NCAA cancels all winter and spring championship tournaments

In an official statement on Thursday, the NCAA has decided to cancel all remaining winter and spring championships in response to the public health threat of COVID-19 (coronavirus). This comes after the Pac-12 cancelled the remaining games in the men’s basketball tournament and schools across the country were shutting down their own events.

Yes, that means no March Madness and no College World Series. At least for the foreseeable future.

“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.”

It’s certainly a rough way for some student-athletes to end their careers like this but when we’re talking about the health of yourself, your family, friends, teammates, staff, coaches and fans alike, it’s hard to argue with the decision at all. When the Ivy League canceled all spring sports, they made a statement regarding an attempt to get their players another year of eligibility due to the circumstances.

We can only hope the NCAA will offer up some similar statement of intent as well.