For many sports fans, March is chock-full of madness, between the buzzer-beaters and Cinderella stories that come from the men’s and women’s NCAA basketball tournament. But that feel of madness is a bit different due to the evolving public health threat known as COVID-19. Not only was the NCAA tournament affected — the NCAA’s board of governors and president Mark Emmert decided to cancel on March 12 — but so have professional sporting events like MLB’s Opening Day and NASCAR, which was set to visit Homestead this weekend. Some events are moving forward, but they’re going on without any fans in attendance.
NFL DRAFT
The NFL draft will proceed as scheduled April 23-25, but the event will no longer be held in Las Vegas due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The league says it’s exploring “innovative options for how the process will be conducted and will provide that information as it becomes available.” Commissioner Roger Goodell said the decision reflects “our foremost priority — the health and safety of all fans and citizens.”
THE MASTERS
Augusta National Golf Club chairman Fred Ridley announced on March 13 that the Masters Tournament would be postponed. Originally set for April 9, a date hasn’t been announced for the first of four major championships in golf. “We hope this postponement puts us in the best position to safely host the Masters Tournament and our amateur events at some later date,” Ridley said. Per Golf.com’s John Sens, estimates have put the total economic impact of the Masters at $120 million for Augusta annually.
NASCAR AT HOMESTEAD
Originally set for March 20-22, NASCAR officials decided on March 13 to postpone the upcoming races at Homestead. A rescheduled date hasn’t been determined yet, but tickets for the events will be honored when a new date is set. Alternatively, ticketholders may choose to receive a credit for the full amount paid plus an additional 20% of total amount paid to apply toward future events. To obtain a refund, ticket holders must request one within 30 days of the announcement. Officials have suspended races through the first weekend of May. Affected races include Texas (March 29), Bristol (April 5), Richmond (April 19), Talladega (April 26) and Dover (May 3).
WRESTLEMANIA 36
It’s not the stunner fans are used to seeing from the likes of Stone Cold Steve Austin, or in today’s WWE with Kevin Owens. The biggest event in wrestling sports entertainment, WrestleMania 36, will go on April 5 at 7 p.m., but it will be without the tens of thousands of fans who were expected to fill the seats at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa Bay. Instead, WWE, per the decision on March 16, has moved the event to its Performance Center in Orlando where it’ll be streamed live via the WWE Network and pay-per-view. It’s the first time in history that WrestleMania will go on behind closed doors.
MLB OPENING DAY
Spring training was underway in Florida and Arizona, but it came to an abrupt end due to the COVID-19 outbreak. On March 17, MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred said the regular season will be postponed even further to mid-May at the earliest, following recommendations by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In the statement, MLB said it would continue to monitor events and undertake the precautions and best practices recommended by public health experts, and urged all baseball fans to follow suit.
