B16 CORONAVIRUS O THEGLOBEANDMAIL| FRIDAY,MARCH13,2020
The CFL has cancelled its region-
al and national combines in the
wake of the growing COVID-19
outbreak.
The league made the announ-
cement Thursday.
“At our very core, we are about
bringing people together,” the
CFL said in a statement. “But the
health and safety of the entire
CFL family is paramount – and it
is increasingly clear that we owe
it to each other to take some ex-
traordinary and temporary mea-
sures.”
The CFL was scheduled to hold
its Ontario regional combine
Thursday in Toronto while the
East Regional was scheduled for
Friday in Baie-D’Urfé, Que.
The West Regional was slated
for March 20 in Edmonton. The
national combine was scheduled
for Toronto on March 26-28.
“We want the young athletes
involved to know that despite
this delay, their dream remains
very much alive,” the CFL said.
“And we will use every other
possible tool at our disposal to
evaluate them fairly prior to the
global draft (April 16) and na-
tional draft (April 30).”
The CFL also cancelled media
gatherings March 23-24 with sev-
eral of its top stars in Toronto.
“The football executives’ and
rules committee meetings sched-
uled for March 25 and 26 in To-
ronto will now take place re-
motely,” the league said.
“Our clubs are cancelling their
free agent camps in the U.S. and
regrettably, their school visits
and other community outreach
programs out of caution for our
communities as well as our play-
ers.”
The BC Lions indefinitely post-
poned tryouts in Texas prior to
the CFL’s announcement.
B.C. had scheduled tryout ses-
sions in Austin on Saturday and
Plano on Sunday.
CFL training camps will open
in May.
The Edmonton Eskimos and
Winnipeg Blue Bombers are
scheduled to open the exhibition
campaign May 24.
The 2020 regular season is
scheduled to kick off June 11 with
B.C. in Edmonton.
“We remain very hopeful that
circumstances will allow us to re-
sume our normal activities soon
and well in advance of our regu-
lar season, which is scheduled to
open June 11,” the CFL said.
And CFL commissioner Randy
Ambrosie cancelled his March 19
trip to Halifax, which was to cul-
minate his annual cross-country
tour.
“This is a disappointing but
necessary decision, given the
concerns about large gatherings,”
Ambrosie said in a statement.
“I look forward to visiting the
region as soon as circumstances
allow and I thank our fans and
everyone involved for their un-
derstanding and patience.”
Most people diagnosed with
COVID-19 experience mild or
moderate symptoms, such as fe-
ver and cough, and the vast ma-
jority of those who contract the
virus recover.
According to the Public Health
Agency of Canada, the risk to the
general population is low.
But for some, including those
65 years of age and over, those
with compromised immune sys-
tems or pre-existing conditions,
the illness can be much more se-
vere.
Among the Canadians diag-
nosed with the illness, so far few-
er than 15 per cent have required
hospitalization.THE CANADIAN PRESSCFLcancels
regional,
national
combines
TORONTONFL teams are curtailing or com-
pletely stopping scouting oper-
ations as a safeguard against the
spread of the new coronavirus.
The Minnesota Vikings, Miami
Dolphins,TampaBayBuccaneers,
Tennessee Titans, New York Jets
and Washington have ordered
theirscoutsandassistantcoaches
to return home. Other teams,
such as the Pittsburgh Steelers
and Cleveland Browns, have cut
back on scouting in what is usual-
ly a busy time for evaluating col-
lege players. The NFL draft is
scheduled for April 23-25 in Las
Vegas.
“Due to health and travel con-
cerns surrounding COVID-19, we
have informed all of our scouts
and coaches that they must re-
turntotheirhomebasesandtrav-
el will be suspended until further
notice,” Washington owner Da-
niel Snyder said in a statement
Thursday. “The health and safety
of our staff and players is our
number one priority and we feel
that these are the necessary pre-
cautions given the current cir-
cumstances.”
Soon after, the Vikings an-
nounced a similar decision.
“We continue to closely moni-
tor coronavirus developments
and maintain contact with the
NFL, health officials and other lo-
cal professional teams,” a team
statement said. “Consistent with
guidanceissuedbytheCentersfor
Disease Control and Prevention,
we have implemented precau-
tionary procedures to protect
staff and reduce the risk of acqui-
sition and transmission inside
TCO Performance Center [where
the Vikings train].
“We are also suspending travel
for our coaches and scouts until
further notice and reviewing re-
strictions on large public gather-
ings in the near future. These are
uncertain times, and our priority
is to protect the health and safety
of our players, coaches, staff and
fans and do our part to minimize
the spread of this virus.”
The Super Bowl champion
Kansas City Chiefs have instruct-
ed all non-essential team staff to
work remotely for a minimum of
14 days beginning on Monday.
They also have suspended busi-
ness travel and all non-essential
travel for coaches and scouts for
now.
TheUniversityofMichiganand
Penn State on Thursday called off
pro days. Other schools still plan
to hold theirs – or make decisions
onpostponingorcancellingthem
pending developments.
Alabama spokesman Josh
Maxson said no final decision has
been made, but he expected the
Crimson Tide’s pro day would be
cancelled.
NFLteamsalsoareeitherlimit-
ingoreliminatingfacilityvisitsby
draft prospects. So are player
agents.
“As an agent, it’s my strong rec-
ommendation that my players
don’t travel for any team visits,”
MikeMcCartneytweeted.“With12
or more games played, an All-Star
game and Combine for most,
teams have enough informationto make an informed draft deci-
sion.”
NFL teams can bring in to their
facilities for visits up to 30 players
headingtothedraft,thoughthere
are some exceptions for players
from local schools.
Also Thursday, NFL commis-
sioner Roger Goodell said the
league’s main annual meetings
have been cancelled. They were
scheduled for March 29 to April 1
inPalmBeach,Fla.,andweretoin-
clude owners voting on potential
rules changes.
Instead, those major decisions
will be made at the May 19-20
spring meetings in Marina del
Rey, Calif.
But the NFL’s business season
will begin next Wednesday – as of
now. That means the start of free
agency and official trading. Of
course, visits by free agents to
team facilities figure to be limited
if not nonexistent.
There has been little talk of
postponing or cancelling the
draft, though staging it in Las Ve-
gas seems a long shot. The NFL
saysitismonitoringthesituation.
Holding the draft without fans as
a televised event in a studio or
conference hall could be an op-
tion.THE ASSOCIATED PRESSNFLteamscurtailingor
ceasingscoutingoperations
Withthedraftscheduled
forApril23-25,thistime
ofyearisusuallyabusy
oneforevaluating
collegeplayers
BARRYWILNER
Clemsonfootballplayer
TeeHigginsliftsweights
duringNFLprodayon
ThursdayinClemson,S.C.
NFLteamsareeither
limitingoreliminating
facilityvisitsby
draftprospects.
RICHARD SHIRO/APThe women’s world curling
championship in Prince George
joined the expanding list of CO-
VID-19 cancellations in the sports
world Thursday.
The 13-country championship
was scheduled to start Saturday
at CN Centre.
All three major winter-sport
world championship scheduled
to be held in Canada in March
have been scrapped because of
concerns over the spread of the
novel coronavirus, now called a
pandemic by the World Health
Organization.
The world women’s hockey
championship in Nova Scotia was
called off Saturday and the world
figure skating championships in
Montreal were taken off the
schedule Wednesday.
“It’s with regret we’re an-
nouncing it is no longer possible
to run this world championship,”
World Curling Federation presi-
dent Kate Caithness said in a
statement Thursday.
“However, the safety of our
athletes, officials, staff and sup-
porters is paramount which we
cannot guarantee with the fast-
evolvingnatureofthisworldwide
situation.”
B.C. Provincial Health Officer
Dr. Bonnie Henry and Minister of
Health Adrian Dix confirmed in a
joint statement they recom-
mended to the WCF that the
women’s tournament be post-
poned.
“We understand what the
championship means to the ath-
letes who have trained hard to
compete, but the health of British
Columbians is our first priority,”
the statement said.
Kerri Einarson’s women’s curl-
ing team from Manitoba was to
represent Canada in Prince Ge-
orge after winning the national
championship Feb. 23 in Moose
Jaw.
A decision has yet to be made
on the men’s world champion-
ship March 28 to April 5 in Glas-
gow, Scotland, or April’s world
mixed doubles and senior cham-
pionships in Kelowna, B.C.
But Brad Gushue was not at all
confident his team will represent
Canada in Glasgow.
Gushue, third Mark Nichols
and front end Brett Gallant and
Geoff Walker won the Canadian
championship last Sunday in
Kingston.
“My gut is probably tell me it’s
not going to go,” the skip told The
Canadian Press from St. John’s.
“We’ve just seen a report in
Scotland they’re advising events
over 500 people to cancel. That’sstraight from theirgovernment,
which doesn’t seem like a very
good sign.”
This year’s Tim Hortons Brier
field in Kingston was touted as
the best ever, which made win-
ning it feel like a herculean effort.
“As difficult as it is to get the
chance to represent Canada at a
world curling championship, to
haveittakenawayfromyoubyan
anomaly, a crazy generational
kind of event, it just seems like all
the good luck you had to win the
Brier kind of went away,” Gushue
said.
His foursome won a world title
in 2017 in Edmonton and earned
silverthefollowingyearinLasVe-
gas. The men were going to com-
pete for a world title in Europe for
the first time.
“You’ve got to respect if they’re
making the decision to cancel,
that it’s warranted and it’s in ev-
erybody’s best interest and safe-
ty,” he said.
“You certainly appreciate that
and are thankful for it, but it still
doesn’t mean it doesn’t suck.”
The NHL joined the NBA
Thursday in suspending the regu-
lar season while Major League
Baseballcancelledspringtraining
and delayed the start of the regu-
lar season by two weeks.THE CANADIAN PRESSWorldwomen’scurlingchampionshipcancelled
DONNASPENCER
As difficult as it is
to get the chance
to represent Canada
at a world curling
championship, to
have it taken away
from you by an
anomaly, a crazy
generational kind
of event, it just
seems like all the
good luck you had
to win the Brier
kind of went away.BRADGUSHUE
WINNER OF THE BRIERMELBOURNE, AUSTRALIAThe first
Formula One Grand Prix of the
season was cancelled two hours
before the first official practice
was set to start Friday after orga-
nizers relented to pressure to call
it off amid the spreading coro-
navirus.
The decision came after six-
time world champion Lewis
Hamilton said he was shocked
that organizers planned to pro-
ceed with the Australian Grand
Prix, which regularly attracts
more than 300,000 people, and
McLaren’s decision to withdraw
when one of its team members
tested positive for the virus.
The sport’sgoverning body,
FIA, issued a joint statement
with F1 and the Australian GP to
confirm the cancellation after
hours of speculation about
whether the race would go
ahead.
FIA said a meeting overnight
involving the nine remaining
team principals and organizers
“concluded with a majority view
of the teams that the race should
not go ahead.”
“All parties took into consid-
eration the huge efforts of the
AGPC, Motorsport Australia, staff
and volunteers to stage the
opening round, however con-
cluded that the safety of all
members of the Formula 1 family
and the wider community, as
well as the fairness of the compe-
tition take priority,” the state-
ment said.Hamilton’s Mercedes-AMG
Petronas team said it sent a letter
to the FIA and F1 requesting the
cancellation and had com-
menced preparations to leave
even before the decision was
publicly announced.
“We share the disappointment
of the sport’s fans that this race
cannot go ahead as planned.
However, the physical and men-
tal health and well being of our
team members and of the wider
F1 community are our absolute
priority,” the team said in a
statement.
“In light of the force majeure
events we are experiencing with
regards to the Coronavirus pan-
demic, we no longer feel the
safety of our employees can beguaranteed if we continue to
take part in the event.”
There had been two practice
sessions scheduled for Friday,
with qualifying on Saturday for
Sunday’s GP.
No fans had been allowed into
the Albert Park circuit on Friday
morning.
Hamilton had used the first
official news conference for
drivers in Australia to question
the wisdom of racing this week-
end.
“I am really very, very sur-
prised we’re here ... it’s shocking
we’re all sitting in this room,”
Hamilton said at the first official
news conference Thursday
ahead of Sunday’s Grand Prix.
“It seems that the rest of theworld is already reacting a little
bit late ... yet Formula One con-
tinues.”
The team denied media re-
ports that its drivers had left
Melbourne before the announce-
ment.
The BBC reported overnight
that the race had been post-
poned, citing two unidentified
sources, but Australian Grand
Prix Corporation Chairman Paul
Little responded by telling Aus-
tralia’s Channel 9 on Friday that
the event would go ahead.
There were long queues of
people waiting to get into Albert
Park early Friday, but the gates
remained closed and none of the
scheduled events got under way.
THE ASSOCIATED PRESSFORMULA ONE RELENTS TO PRESSURE, CANCELS SEASON-OPENING AUSTRALIAN GRAND PRIX