Baseball season had been scheduled to start at end of monthDavid Beckham’s Inter Miami had been due for home openerNBA season had already announced suspension of seasonThe coronavirus outbreak has torn into the US and Canadian sporting calendars as two of North America’s biggest leagues, Major League Soccer and the National Hockey League, announced on Thursday they are suspending operations. Shortly afterwards Major League Baseball said it would cancel its spring training games and delay the start of the new season. The news came a day after the National
basketball Association said it would suspend play until further notice.
Later Thursday, the NCAA announced it was pulling the plug on its men’s and women’s basketball tournaments, putting an abrupt end to the season less than one day after it said the games would proceed in mostly empty arenas. The NCAA cited the “impracticality” of hosting events that could contribute to the spread of the pandemic to their decision to cancel the college basketball showcase known as March Madness, which generates nearly $1bn in revenue annually through media rights deals, ad sales and corporate sponsorships.