indefinitely:
NCAA Tournament canceled
The Division 1 men’s and women’s 2020 basketball tournaments — aka, March Madness — were canceled along with all remaining winter and spring NCAA championships. NCAA President Mark Emmert and the Board of Governors made this decision over the evolving coronavirus pandemic.
NBA suspends its season over coronavirus
(AP) – The NBA has suspended its season “until further notice” after a Utah Jazz player tested positive Wednesday for the coronavirus, a move that came only hours after the majority of the league’s owners were leaning toward playing games without fans in arenas.
Now there will be no games at all, at least for the time being.
On ice: NHL ‘pausing’ season amid coronavirus pandemic
STEPHEN WHYNO and JOHN WAWROW, Associated Press
(AP) — The NHL is placing its season on ice — for now.
NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman said Thursday the league will “pause” its season, effective immediately, because of the coronavirus pandemic. The move came one day after the NBA suspended play after a player tested positive Wednesday for COVID-19.
“The NHL has been attempting to follow the mandates of health experts and local authorities, while preparing for any possible developments without taking premature or unnecessary measures,” Bettman said. “However, following last night’s news that an NBA player has tested positive for coronavirus — and given that our leagues share so many facilities and locker rooms and it now seems likely that some member of the NHL community would test positive at some point — it is no longer appropriate to try to continue to play games at this time.”
The NHL Players’ Association backed the decision, calling it “an appropriate course of action at this time” and adding: “The players are looking forward to the opportunity to resume play in front of hockey fans everywhere.”
The NHL is halting play with 189 games left in the season and uncertainty about how many more — if any — could be played before the playoffs, which typically begin in early April. A handful of European hockey leagues have already called off the remainder of their seasons.
“We will continue to monitor all the appropriate medical advice, and we will encourage our players and other members of the NHL community to take all reasonable precautions — including by self-quarantine, where appropriate,” Bettman said. “Our goal is to resume play as soon as it is appropriate and prudent, so that we will be able to complete the season and award the Stanley Cup.”
Numerous teams set to play road games were already finalizing plans to return home. The NHL preceded its decision by having all 31 teams cancel practices and pre-game skates. There were 10 games scheduled for Thursday night.
It was difficult to determine what steps teams or players can take in regards to practicing or even working out during the hiatus. For now, Martin Frk’s go-ahead goal 4:41 remaining in the Los Angeles Kings’ 3-2 win over Ottawa will stand as the final tally of the 2019-20 season.
The Stanley Cup has been awarded every year since 1893 with two exceptions: 1919, when the final was canceled after five games because of the Spanish flu outbreak, and 2005, when the season was called off because of a lockout.
For most people, the new coronavirus causes only mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough. For some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness, including pneumonia. The vast majority of people recover from the new virus.
The timing of the NHL’s decision follows a long series of disruptions across Asia, Europe and North America as sports competition is curtailed or shelved because of concerns about the virus.
The NBA suspended its season after Utah Jazz center Rudy Gobert tested positive for COVID-19 His teammate, Donovan Mitchell, also tested positive.
The NHL has not said any player has tested positive for COVID-19.
As of Wednesday, the NHL did not have a leaguewide declaration about even potentially holding games in arenas without fans in the stands. The Columbus Blue Jackets became the first team to take that step, saying their games would go on with attendance “limited to home and visiting club personnel, credentialed media and broadcast partners, essential club and arena staff and NHL officials.” The San Jose Sharks then said their home games in March would go on without fans.
Other hockey competitions are also being called off:
— The NWHL postponed its Isobel Cup final scheduled for Friday night in Boston but did not give a new date.
— A person with direct knowledge of discussions told The Associated Press a recommendation was made to the IIHF to cancel the men’s world championships in Switzerland. The IIHF has already canceled the women’s worlds, which were scheduled to open later this month in Nova Scotia.
MLB cancels spring games, delay openers by 2 weeks
by: RONALD BLUM, Associated Press
NEW YORK (AP) – Major League Baseball delays opening day by at least 2 weeks, suspends spring training schedule.
NEW YORK (AP) — Major League Baseball canceled the rest of its spring training game schedule due to the coronavirus and announced that the start of the season will be delayed by at least 2 weeks.
They said baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred planned a conference call with his executive council Thursday to discuss the situation and then a call with controlling owners of the 30 clubs. An announcement would follow.
MLB had continued to play into Thursday, when Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said he strongly recommended to local authorities and organizers that they limit all mass gatherings.
The big league season had been scheduled to start March 26, its earliest opening other than for international games.
MLB has not had a mass postponement of openers since 1995, when the season was shortened from 162 games to 144 following a 7 1/2-month strike that also wiped out the 1994 World Series. Opening day was pushed back from April 2 to April 26.
Player salaries were reduced by 11.1% in 1995 because the games were lost due to a strike.
If regular-season games are lost this year, MLB could attempt to reduce salaries by citing paragraph 11 of the Uniform Player’s Contract, which covers national emergencies.
“This contract is subject to federal or state legislation, regulations, executive or other official orders or other governmental action, now or hereafter in effect respecting military, naval, air or other governmental service, which may directly or indirectly affect the player, club or the league,” it says.
The provision also states the agreement is “subject also to the right of the commissioner to suspend the operation of this contract during any national emergency during which Major League Baseball is not played.”
March Madness: Power 5 teams scrap tourneys
by: RALPH D. RUSSO, Associated Press
The biggest conferences in college sports all canceled their basketball tournaments Thursday because of the coronavirus, putting in doubt this month’s NCAA Tournament — one of the biggest events on the American sports calendar.
Within minutes of each other, the Atlantic Coast Conference, Big Ten, Big 12, Pac-12 and Southeastern Conference announced that the remainder of their tournaments would not be played. All were preparing to play games in large arenas across the country, but with few people in the buildings.
All over the country from Boise, Idaho, to Birmingham, Alabama, one of the busiest college basketball days of the year — with teams fighting for championship trophies and automatic bids to the NCAA Tournament — was being shut down.
Big 12 Commissioner Bob Bowlsby said it’s “hard to tell right now whether there will be an NCAA Tournament to play in” while announcing the Big 12 was closing up.
Texas and Texas Tech were going through pregame warmups and the handful of close family and friends were already in the stands Thursday when the teams were pulled off the court 40 minutes before tip-off.
“I think this is emblematic of how our country will be responding to a very unusual set of circumstances,” Bowlsby said. “I feel good that we made the right decision for the right reasons.”
Following the NCAA’s lead Wednesday, most college conferences announced that their basketball tournaments would be conducted with limited fan access the rest of the week. By Thursday, after the NBA suspended its season Wednesday night, they decided not to play at all.
Some took a little longer than others to pull the plug. The Big East started its second-round game between top-seeded Creighton and St. John’s at Madison Square Garden in New York and not until halftime was the tournament called off.
As the Bluejays and Red Storm were playing, a few subway stops away at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, the Atlantic-10 was holding a news conference to call off its tournament.
Among the other conferences that canceled tournaments were: the American Athletic Conference in Fort Worth, Texas; Conference USA in Frisco, Texas; the Sun Belt in New Orleans; the Western Athletic Conference in Anaheim, California; the Big Sky in Boise; the Southwestern Athletic Conference in Birmingham; and the Mid-American Conference in Cleveland at an arena that is home to the NBA’s Cavaliers and is scheduled to be the site of NCAA men’s tournament games next week.
The semifinals and finals of the Sun Belt men’s and women’s tournaments were set to be played Saturday at the Smoothie King Center, where the NBA’s Pelicans play and the site of this year’s women’s Final Four.
The SEC also announced the suspension of regular-season competition for teams in all sports on campuses as well as SEC championship events until March 30.
Rick Fulkerson of Rockport, Indiana, the uncle of Tennessee junior forward John Fulkerson, planned to attend the SEC Tournament at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville.
“It’s different and serious,” Rick Fulkerson said. “It’s common sense, probably.”
For most people, the new coronavirus causes only mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough. For some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness, including pneumonia. The vast majority of people recover from the virus.
The Big Ten was playing in Indianapolis; the SEC in Nashville, Tennessee; the Big 12 in Kansas City, Missouri; the Pac-12 in Las Vegas; and the ACC in Greensboro, North Carolina, at another arena set to host NCAA men’s first- and second-round games next week.
At the ACC, Florida State and Clemson were on the floor warming up for the first game of a scheduled quadrupleheader when the announcement came down that no games would be played.
Top seed Florida State was then awarded the league’s championship trophy in an odd ceremony with Commissioner John Swofford in a mostly empty arena.
This was a very different kind of March Madness.
AP Sports Writer Dave Skretta In Kansas City, Missouri, and Teresa Walker in Nashville, Tennessee, contributed to this report.
ATP, ITF tennis tours halted 6 weeks because of coronavirus
by: HOWARD FENDRICH and STEVEN WINE, Associated Press
Posted: Mar 12, 2020 / 11:35 AM PDT / Updated: Mar 12, 2020 / 11:35 AM PDT
The ATP called off all men’s professional tennis tournaments for six weeks because of the COVID-19 pandemic, but a WTA spokeswoman told The Associated Press on Thursday that the women’s tour was not immediately prepared to do the same.
Amy Binder wrote in an email to the AP that the WTA will announce information about upcoming events “shortly.”
“At this point in time,” Binder wrote, “we are not looking to put in a 6 week suspension.”
Hours earlier, the men’s tour announced it was doing just that for the ATP Tour and ATP Challenger Tour, while the the International Tennis Federation halted its lower-tier events.
In a further indication of the fractured nature of tennis decision-making, the ITF said its events would be on hold until April 22; the men’s tour said its tournaments would not resume before the end of that week.
The next Grand Slam tournament, the French Open, is still scheduled to be held in Paris beginning May 24.
The combined men’s and women’s tournament at Indian Wells, California, that was scheduled to begin main-draw play this week already had been called off Sunday because of fears about the virus outbreak.
For most people, the new coronavirus causes only mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough. For some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness, including pneumonia.
The vast majority of people recover from the new virus. According to the World Health Organization, people with mild illness recover in about two weeks, while those with more severe illness may take three to six weeks to recover.
Thursday’s ATP announcement affects the combined men’s and women’s Miami Open, where play was supposed to begin in less than two weeks, along with the U.S. Men’s Clay Court Championships in Houston, the Grand Prix Hassan II in Marrakech, the Monte Carlo Masters, the Barcelona Open and the Hungarian Open.
The Miami Open was supposed to be played March 23 to April 5 at the NFL’s Dolphins stadium complex in Miami Gardens.
With Miami-Dade County under a state of emergency, Mayor Carlos Gimenez announced the cancellation of the Miami Open, along with a county youth fair and all major events at the Miami Heat’s arena.
Unlike with Indian Wells, where there was an insistence that rescheduling later this year might be possible, Miami Open tournament director James Blake made clear that his event would not be played until 2021.
The Miami Open draws fans from all over the world, which compounded health concerns. Last year’s attendance totaled nearly 389,000, the most in tournament history. Tournament officials estimated the economic impact for South Florida at $390 million.
Most of the world’s top tennis players were supposed to participate in Miami; 20-time Grand Slam champion Roger Federer was not going to be there because he is recovering from arthroscopic surgery on his right knee.
The ITF said Thursday its suspension applied to all tournaments on the men’s and women’s ITF World Tennis Tour, the ITF World Tennis Tour Juniors, the UNIQLO Wheelchair Tennis Tour, ITF Beach Tennis World Tour and ITF Seniors Tour.
MLS suspends season for 30 days amid coronavirus crisis
by: TIM REYNOLDS AP Sports Writer
(AP/KOIN) — Major League Soccer is shutting down for 30 days because of the coronavirus.
“Our clubs were united today in the decision to temporarily suspend our season — based on the advice and guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Public Health Agency of Canada and other public health authorities,” MLS Commissioner Don Garber said in a statement Thursday.
In a statement, Portland Timbers officials said they were in full support of the league’s decision.
“Nothing is more important to us than the safety and well-being of our fans,” the statement read. “Throughout the process, we have worked in tandem with local health authorities to help keep our fans, staff, players and community safe from the spread of COVID-19.”
Inter Miami, co-owned by former England captain David Beckham and Jorge Mas, had been scheduled to play its home opener Saturday. MLS started its season on Feb. 29 and each of the 26 teams has played two league matches.
Mas told players and coaches late Thursday morning, then held a news conference at the team’s temporary stadium.
Mas says he expects the full 34-match season to be played.