Coronavirus: March Madness cancelled by NCAA over outbreak
NCAA officials end 2020 college basketball tournament 'to ensure the events do not contribute to spread of the pandemic'
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Your support makes all the difference.College basketball's March Madness games have been cancelled to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.
The announcement arrives the day after NCAA officials said that the games would be played without any fans in attendance.
In a statement, the organisation said: "This decision is based on the evolving Covid-19 public health threat, our ability to ensure the events do not contribute to spread of the pandemic, and the impracticality of hosting such events at any time during this academic year given ongoing decisions by other entities."
The cancellation includes all NCAA Division I basketball tournament games as well as all remaining spring and winter championships in the NCAA, including golf, lacrosse, tennis and the College World Series.
Sixty-eight teams were set to compete in the tournament, which would advance to a Final Four tournament and championship game in April. The first games of the series were scheduled for 17 March.
The decision follows the NBA's postponement of its entire season, potentially and indefinitely suspending hundreds of games, though the league said the hiatus could last a minimum of 30 days.
An NBA player who tested positive for the virus, which prompted a game to be suspended moments before tip-off on Wednesday, will be quarantined for at least two weeks.
There are roughly 4,500 Division 1 basketball players in the NCAA, and thousands of fans who pack arenas, parking lots and campuses to cheer for their teams over the month-long tournament.
As the games approached, the organisation had created an advisory panel with public health experts to prepare for a worst-case scenario while it monitored the outbreak.
NCAA officials ultimately decided to host the games without fans, though several teams pulled out of the tournament entirely, followed other conference tournaments announcing their cancellations after a wave of public health warnings across the US urged the cancellations of mass gatherings in communities experiencing surges of infections.
Duke University was the first to pull out of the tournament and announced it was suspending all athletic activities indefinitely.
The men's March Madness tournament was set to start on Tuesday and finish in Atlanta on 6 April, while the women's tournament was scheduled to start on 20 March with the championship on 5 April in New Orleans.
The Atlantic Coast, Big Ten, Big 12, Pac-12 and Southeastern conferences all announced on Thursday that they had cancelled their college basketball events.
"We understand that this decision will be disappointing to our student-athletes and coaches who have been preparing all season to compete in this event, as well as viewers at home" said SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey. "While this was not an easy decision, the health and well-being of our entire SEC community is of paramount importance."
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