March Madness fans, get used to this eerie scene
Only essential staff and limited family will be able to attend NCAA tourneys
The buzzer-beaters, upsets and all the other shining moments of this year’s NCAA tournaments will be played in mostly empty arenas.
Trying to avoid spreading the deadly coronavirus that has become a global pandemic, the NCAA has decided that the men’s and women’s tournament games will be off-limits to the general public.
NCAA President Mark Emmert said Wednesday that he made the decision to conduct both Division I tournaments, which begin next week, with only essential staff and limited family in attendance. The decision comes after the NCAA’s COVID-19 advisory panel of medical experts recommended against playing sporting events open to the general public.
The decision had ramifications in the area. Because of the NCAA mandate, Christopher Newport announced that its men’s Division II round-of-16 game at 6:30 p.m. Friday won’t be open to the general public. CNU said only limited family members of players, essential personnel and credentialed media members will be admitted. Fans who purchased tickets will be refunded.
The CNU women already were preparing to play Friday without the general public, a decision announced far before Emmert’s comments. They will be playing Mary Hardin-Baylor of Texas in a four-team sectional in Amherst, Massachusetts.
The ACC, Big Ten, Big 12, Conference USA and Pac-12 were among those that allowed fans Wednesday, but in deference to Emmert’s statement, will close their tournaments to the public beginning today.
The Mid-American Conference
on Tuesday announced it was closing its men’s and women’s tournament games at Cleveland’s Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse, home of the NBA’s Cavaliers and scheduled site of men’s NCAA games, to the general public. The women’s tournament started Wednesday.
The Big West announced a similar move Tuesday, not allowing the general public into its basketball tournament games to be played this week at the Honda Center in Anaheim, California.
Emmert told The Associated Press that canceling the tournament was considered.
“The decision was based on a combination of the information provided by national and state officials, by the advisory team that we put together of medical experts from across the country, and looking at what was going to be in the best interest of our student-athletes, of course,” Emmert told the AP in an phone interview. “But also the public health implications of all of this. We recognize our tournaments bring people from all around the country together. They’re not just regional events. They’re big national events. It’s a very, very
hard decision for all the obvious reasons.”
Emmert said the NCAA wants to move the men’s Final Four from Atlanta’s MercedesBenz Stadium to a smaller arena in the area. The NCAA also will consider using smaller venues for regional sites currently set to be played at the Toyota Center in Houston, Madison Square Garden in New York, Staples Center in Los Angeles and Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis.
“We have to determine the availability of the sites, obviously, but it doesn’t make good sense to have a football stadium be empty,” Emmert said.
All sites for next week’s men’s games will remain the same unless conditions in those areas force relocation, Emmert said.
First- and secondround sites for the women’s tournament will become official next week. Those games are usually played at or near the campuses of the highly seeded teams.
The decision applies to more than just men’s and women’s basketball. All NCAA-sponsored championships including hockey’s Frozen Four will be affected. The Ivy League and the Division III New England Small College Athletic Conference went even further, canceling their entire spring athletics seasons.
Emmert said CBS and Turner plan to broadcast the games us usual. Other media members will be allowed into the arenas to cover the games, but how many is still being determined, he said.
Emmert said a protocol for the medical screening of people entering the arenas is still being worked out, along with what constitutes essential staff and how to define family members.
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 68-team field for the men’s basketball tournament is scheduled to be announced Sunday, and the 64-team women’s tournament field is to be unveiled Monday. Games begin March 17 and 18 on the men’s side in Dayton, Ohio, where earlier Tuesday the governor said he would issue an order to restrict spectator access to indoor sporting events.
Conference basketball tournaments are in full swing across the country this week.
Emmert said it will still be up to conference officials and their members to decide how they will proceed with their tournaments for the rest of the week.