Wednesday marked a major shift point in the way sports leagues (and, generally, people) around the United States reacted to the COVID-19 outbreak. It began with the first major leagues and entities announcing plans to play games behind closed doors, starting with the NCAA men’s and women’s basketball tournaments. It ended with the NBA suspending the season indefinitely after Rudy Gobert tested positive for the coronavirus — and we learned Thursday morning Donovan Mitchell had tested positive as well.
With the new understanding across sports that there was, at present, no real way of knowing whether the virus had reached other leagues like the NBA because testing has not been done at near a high enough level around the country, it seemed increasingly likely others would follow suit with suspending operations. The MLS was the first pro sports league to make that announcement on Thursday, but other major events quickly fell in line.
The Big Ten, SEC, ACC, Big 12, AAC, A-10, Pac-12, Conference USA, MAC and ACC tournaments all made announcements or were reportedly going to make announcements in the morning that they would be canceling their conference tournament games.
ALERT: Based on the latest developments and the continued spread of the coronavirus (COVID-19), the Southeastern Conference today announced the cancellation of the remainder of the 2020 Men’s Basketball Tournament in Nashville.
— Southeastern Conference (@SEC) March 12, 2020
BREAKING: The AAC tournament is going to be cancelled, per a source. First domino to fall.
— Dan Wolken (@DanWolken) March 12, 2020
Big 12 also cancelled.
— Dan Wolken (@DanWolken) March 12, 2020
The Big Ten Tournament is cancelled.
— Brendan Quinn (@BFQuinn) March 12, 2020
The A-10 tournament has been canceled
— David Gardner (@byDavidGardner) March 12, 2020
Pac 12 will also be cancelled, per source.
— Dan Wolken (@DanWolken) March 12, 2020
C-USA also cancelled, per source
— Dan Wolken (@DanWolken) March 12, 2020
Mid-American Tournament is now cancelled
— Anthony Lima (@SportsBoyTony) March 12, 2020
UPDATE: pic.twitter.com/UTlO4MTVxI
— ACC Men's Basketball (@accmbb) March 12, 2020
After starting their Thursday tournament action, the Big East finally made the decision to cancel, joining the rest at halftime of their first game of the day.
The Big East has canceled the remainder of its tournament. St. John’s and Creighton just went into the locker rooms at halftime of their game.
— Tim Bontemps (@TimBontemps) March 12, 2020
It is, ultimately, the right call and one would expect other conferences to make similar decisions in the coming hours. As conferences make these calls, one would also expect the NCAA to do the same for the NCAA Tournament, a decision they surely don’t want to have to make but may have no choice to at this point.