March Madness to be held without fans

soxhop411

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The National Collegiate Athletic Association has announced the upcoming men’s and women’s basketball tournaments will be played with “only essential staff and limited family attendance,” NCAA president Mark Emmert said in a statement Wednesday.

“The NCAA continues to assess the impact of COVID-19 in consultation with public health officials and our COVID-19 advisory panel,” Emmert’s statement said. “Based on their advice and my discussions with the NCAA Board of Governors, I have made the decision to conduct our upcoming championship events, including the Division I men’s and women’s basketball tournaments, with only essential staff and limited family attendance.


“While I understand how disappointing this is for all fans of our sports, my decision is based on the current understanding of how COVID-19 is progressing in the United States. This decision is in the best interest of public health, including that of coaches, administrators, fans and, most importantly, our student-athletes.

“We recognize the opportunity to compete in an NCAA national championship is an experience of a lifetime for the students and their families. Today, we will move forward and conduct championships consistent with the current information and will continue to monitor and make adjustments as needed.”
https://www.cnbc.com/2020/03/11/ncaa-march-madness-basketball-games-will-be-closed-to-public-spectators.html
Dominos are beginning to fall. Other sports are sure to follow suit.

This year it should be called “March Sadness”
 

Mugsy's Jock

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It's the right decision. Although I kind of loved the "play it outdoors" idea from another thread...
 

Cellar-Door

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Wonder what they do with the final 4. Are they really going to build an expensive court in an empty 80,000 seat stadium?
I would guess that they play at Georgia Tech or something.
 

OurF'ingCity

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Wonder what they do with the final 4. Are they really going to build an expensive court in an empty 80,000 seat stadium?
I would guess that they play at Georgia Tech or something.
For the players' sake, they should play at the smallest possible venues that still allows for an adequate TV production. If I was playing I'd much rather play in an empty 1,000 person arena than an empty 80,000 person arena.
 

Awesome Fossum

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I like the idea of smaller venues, but even with that, I wonder how Mercedes (for example) would feel about the final not being played in Mercedes-Benz Stadium.

I also like the idea of instead of no fans, allowing each team to bring in one super fan.
 

The Filthy One

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The venues are already kind of booked at this point.
Booked with what? Anything that involves thousands or even hundreds of people gathering together is going to get cancelled in the next two weeks. [Edit: Sorry, I think I misinterpreted your point.]

This is going to be profoundly weird as a TV viewer. Crowd noise makes a huge difference when watching games. And I imagine it will be difficult for the players, as well. Imagine trying to play when you can actually hear the shit Bill Walton is saying to his broadcast partner.
 

BaseballJones

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Oct 1, 2015
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To the bunch of people who replied to me: Sorry for being unclear in what I meant.

I meant that the venues where these things are scheduled are already booked with NCAA games. It's not easy to just move things. There's a ton of money involved.
 

findguapo

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Apr 7, 2006
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Yep, it would definitely be cool to play the games at really small venues with a made for TV production setup. The NBA has some really cool practice facilities that would fit the bill. Playing in a huge empty stadium would suck.
 

jaytftwofive

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Jan 20, 2013
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Then why are pro teams in the east not doing it? I went to the Flyers-Bruins( Transplant since 71)game last night and the city of Philadelphia had said don't go to indoor events bigger then 5000. So why not do it in front of nobody there? Are they that money hungry?(NHL,NBA) I know they would refund us but it seems like a double standard. Also the Ivy League cancelled all spring sports.
 

jaytftwofive

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Jan 20, 2013
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Booked with what? Anything that involves thousands or even hundreds of people gathering together is going to get cancelled in the next two weeks. [Edit: Sorry, I think I misinterpreted your point.]

This is going to be profoundly weird as a TV viewer. Crowd noise makes a huge difference when watching games. And I imagine it will be difficult for the players, as well. Imagine trying to play when you can actually hear the shit Bill Walton is saying to his broadcast partner.
Oh God!!!! "The Pac 12 the conference of champions"
 

axx

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They can just ask the Colts for advice on how to generate crowd noise.
 

DennyDoyle'sBoil

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I heard a funny suggestion that each team should get one fan who cheers and emotes for the game. Each school picks its one fan.
 

The Gray Eagle

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I love the idea of one super fan for each team.

I hereby nominate myself to be the Duke super fan. Because I just loooove Duke basketball so much. Pick me, I will put on a memorable show.
 

tims4wins

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I love the idea of one super fan for each team.

I hereby nominate myself to be the Duke super fan. Because I just loooove Duke basketball so much. Pick me, I will put on a memorable show.
Ironically, this actually helps Duke on paper. Usually 90% of the arena is rooting against them. And that type of thing can have an influence on the officials too.

This is going to be very interesting.
 

Cellar-Door

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To the bunch of people who replied to me: Sorry for being unclear in what I meant.

I meant that the venues where these things are scheduled are already booked with NCAA games. It's not easy to just move things. There's a ton of money involved.
True, I was more thinking the Final 4. It's probably better for everyone involved's bottom line not to do it. I would guess based on this http://www.ncaa.org/championships/ncaa-selection-process-and-information it appears part or all of the rent is paid out via a percentage of ticket sales. So depending on the language in the lease agreement the whole thing might need to be reworked alltogether.
 

Greg29fan

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Fred Hoiberg is coaching Nebraska tonight in the Big Ten Tournament and is probably infected.

 

Gash Prex

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how fucking stupid do you have to be to show and put people‘s lives at risk over a basketball game ?
 

tims4wins

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More likely now I must say. This is gonna be a mess.
Hey I had pretty much been in denial too until yesterday. Seems like yesterday was an inflection point.

Meanwhile 5 kids in my son’s 2nd grade class out sick - including my son. They aren’t testing kids for Corona but the flu and strep tests came back negative so... who knows
 

BaseballJones

ivanvamp
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Oct 1, 2015
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I can't see any scenario (even if the Nebraska coach thing didn't happen) that they have the tourney.
This is where I'm at. If the NBA suspends the season - forfeiting ungodly amounts of money in the process - how can the NCAA keep the tournament going? I'd say there's less than a 1% chance it ends up happening, as between now and selection sunday we are going to see so many more institutions, leagues, etc., shutting down.

I mean, college athletic conferences are cancelling all spring sports. How can the NCAA say that we can't have the men's lacrosse teams cancel because of corona, but we MUST have the NCAA tournaments!

Well, money I guess. That's why.