Coronavirus: Indian Premier League faces big decision as MLB, ATP and NHL all suspend play
The world champion Aussie women cricketers will not tour South Africa later this month due to the coronavirus as the NHL, MLB and ATP announce they are shutting down for the foreseeable future.
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The victorious Australian women’s cricket team won’t be touring South Africa as planned later this month due to the coronavirus pandemic.
The Aussies were due to play three ODIs and three T20s over a two-week period.
It’s the first major international series which will not take place as scheduled because of the virus.
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Big concerns over IPL future
India’s government urged that the Indian Premier League be cancelled to help slow the coronavirus pandemic after organisers said they were ready to play in empty stadiums to keep the tournament on schedule.
Cricket leaders will meet over the weekend to decide whether the Twenty20 tournament featuring some of the world’s top players will start on March 29.
The Indian cricket board announced on Thursday (EDT) that the final two one-day internationals between India and South Africa will be played “without any public gathering, including spectators”.
The opening match was washed out without a ball being bowled.
A spokesperson of the Ministry of External Affairs urged the sports federations to decide wisely on holding events.
“Think it is for the organisers to decide whether to go ahead with it or not,” Dammu Ravi, additional secretary, MEA and coordinator for COVID-19, said.
“Our advice would be to not do it at this time but if they want to go ahead, it is their decision.”
The stakes are huge. The 60-game league is said to generate more than $11 billion a year to the Indian economy and Chinese mobile-maker Vivo paid $330 million to be the top sponsor for 2018-2022.
The BCCI, which has already slashed the prizemoney for the winners and runners-up, are ready to comply with every advisory to start the tournament on time.
ATP calls halt; WTA delays decision
The ATP called off all men’s professional tennis tournaments for six weeks, but a WTA spokeswoman Amy Binder said that the women’s tour was not immediately prepared to do the same.
“At this point in time, we are not looking to put in a 6 week suspension,” she said.
Hours earlier, the men’s tour announced it was doing just that for the ATP Tour and ATP Challenger Tour, while the the International Tennis Federation halted its lower-tier events.
In a further indication of the fractured nature of tennis decision-making, the ITF said its events would be on hold until April 22; the men’s tour said its tournaments would not resume before the end of that week.
The next Grand Slam tournament, the French Open, is still scheduled to be held in Paris beginning May 24.
The combined men’s and women’s tournament at Indian Wells, California, that was scheduled to begin main-draw play this week already had been called off Sunday because of fears about the virus outbreak.
MLB won’t start on time
Major League Baseball will delay the start of the 2020 season by at least two weeks because of the “national emergency” created by the coronavirus pandemic, commissioner Rob Manfred said.
The season had been scheduled to begin on March 26.
MLB also suspended Spring Training games.
NHL shuts down
National Hockey League commissioner Gary Bettman halted the season over concerns about the growing coronavirus outbreak.
The shutdown comes just over three weeks before the scheduled conclusion of the 2019-20 regular season and a day after the NBA shut down its season indefinitely after a player tested positive for coronavirus.
Many NBA and NHL clubs share home arenas and venue dressing rooms and other facilities at the venues.
“Given our leagues share so many facilities and locker rooms -- and it now seems likely that some member of the NHL community would test positive at some point -- it is no longer appropriate to try to continue to play games at this time,” Bettman said.
Fans banned from watching golf
The PGA Tour plans to keep playing, just without anyone watching from outside the ropes because of the coronavirus outbreak.
Commissioner Jay Monahan said that fans will not be allowed at the final three days of The Players Championship or three other tournaments - one in Florida, two in Texas - leading up to the Masters.
Even as other leagues were cancelling tournaments and events for a month or more, Monahan leaned on golf not being a contact sport and being played outdoors as a reason not to shut down entirely.
“Our players are making their way over 400 acres,” Monahan said.
“Because of the nature of that ... and over the course of a round our players generally do socially distance themselves, we felt like by taking this step to address the problem with our fans, we’re in a position where we can continue to operate the events as of right now.”
March madness shut down
The National Collegiate Athletic Association cancelled the US national men’s basketball tournament, shutting down “March Madness” for devoted basketball fans across the United States.
NCAA president Mark Emmert announced that the organisation’s board of governors had canceled the men’s and women’s national tournaments as well as all remaining winter and spring NCAA national championship events.
“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 NCAA said in a statement.