The NCAA announced Wednesday that the upcoming March Madness college basketball tournament will be held without fans.
NCAA president Mark Emmert released a statement saying that the games will be limited to only essential staff and family members amidst fears of the COVID-19 outbreak for both the men’s and women’s tournaments.
On March 2, the National Collegiate Players Association urged the NCAA to hold the March Madness tournament without fans. The statement was released in response to a Washington State man becoming the first confirmed COVID- 19 casualty on U.S. soil.
The World Health Organization officially categorized the COVID-19 coronavirus as a “global pandemic” Wednesday as the outbreak has spread to 120 countries with 124,947 confirmed cases according to the Johns Hopkins University Center for Systems Science and Engineering data.
“In the past two weeks the number of cases outside China has increased thirteenfold and the number of affected countries has tripled,” WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said at a press conference at the organization’s headquarters in Geneva. “In the days and weeks ahead, we expect to see the number of cases, the number of deaths and the number of affected countries to climb even higher.”
The NCAA is not the first organization to take coronavirus precautions.
The NBA and NBAPA discussed measures to continue operation under the current circumstances—possibly barring fans from future games. The Golden State Warriors became the first team to announce that all home games will be held without fans moving forward. It is unclear how many teams will follow suit.
Here is a list of major sporting events in the United States affected by the coronavirus so far:
- Ivy League Conference Basketball Tournament (Scheduled for 3/14 – canceled on 3/10).
- The University of Missouri-Kansas City announced it will not be traveling to a road game this week at Seattle University.
- Chicago State University canceled two scheduled Western Athletic Conference basketball games (canceled on 3/3)
- Major League Baseball, Major League Soccer, the National Basketball Association, and the National Hockey League have limited locker room access to only players and essential team staff members.
- The Seattle Mariners will not play home games in March in Seattle. They are working with the commissioner’s office on alternative plans.
- Big West and MAC basketball tournaments will be played without spectators.
- The Golden State Warriors will play home games without fans.
- All NCAA Tournament games in Ohio will be played in empty arenas.
- Both the Men’s and Women’s NCAA Basketball tournaments will be played with no fans. Only “essential staff and limited family attendance.”
- San Jose Sharks to hold remaining home games without fans
President Trump announced he would be “addressing the Nation” Wednesday at 9:00 p.mm EST from the oval office.
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