Los Angeles Times - 13.03.2020

LATIMES.COM/SPORTS FRIDAY, MARCH 13, 2020D3

For basketball, the tip-
ping point felt sudden and
shocking, a player testing
positive for the coronavirus,
an NBA game halted before
tipoff and fans asked to leave
the arena in an orderly man-
ner.
For the rest of profes-
sional sports in the U.S., the
ensuing reaction was utterly
predictable.
The NHL and Major
League Soccer called for an
immediate suspension of
regular-season play on
Thursday and Major League
Baseball put a stop to spring
training, delaying the start
of the regular season by at
least two weeks.
“MLB will announce the
effects on the schedule at an
appropriate time,” the
league said in a statement,
adding that it will “remain
flexible as events warrant,
with the hope of resuming
operations as soon as pos-
sible.”
The various league head-
quarters had been grappling
with the issue for days, won-
dering what sort of action
they should take, hoping to
buy time.
It seems their hands were
ultimately forced not only by
a steady growth in reported
COVID-19 cases nationwide
but also by governments in
states such as California,
New York, Ohio and Wash-
ington, which placed signifi-
cant restrictions on large
public gatherings.
“The NHL has been at-
tempting to follow the man-
dates of health experts and
local authorities, while pre-
paring for any possible de-
velopments without taking
premature or unnecessary
measures,” NHL Commis-
sioner Gary Bettman said in
a statement.
“However, following last
night’s news that an NBA
player has tested positive for
coronavirus ... it is no longer
appropriate to try to contin-
ue to play games at this
time.”
There were 1,323 reported
cases and 38 deaths nation-
wide as of late Thursday. In
calling for no gatherings

that exceed 250 people in

California, Gov. Gavin New-

som spoke about “all of us

making the right choice.”

Still, the decision to sus-

pend play was difficult for

hockey.

Teams had just entered

the stretch run of the regular

season, jockeying for posi-

tion with the playoffs sched-

uled to begin in mid-April.

League executives did not

specify if postseason berths

might have to be based on

standings after Wednes-

day’s games or through

some kind of play-in tourna-

ment.

It’s also unclear whether

players will be permitted to

practice in their respective

teams’ facilities, a question

Kings President Luc Ro-

bitaille said he expects to be

resolved by the league

within 24 hours.

Bettman noted that

many of his franchises share

arenas with NBA teams.

“It now seems likely that

some member of the NHL

community would test pos-

itive at some point,” he

stated.

From an economic per-

spective, the NHL has less-

lucrative television and

sponsorship deals than

some other leagues, making

it more reliant on gate re-

ceipts.

That impact would un-

doubtedly be felt by ushers,

vendors, ticket-takers and

other arena employees, as

well as employees in restau-

rants and bars near arenas

and stadiums.

AEG — the parent com-

pany of the Kings — is poised

to make some kind of accom-

modation for arena employ-

ees, Chief Operating Officer

Kelly Cheeseman said, add-

ing: “I can tell you that con-

versation is happening not

only locally but I think

across the nation at this

point.”

Ducks owners Henry and

Susan Samueli have told

staff members who were

scheduled to work March

events at Honda Center that

they will be paid even though

events there have been post-

poned through March 31.

The Kings and the Ducks

supported the league’s deci-

sion. “These unprecedented

steps are being taken for the

betterment and well-being

of a community we are proud

to be part of,” the Ducks said

in a statement.

Baseball faced a different

scenario with opening day

scheduled for March 26. The

league had considered shift-

ing games away from hard-

hit states or regions as an al-

ternative to postponement

but had met with push-back.

Public health experts

told The Times that, with

the limited availability of co-

ronavirus tests, it would be

folly to assume the virus had

not spread to any given area

of the country, even ones

with few reported cases.

On Thursday morning,

before MLB issued its deci-

sion, the wife of Washington

Nationals pitcher Sean

Doolittle pleaded with fans

to stay away from spring

training.

“I’m probably not sup-

posed to say this, but people

I beg of you, please do not

come to games right now,”

Eireann Dolan wrote on

Twitter. “I know they’re still

inexplicably playing them

right now, but that doesn’t

mean it’s safe to attend.

You’re putting yourselves,

the staffs, and teams at risk.

Please don’t go.”

“It’s not just athletes,”

Dodgers infielder Gavin Lux

said before the MLB an-

nouncement. “It’s every-

body in the whole world.”

Dodgers manager Dave

Roberts said “a best-case

scenario” would be to play all

162 games, with postponed

games from the first weeks of

the season tacked onto the

end.

A shortened baseball

season would not be without

precedent. In 1995, when

players struck, owners

agreed to an abbreviated

spring training and reduced

the regular season from 162

games to 144.

The hiatus might not be

as significant for pro soccer,

which began its season a

couple of weeks ago. Though

MLS executives will sus-

pend play for at least 30

days, they remained confi-

dent that rescheduling

would allow for a full 34

games.

“Our clubs are united in

the decision to temporarily

suspend our season,” MLS

Commissioner Don Garber

said in a statement. The

league, he added, was acting

on guidance from the Cen-

ters for Disease Control and

Prevention, the Public

Health Agency of Canada

and other public health au-

thorities.

Like his counterparts in

other leagues, Garber had

been struggling with how to

proceed earlier in the week,

especially after local govern-

ments banned large gather-

ings in cities where the San

Jose Earthquakes and Seat-

tle Sounders play their

home games.

The second-tier USL

Championship league,

which has four teams in Cali-

fornia, also suspended play

and the U.S. Soccer Federa-

tion canceled friendly

matches the men’s and

women’s teams had sched-

uled in the coming weeks.

CONCACAF, the re-

gional governing body for

soccer, suspended the

Champions League tourna-

ment that was to have fea-

tured LAFC playing Mexi-

co’s Cruz Azul in the

quarterfinals Thursday at

Banc of California Stadium.

That game was called off

early Thursday and it is un-

certain when the tourna-

ment will resume.

No decision was an-

nounced regarding the

CONCACAF Olympic quali-

fying men’s soccer tourna-

ment in Guadalajara, Mexi-

co, scheduled to begin

March 20.

In other sports, the PGA

Tour canceled a string of

tournaments, including the

rest of the Players Champi-

onship, and the LPGA Tour

postponed three events, two

of them in California. The

NFL, still months from

training camp, called off its

annual meetings in Florida

but plans to proceed with

the draft in late April. The

Long Beach Grand Prix, set

for April 16-18, has been post-

poned.

Talking about the signifi-

cant changes that have

swept across the rest of the

sports landscape, Ducks

coach Dallas Eakins at-

tempted to put things into

perspective.

“Obviously there’s a

breakout of the virus and I

think we need a massive

breakout of kindness,” he

said. “I think we need a mas-

sive breakout of alertness.”

Staff writers Kevin Baxter,

Jorge Castillo, Helene

Elliott and Bill Shaikin

contributed to this story.

Virus causes more sports to take action

MLB, MLS and NFL

follow NBA lead in

suspending operations

indefinitely.

By David Wharton

MINNESOTA TWINScatcher Mitch Garver is alone in an empty Hammond Stadium dugout in Fort Myers,

Fla. Major League Baseball has suspended the rest of its spring training schedule.

Elise AmendolaAssociated Press

The final hours of the col-
lege basketball season started
with a two-paragraph news
release.
An hour and a half before
the opening game of the
American Athletic Confer-
ence tournament in Fort
Worth, the conference can-
celed the four-day event be-
cause of the coronavirus out-
break. The Big Ten Confer-
ence canceled its tournament
minutes later. The Southeast-
ern Conference, Pac-12 and a
slew of other conferences did
the same in a day without par-
allel.
The NCAA capped Thurs-
day’s frantic series of events
by canceling its tournament
for the first time in the event’s
81 years.
“There was no reasonable
way to go forward with the
tournament,” said Jay Bilas,
the ESPN college basketball
analyst who played for Duke.
“Nobody had a choice. The
NCAA had the obligation to
be a responsible global citizen
and do its part to slow the
spread of the virus.”
The decision, coming after
the NBA, MLB, NHL and
other professional sports
leagues suspended their sea-
sons, brought an abrupt end
to the month-long tourna-
ment typically filled with Cin-
derellas, shining moments
and busted brackets that’s a
fixture in American life.
Less than 24 hours earlier,
the NCAA had taken the un-
precedented step of barring
fans from the tournament and
planning to play games in
empty arenas. Several confer-
ences had done the same and
closed their locker rooms in
an attempt to limit the spread
of the coronavirus. But the Ivy

League, which drew criticism

for canceling its tournament

Tuesday, had been the lone

conference to take such a

drastic step.

The equation changed

Wednesday night when Rudy

Gobert of the NBA’s Utah

Jazz tested positive for the co-

ronavirus and the NBA im-

mediately suspended its sea-

son.

“In view of what happened

with the NBA, and in view of

the progressive nature of this

virus and the pandemic na-

ture and the fact that the

curve is still unfortunately go-

ing up,” Mike Aresco, the AAC

commissioner, told reporters

Thursday, “and the fact that

you could have a situation

where, you know, evidence

showed up afterwards of a stu-

dent-athlete having this and a

lot of other student-athletes

could potentially be exposed,

we felt the risk was not worth

it....”

Half a dozen conferences,

led by the AAC, canceled their

tournaments in a 20-minute

span.

USC senior Jonah Ma-

thews woke up fellow senior

Nick Rakocevic in their Las

Vegas hotel room with the Big

Ten tournament news.

“I was like, ‘Wow, that

means that’s it for us?’ ” Rako-

cevic recalled. “He said, ‘You

think so?’ And I was like, ‘Bro,

give it an hour. They’re going

to cancel this too.’ ”

USC assistant Jason Hart

tweeted a few minutes later:

“If other conferences aren’t

playing why are we?!”

At the same time, first re-

ports surfaced that the Pac-12

was canceling its tournament.

By the time the flurry of

statements and news confer-

ences ended, all 58 Division I

men’s games and 24 Division I

women’s games scheduled for

Thursday — and scores more

in the coming days — had

been canceled. The speed of

the developments created

awkward and unexpected

situations across the country.

Before Thursday’s games

at the Atlantic Coast Confer-

ence tournament in Greens-

boro, N.C., Commissioner

John Swofford told reporters

the games would continue as

scheduled.

“There’s risk in every path

you take with something like

this,” he said.

The direction changed a

couple of hours later, after a

discussion involving confer-

ence presidents and athletic

directors. The tournament

was canceled.

Swofford referred to an

“extraordinarily fluid situa-

tion” with changing informa-

tion. Florida State coach

Leonard Hamilton, whose

team won the regular season

and had been scheduled to

play Clemson in a quarter-

final, accepted the champi-

onship trophy in an empty

arena.

Adding to the growing feel-

ing that the NCAA tourna-

ment couldn’t be conducted

after so many cancellations,

Duke, home to the 10th-

ranked team in the country, is-

sued a statement suspending

all athletic competition. One

of the most storied programs

in the country had, in effect,

pulled out of the tournament.

“We emphatically support

the decision,” coach Mike

Krzyzewski said.

The Big East was the last

major conference to cancel its

tournament, doing so at half-

time of the St. John’s-Creigh-

ton game at Madison Square

Garden in New York. Val Ack-

erman, the Big East commis-

sioner, told reporters the con-

ference allowed the game to

continue because “we didn’t

feel like we needed a dramatic,

pull the players off the court in

the middle of the game ges-

ture.”

Zach Bohannon, who

played for Wisconsin in the

2014 Final Four, was driving to

Indianapolis to watch his

brother Jordan play for Iowa

in the Big Ten tournament.

“They keep thinking this

evolving situation would get

better, but obviously it has not

and will continue to get

worse,” Zach Bohannon said

of the NCAA. “Playing in the

Final Four is a heck of an expe-

rience, but it should never

come at the risk of the stu-

dent-athletes who are playing

the game.”

The NCAA remained

silent, at least publicly, as the

cancellations poured in. The

most recent news release on

the organization’s media site

for several hours Thursday

concerned an enforcement

matter.

The parent of one player

whose team would be a

high seed in the women’s tour-

nament noted each cancella-

tion and worried her daugh-

ter, who has a preexisting

health issue, would be forced

to travel for March Madness

games as the coronavirus

spreads.

“It’s absolutely been

crazy,” said the mother, who

spoke on the condition she

not be identified because of

the sensitivity of the situation.

“I just pray. ... I don’t want her

around anything like that.”

The questions about the

NCAA’s next move ended at

1:16 p.m., 4^1 ⁄ 2 hours after the

conference tournament can-

cellations started.

Cori Close, coach of

UCLA’s 10th-ranked women’s

team, got the news on her

smartphone.

“The NCAA tournament is

canceled,” she said, her voice

shaking and face flushing

with disappointment.

Mick Cronin, the first-year

UCLA men’s coach and the

Pac-12 coach of the year,

learned of the cancellation

from a reporter’s text mes-

sage shortly after the team’s

plane landed in Los Angeles.

“The plane literally just

landed and messages were

just coming through,” Cronin

said.

Not only did the NCAA

cancel the men’s and women’s

basketball tournaments, but

all remaining winter tourna-

ments and all spring tourna-

ments.

“This decision is based on

the evolving [coronavirus]

public health threat, our abil-

ity to ensure the events do not

contribute to spread of the

pandemic, and the impracti-

cality of hosting such events

at any time during this aca-

demic year given ongoing de-

cisions by other entities,” the

NCAA’s statement said.

The decision that seemed

more inevitable with each

passing hour Thursday

brought relief, disappoint-

ment and confusion among a

variety of reactions that mir-

rored the country’s dawning

realization that the co-

ronavirus will disrupt some of

our most loved events.

“It’s painful, it’s disap-

pointing for so many players

and coaches,” Bilas said.

“There are so many stories

that are heart-wrenching in

this. But it all pales in compar-

ison to the global pandemic. ...

We can all quarrel over the

timing, but ultimately the

NCAA did the right thing.”

Times staff writers Ben

Bolch, Ryan Kartje and

Thuc Nhi Nguyen

contributed to this report.

One resigning moment: NCAAs canceled

Outbreak brings a

sudden end to sports

fixture for the first

time in event history.

By Nathan Fenno

A SIGNposted at the American Athletic Conference tournament in Fort Worth

was a precursor to the cancellation of the NCAA tournament.

Richard RodriguezAssociated Press

COVID-19 IN SPORTS