Because of the coronavirus pandemic, the NCAA has called off the annual college basketball tournament known as March Madness, which was set to begin next week.
“Today, NCAA President Mark Emmert and the Board of Governors canceled the Division I men’s and women’s 2020 basketball tournaments, as well as all remaining winter and spring NCAA championships,” the organization said in a statement on Thursday. “This decision is based on the evolving COVID-19 public health threat, our ability to ensure the events do not contribute to spread of the pandemic, and the impracticality of hosting such events at any time during this academic year given ongoing decisions by other entities.”
Earlier in the week, the NCAA had announced the games would be played without fans in the audience. But then Duke and University of Kansas shut down all athletic activities, and the PAC-12, which includes USC and UCLA, canceled its men’s basketball tournament. The seedings were supposed to happen on March 15.
In a 24-hour period, because of fears of coronavirus, nearly all televised sports have been wiped out. The NBA suspended play on Wednesday, and the NHL followed suit earlier on Thursday. Major League Baseball also announced on Thursday that it was delaying its season, canceling spring training and delaying opening day.
As of now, the International Olympic Committee is saying that the Summer Olympics, scheduled to begin on July 24, are still on. But qualifying events for Olympic national teams all over the world are being canceled — organizations like USA Swimming, a feeder for the United States swim team, has canceled its events for at least the next 30 days. The status of the Olympics remains an open question.