LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- The shadow of the COVID-19 virus began to hit the U.S. sports community in a more tangible way Tuesday. The Ivy League canceled its postseason basketball tournament. The governor of Ohio requested state facilities to limit spectators at large sporting events to participants, parents and other essential personnel.
The First Four of the NCAA Tournament is scheduled for March 17-18 in Dayton, Ohio. NCAA first- and second-round games are scheduled to be played in Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland from March 20-22.
Los Angeles County officials have discussed a similar move to limit spectators at events. An NCAA Regional is scheduled to be played at the Staples Center in Los Angeles.
Both the Mid-American Conference, with a tournament scheduled in Cleveland, and the Big West Conference, which will hold its tourney in Anaheim, California, announced Tuesday that the general public will not be allowed to attend.
Such developments illustrate the maze of local issues that the NCAA must navigate in conducting its national tournament in the midst of a viral outbreak.
The NCAA has made no tournament-wide decision on its flagship event. March Madness includes 68 teams at 14 sites (all of which are in states where people have tested positive for the coronavirus, though not all are in cities with patients who have tested positive). The tournament involves hundreds of athletes and thousands of fans crossing the nation on short notice after Selection Sunday — five days from now.
The NCAA women’s tournament involves fewer fans, but even the same number of teams and athletes, and even more sites, including first- and second-round games in Louisville.
Tuesday afternoon, the NCAA issued a statement on the tournament:
“The NCAA continues to assess how COVID-19 impacts the conduct of our tournaments and events. We are consulting with public health officials and our COVID-19 advisory panel, who are leading experts in epidemiology and public health, and will make decisions in the coming days.”
The CDC has advised that decisions on large events should depend on the location of the events — the severity of any outbreaks in the vicinity — and the places from which visitors will be traveling. Other things to consider include demographic concerns, such as the number of residents over 60 in the host areas.
The NCAA must also consider the health of student-athletes. The SEC and ACC both have taken a note from professional organizations and announced Tuesday that they would close locker rooms to media, where often large groups of reporters will gather around players. The leagues are instituting a 6-foot buffer between players and reporters, and will allow interviews in a more controlled area outside the locker rooms.
So far, all major conferences plan to go ahead with tournaments, while taking some precautions to protect athletes.
NCAA chief medical officer Brian Hainline called the notion of an NCAA Tournament without fans “a worst-case scenario” in an interview with the Wall Street Journal.
But as universities around the nation begin to close campuses and instruct students online in attempts to curb the spread of COVID-19, the NCAA faces a difficult call.
At the high school level, the KHSAA said two days ago that it doesn’t plan to alter its state tournaments. Indiana officials have issued no new plans for that state’s tournament. In Indianapolis, an NCAA Division II regional in Indianapolis – which includes Bellarmine University from Louisville – is expected to go on as scheduled this week, as is the Big Ten Conference Tournament.
But as events Tuesday showed, things can change quickly, as officials assess the risk involved. Stay tuned.
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