WiNK
As many of you may know, COVID-19 or the Coronavirus has taken the sports world by storm.
Right in the middle of this is March Madness, one of the biggest sporting events of the year. Yesterday afternoon, the NCAA, which had already previously decided to have March Madness played without fans in attendance, made the decision to cancel the tournament. This will be the first time since 1939 that the tournament will not be played.
On top of that, the NBA announced Wednesday night that they are suspending the season for the time being after confirming the news that Utah Jazz stars Rudy Gobert and Donovan Mitchell tested positive for Coronavirus. They postponed the Jazz-Thunder game Wednesday and as of Thursday, will not be playing any more NBA games for a portion of time. They are unclear of exactly how long this could go on for.
Also, the MLS has suspended their season for 30 days and the U.S. Soccer Federation has canceled their scheduled friendlies following the outbreak of the Coronavirus. MLS said Thursday, "At the appropriate time, the league and clubs will communicate plans for the continuation of the 2020 season and update the status of league events."
The NHL has also suspended gameplay following the news that the NBA is suspending their season until further notice. Given that there are NHL teams that share facilities with NBA teams, it was unlikely for them to continue playing much longer. The NHL players' union said in a statement: "The decision to temporarily suspend play due to the COVID-19 pandemic is an appropriate course of action at this time."
Last but not least, the MLB, who would've had the start of the season coming at the end of the month, has suspended the remainder of spring training. The Mariners have even planned to move their games from Seattle to start the regular season.
As you can see, this is much bigger than sports. It is a global pandemic and we've never seen anything like this. The world is going on complete shut down mode. Let's just sit back and see how this all plays out.