Coronavirus has been in the news for a few months and it spread to many countries in the world. This caused the cancellation of different events in the United States.
The professional league not affected is the NFL because they are now in their off-season. However, Major League Baseball, National Hockey League, and National Basketball Association all announced major changes to their schedule.
Major League Baseball announces changes to their schedule
Major League Baseball is now in spring training to get ready for the upcoming season. They scheduled opening day for March 26, 2020. But they announced some schedule changes.
According to USA Today, they canceled all spring training games. No more spring training games take place for the foreseeable future. There was no announcement on whether they would reschedule them for the teams.
They will delay the start of the regular season for two weeks. They also stated that they would be flexible for the future. The goal is to get the regular season started at the earliest date.
National Basketball Association cancels game after player test positive for coronavirus
The NBA canceled all games for coronavirus after one of their players tested positive for the coronavirus. He was a player for the Utah Jazz. Rudy Gobert is the player. the New York Post reports. He tested positive for the virus which is a problem for the NBA with constant contact amongst its players.
Gobert joked about the coronavirus in a post-game interview. He jokingly touched the mic and reporters. He showed that he was not afraid of the coronavirus.
After testing positive, both teams were ordered back to the locker room. The game was not played and the fans were instructed to head home. The players are quarantined inside the arena in Oklahoma City.
National Hockey League suspends games
The NHL has also suspended their games until further notice. They did not put an end date on the suspension. They also did not state how the games missed would affect the standings or if the playoffs would start after the delay.
This announcement came after much speculation. Before shutting down, the prevalent rumor about the NBA was that they would play before empty seats. That did not happen, but they shut it down.
Cities have been putting restrictions on events with groups of people. In fact, many of them have been canceled. Most of the sporting events won't have an arena to play in.
The New York Post quoted mark Cuban as saying, “This is crazy. This can’t be true.
Within the realm of possibilities, this seemed more like out of a movie than reality.” That quote echoed the fans of the NBA. It might seem unbelievable but the virus has spread worldwide and been classified as a pandemic according to the World Health Organization.