The latest on the impact of the coronavirus outbreak on sports around the world:
North Carolina Central says it will eliminate baseball after this season.
The school announced the move on Thursday, citing an increase in athletics spending over the past four years, as well as the financial impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. The school says the decision to discontinue a sport will improve the “overall budgetary stability” of the athletics department’s budget while increasing the resources available for the remaining 14 sport programs.
The school said it had taken steps since March 2020 to cut operating costs by 30% to help manage the impact of the pandemic, including eliminating positions and vacations. The school cited Title IX equality considerations in its decision to remove a men’s sport, the decision leaving the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference program of seven men’s and seven women’s sports.
The school will award existing and new scholarships to baseball players who wish to stay at the school for the year 2021-22.
In a statement, Athletics Director Ingrid Wicker McCree called it “a challenging day” and said the decision was made after “a rigorous internal and external review of our financial model.”
The NHL says that an Edmonton Oilers player has taken the COVID log and that the start time for the team’s game in Montreal, scheduled for Thursday night, has been postponed by an hour to complete test results for other members of the organization.
The seven teams in the league in Canada have so far been without virus-related disruptions. So far, 35 games have been postponed, all in the three US divisions.
The Atlantic Coast Conference announced Thursday that the men’s basketball game scheduled for Saturday in Louisville at Virginia Tech has been postponed due to COVID-19 concerns.
The postponement is the fourth in a row for the Cardinals and follows the continued quarantine and contact tracing within the men’s program. Head coach Chris Mack is one of those who tested positive and should miss the game.
The team adheres to the ACC protocols.
The game has been postponed for March 3rd.
The U.S. Olympic Wrestling Trials will take place April 2-3 in Fort Worth, Texas, where a limited number of spectators will be admitted to the Dickies Arena.
The trials, originally scheduled for April 2020 before the Tokyo Olympics were postponed for a year, were scheduled for the Bryce Jordan Center in Penn State. USA Wrestling had to postpone exams due to COVID-19 capacity constraints, which spokesman Gary Abbott said would not accept participants, let alone viewers.
The trials will determine who is eligible to represent the United States in the Olympics, which are now set to begin in late July. This is the fifth consecutive US Olympic team competition in which all three Olympic wrestling teams – men’s freestyle, women’s freestyle and Greco-Roman – are determined simultaneously.
Capacity at the Bryce Jordan Center would have been limited to 500 in the arena and 150 in the practice hall due to the current COVID-19 restrictions. USA Wrestling plans to hold its 2024 exams there.
Saturday’s men’s basketball game between Texas A&M and Florida has been postponed due to COVID-19.
A combination of positive testing, contact tracing, and subsequent quarantine of people within the Texas A&M program caused the change.
The postponement is in line with the COVID-19 management requirements of the Southeastern Conference.
It is the third straight game for men in Florida to be affected by the coronavirus. The Gators’ second game of the season against LSU last Saturday was also postponed.
No makeup date has been set for the game with the Aggies, and there are only three weeks left in the regular season.
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