Coronavirus: No More Sports
March 19, 2020
The entire sports world has been shut down due to the recent outbreak of COVID-19 in the United States.
The first league to fall due to the current pandemic was the NBA. It was not a surprise, as there was clear anxiety amongst the sports world with players getting sick, and gathering fans together in close areas. However, when Utah Jazz center Rudy Gobert tested positive for the coronavirus, the league suspended the season immediately. Gobert could be traced to all 30 teams five days from his diagnosis, putting the entire league at risk for the virus. One other Jazz player tested positive, Donovan Mitchell. The league expects to pick play back up in 30 days, if able.
The MLS, PGA Tour and the ATP, which is the United States tennis league, folded next out of precaution, and both have suspended their seasons, like the NBA, for at least 30 days. No players in any of these leagues tested positive for the coronavirus, so this move was simply a precaution.
The NCAA canceled all of their college tournaments currently going on, and that were scheduled to start soon. Among those canceled is the popular March Madness and the College World Series, both of which were cancelled, and will not be made up at a later date.
The NHL took very similar measures as the NBA, and suspended their season for 30 days as well. They also expect to pick the season back up where they left off as soon as it is safe, and possible, to do so.
The NFL is the only major sport that is not currently in season, but the league is taking precautions and canceling meetings and discussing a plan to postpone the season, which is scheduled to start in September, if need be. Their spring counterpart and first season league XFL has also canceled the remainder of their inaugural season, meaning games will not be made up. The league hopes to return for a second season in 2021.
The MLB also took measures to suspend their spring training games ramping up to their season opener on March 26th, which has been pushed back to April 8th at the earliest. If the 8th is indeed where the league picks up, the belief is that the two weeks of games will be made up at the end of the season.
The United States isn’t the only country that has seen a list of sports canceled. Olympic tryouts, marathons, motorsports events and international soccer games have been cancelled throughout the world. Basically, if you can think of a sport, it has, more than likely, been canceled throughout the world.
Two sporting events remain at large going into the weekend however. Both NASCAR and IndyCar have closed their races off to fans, and plan to run as normal. NASCAR will run at the Atlanta Motor Speedway both Saturday and Sunday for the QuikTrip Folds of Honor 400. IndyCar will run the St. Petersburg Grand Prix through the streets of St. Petersburg, Florida on the same days. Both leagues plan to run their seasons as scheduled for the next two weeks, just without fans, and will make a decision from then on.