The United States’ pro sports calendar is completely wiped out for the time being.
The decisions to cancel came in a flurry after the NBA’s Wednesday night announcement that it was postponing its season at least 30 days due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Thursday saw Major League Soccer also pause 30 days, U.S. Soccer cancel national team games in March and April, the National Hockey League postpone until “it is appropriate and prudent” to resume play, Major League Baseball cancel Spring Training games and delay the start of the regular season at least two weeks, the XFL cancel the rest of its inaugural season, the PGA Tour cancelled all events through the first weekend of April, the Association of Tennis Professional suspend its tour for six weeks, and even the out-of-season National Football League cancel its annual league meeting.
The United States’ pro sports calendar is completely wiped out for the time being.
The decisions to cancel came in a flurry after the NBA’s Wednesday night announcement that it was postponing its season at least 30 days due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Thursday saw Major League Soccer also pause 30 days, U.S. Soccer cancel national team games in March and April, the National Hockey League postpone until “it is appropriate and prudent” to resume play, Major League Baseball cancel Spring Training games and delay the start of the regular season at least two weeks, the XFL cancel the rest of its inaugural season, the PGA Tour cancelled all events through the first weekend of April, the Association of Tennis Professional suspend its tour for six weeks, and even the out-of-season National Football League cancel its annual league meeting.
On Friday, Augusta National Golf Club announced that it was postponing the Masters Tournament, which was scheduled for April 9-12.
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The leagues are beginning to discuss how they will handle the time off, from where the players will go to what happens to the arena employees.
According to USA Today, NBA commissioner Adam Silver held a Thursday conference call that said the Utah Jazz are currently quarantined. Jazz players Rudy Gobert and Donovan Mitchell have tested positive for the coronavirus.
Silver said that the teams that the Jazz played in the past nine days – the Boston Celtics, Detroit Pistons and Toronto Raptors – are also in quarantine or self-isolation.
“This literally changes hour by hour in terms of what we know,” Silver said, according to USA Today. “It was really a moment for us to step back, take a deep breath and ensure that everyone in the NBA community was safe and healthy and doing everything they needed to do to care for their families. And then give us some time (to) deliberate and figure out if there’s a way that we can resume playing at some point.”
Cleveland Cavaliers forward Kevin Love announced on Instagram that he was donating $100,000 in “support of the Cavs arena and support staff that had a sudden life shift due to the suspension of the NBA season.”
The Cavaliers announced on Twitter that the organization will pay all of its hourly and event staff team members as if every game and event was still taking place.
The XFL is the only professional season that is completely over, with the fledging football league saying that it is “committed to playing a full season in 2021 and future years.”
The rest of the leagues will monitor the situation as it progresses.
“We will continue to monitor all the appropriate medical advice, and we will encourage our players and other members of the NHL community to take all reasonable precautions,” NHL commissioner Gary Bettman said in a statement. “Our goal is to resume play as soon as it is appropriate and prudent, so that we will be able to complete the season and award the Stanley Cup.”
