Coronavirus Hits the Sports World

 

By Andrew Rosario

 

The relationship between sports fans and athletes has been as important as the outcome of the games themselves. Fans enter arenas and ballparks hours before the contest take place to see their favorite players in hopes of getting and autograph, selfie and in the case of baseball a ball during batting practice. Many fans wait for hours after the games for a chance of meeting their favorite player. The recent outbreak of the Coronavirus has changed all that for the time being.

 

The NBA, NHL are winding down their season. MLB is in full spring trading mode. Those sports announced this past week that they will limit interactions with fans. MLB will send out pre-signed baseballs that will be giving to fans. The three sports will not allow media inside the locker room prior to the game. Only essential employees. Italy has not only shut down the country but they cancelled all soccer games until April 3rd. There is serious discussions that the 2020 Olympic Summer Games in Tokyo slated to begin July 24th may be postponed or cancelled outright. The upcoming tennis tournament in Indian Wells was cancelled and the Miami Open slated to begin March 25th may not take place either.

 

As news has been spreading about the number of people coming down with the virus, there have been discussions about playing games with no fans in attendance. Something that Los Angeles Lakers LeBron James thinks would be a terrible idea. “I ain’t playing,“ he said. “I ain’t got the fans in the crowd, that’s who l play for. I play for my teammates. I play for the fans. That’s what it’s all about. If l show up to the arena and there are no fans there, l ain’t playing. They can do what they want to do.”

 

As of this past Monday, the death toll world wide due to the virus is close to 4,000. In Santa Clara California the Public Health Department has ordered the cancelling of mass gatherings of more than 1,000 people. It could effect hockey’s San Jose Shark, soccer’s Earthquakes and events at Stanford University.

 

Locally, the Big East tournament kicked off last night at Madison Square Garden and the A-10 tournament at Barclays Center. Although both conferences are monitoring the situation closely, there were no plans to exclude fans from attending.

 

This past Monday, the Ivy League announced it is cancelling it’s men’s and women’s basketball tournament due to concerns about the virus. The Yale’s men’s team and the Princeton women’s team, both league champions,will compete in the NCAA tournament.