The NCAA canceled its men’s and women’s basketball tournaments today because of the spread of coronavirus, putting an abrupt end to the season less than a month before champions were to be crowned.
The decision comes a day after the NCAA announced the games that were scheduled to start next week would go on, but played in mostly empty arenas.
That plan was scrapped as every major American sports league from the NBA to MLB put the brakes on its season due to concerns about the pandemic.
The NCAA canceled all of its spring championships in every sport, which include hockey, baseball and lacrosse.
The NCAA men’s basketball tournament has been played every year since 1939 when Oregon won the championship in Evanston, Illinois.
It has grown through the years, both in size and stature.
The three-week tournament generates almost a billion dollars in revenue each year for the NCAA and its hundreds of member universities and colleges.
It is now one of the biggest events in American sports, a basketball marathon of buzzer-beaters, upset and thrills involving 68 teams.
The NHL suspended the 2019-20 season, becoming the next major professional sports league to take action due to the coronavirus pandemic.
The league released the following statement:
In light of ongoing developments resulting from the coronavirus, and after consulting with medical experts and convening a conference call of the Board of Governors, the National Hockey League is announcing today that it will pause the 2019‑20 season beginning with tonight’s games.
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. 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
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. 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. Until then, we thank NHL fans for your patience and hope you stay healthy.
Last night, the NBA suspended its season indefinitely in response to a player testing positive for the coronavirus.
Utah Jazz Center Rudy Gobert issued an apology on Instagram today, a day after he was diagnosed with COVID-19, prompting the suspension of the NBA season.
His teammate Donovan Mitchell announced today that he also tested positive for COVID-19.
Major League Baseball did not wait for a player to test positive before canceling spring training and delaying opening day by at least two weeks.