The coronavirus outbreak, which already has reshaped the professional sports landscape in Europe, prompted new restrictions to restrict fan access in the U.S. on Tuesday, with major decisions looming about baseball's opening day and college basketball's NCAA Tournament.
College games will be played without fans in Ohio and California, and given restrictions on large gatherings there and elsewhere, more disruptions to the sports calendar appear inevitable. The NCAA said it would "make decisions in the coming days" about its men's and women's basketball tournaments after two conferences banned fans from their championships and another canceled its tournament all together.
The baseball season begins in just over two weeks and includes games in Seattle, where more than half of the deaths in the U.S. have been reported.
The Mariners are set to host the Texas Rangers on March 26. If Major League Baseball can't play in front of fans at a team's home ballpark, the sport's first preference likely would be to switch games to the visiting team's stadium if possible, a person familiar with the deliberations told The Associated Press.
The person spoke on condition of anonymity Tuesday because no decisions have been made.
[CORONAVIRUS: Click here for our complete coverage » arkansasonline.com/coronavirus]
Rangers catcher Robinson Chirinos said Tuesday he is concerned about traveling to Seattle.
"I know the season starts in Seattle, and we know how Seattle is right now," Chirinos said. "That's 2½ weeks from now, so I think we're going to hear some news when we're getting close to opening day."
Washington Gov. Jay Inslee said the state is preparing for potentially tens of thousands of cases, based on estimates of the spread of the disease.
MLB anticipates government officials will decide whether it is safe to play in front of fans in each city. If changes to the schedule are necessary, MLB would make determinations at the point when a ballpark has been ruled out.
None of North America's major sports leagues has postponed games or barred fans in a bid to keep them safe, but there was a flurry of activity as college conferences and schools began making those moves. The Ivy League became the first Division I conference to cancel its basketball tournaments.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom questioned why leagues weren't moving more aggressively.
"I find it quite curious that the four major organizations -- NHL, MLS, MLB and NBA -- put out guidelines to protect their athletes but not their fans," said Newsom, a Democrat, referring to the leagues' new restrictions on locker room access.
Discussions about next steps have been ongoing for weeks as postponements and fan restrictions have become common elsewhere. Early Wednesday, London-based football club Arsenal announced that its players would be self-isolating because of possible exposure to the virus, forcing the postponement of its Premier League game at Manchester City. It was the first Premier League game called off because of the virus and the first possible exposure involving players in a major sports league.
Scores of top-tier soccer games in Spain, France and Portugal, as well as some in Germany and a European Championship qualifying match in Slovakia, will be played in empty stadiums in coming days.
For most people, the new coronavirus causes only mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough. For some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness, including pneumonia.
Sports and government officials in nearly every corner of the globe have scrambled to address concerns fans could be at risk and to potentially stop the spread of the virus. The fear has spread from Asia -- particularly about the Summer Olympics in Tokyo -- to Europe and now to North America:
• Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine recommended that fans be kept away from all indoor sporting events. The state is home to the NBA's Cleveland Cavaliers and the NHL's Columbus Blue Jackets, among others; the Blue Jackets said they did not plan to keep fans away from games this week. The state is also hosting a number of high school and collegiate tournaments this month, and the first games of the NCAA men's tournament are scheduled for next week in Dayton. First-round games are also set to be played in Cleveland on March 20 and 22.
The NCAA released a statement three hours after DeWine's announcement saying it "continues to assess how COVID-19 impacts the conduct or 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 NCAA said.
The Mid-American Conference announced its men's and women's tournaments to be played in Cleveland this week would be closed to the general public.
• The Big West announced a similar move with its men's and women's tournaments, which will be played this week at Honda Center in Anaheim, Calif.
Also in Southern California, USC and UCLA said all of its home athletic events will be held without fans at least until April 10, or until further notice. That would include first- and second-round NCAA women's tournament games likely to be hosted by UCLA.
• The NHL was also assessing the impact of a decision by Santa Clara County health officials in California to ban gatherings of more than 1,000 people in response to the spread of the virus. The San Jose Sharks have games scheduled for March 19, 21 and 29.
Sports on 03/11/2020