March Madness is officially over.
The NCAA announced today that it has canceled the men's and women's Division I basketball tournaments as well as all remaining winter and spring NCAA championships amid coronavirus fears.
The NCAA men's basketball tournament has been played every year since 1939 when Oregon won the championship in Evanston, Illinois. It has grown through the years, both in size and stature. The three-week tournament generates almost a billion dollars in revenue each year for the NCAA and its hundreds of member universities and colleges.
It is now one of the biggest events in American sports, a basketball marathon of buzzer-beaters, upset and thrills involving 68 teams. The field for the men's tournament was scheduled to be announced Sunday. The 64-team women's field was to be revealed Monday.
Earlier today, major conferences canceled their postseason basketball tournaments. The PGA and NASCAR say they will hold events with no fans and the NBA has identified a second player diagnosed with the coronavirus along with suspending the season.
MLS has suspended the current season for 30 days, and MLB canceled spring training and delayed the start of the regular season at least two weeks.
http://accesswdun.com/article/2020/3/885415/ncaa-cancels-mens-and-womens-d1-basketball-tournaments