Sports might be shut down longer than originally thought
The already-delayed professional sports seasons in North America could be on hiatus for significantly longer than first planned after federal officials said Sunday that they recommend all in-person events involving 50 people or more be called off for the next eight weeks.
That’s twice as long as the 30-day shutdowns that the NBA, NHL and Major League Soccer decided to put into place last week in response to the global COVID-19 pandemic that already has made a deep impact on the U.S. financial markets and has been blamed for at least 64 deaths in this country.
Major League Baseball also was going with what essentially was a 30-day shutdown after canceling the rest of spring training and pushing back the start of regular season play for two weeks; opening day was to have been March 26.
But new recommendations Sunday night from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention seem to suggest that sports in this country could for all intents and purposes be gone until May, if not later.
“CDC, in accordance with its guidance for large events and mass gatherings, recommends that for the next 8 weeks, organizers ... cancel or postpone in-person events that consist of 50 people or more throughout the United States,” it said. “Events of any size should only be continued if they can be carried out with adherence to guidelines for protecting vulnerable populations, hand hygiene, and social distancing.”
The eight-week window easily exceeds what would have been the remainder of the NBA and NHL regular seasons, plus would cover about the first 25% of the MLB season — or roughly 40 games per team. It also would cast serious doubt on the ability to hold other major U.S. sporting events as planned, such as the Kentucky Derby in early May.
The NBA already was bracing to play games without fans in arenas, something that would have started late last week had a player — Rudy Gobert of the Utah Jazz — not tested positive for the virus, COVID-19. Utah teammate Donovan Mitchell and Detroit’s Christian Wood have tested positive since, but Gobert’s diagnosis was enough for the league to say that it was suspending play.
“I’ve been feeling a little better every single day,” Gobert said Sunday in a video he posted. He added, “I wish I would have took this thing more seriously.”
The NBA already has been asking teams to share availability for their arenas through the end of July, a sign that the league is prepared to extend the season at least that long if necessary — and those moves came a couple of days before the CDC made its latest recommendation. The NBA regular season was to have ended April 15 and the NBA Finals were to have started June 4, with the season done on or before June 21.
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.
The vast majority of people recover from the new virus. According to the World Health Organization, people with mild illness recover in about two weeks, while those with more severe illness might take three to six weeks to recover. In mainland China, where the virus first took off, more than 80,000 people have been diagnosed and more than 58,000 so far have recovered.
It’s not just the team sports that have been shut down: Pro tennis and golf basically have been called off for the next several weeks, with such marquee events as Indian Wells and the Miami Open in tennis and The Players Championship and Masters in golf either canceled or postponed. The NCAA Division I college basketball men’s tournament — March Madness — was to release its bracket Sunday and start Tuesday for the now-canceled 68-team tournament. The Division I women’s tournament was to have started this week.
They all have been called off, as have all other winterand spring-sport seasons at all levels of the NCAA. Most high school state associations have had to cancel seasons and championships and some minor league hockey leagues have canceled seasons as well.