Coronavirus Creating Uncertainty In The Build-Up To March Madness

Try to imagine this: It's the Elite 8 of the upcoming March Madness 2020 college basketball tournament, a player dribbles down the court in the closing seconds of a contest and pulls up for a game-winning shot in the defender's face. The ball sinks through the net — but there is no deafening cheer, no camera angle that pans to a jubilant crowd, just an on-court celebration and an unusual ability to hear what the players and coaches are yelling.

It sounds like an episode of the "Twilight Zone." But while the National College Athletic Association remains confident that this year's tournament will go ahead as planned, the above scenario is a something that the NCAA hasn't ruled out in the face of the new coronavirus outbreak.

"The NCAA is committed to conducting its championship and events in a safe and responsible manner," Donald Remy, the NCAA chief operating officer, said in a statement on Tuesday night. "Today we are planning to conduct our championships as planned; however, we are evaluating the COVID-19 situation daily and will make decisions accordingly."

"If you can think of it, it's something that we've gone through an analysis around," Remy told Bloomberg in a separate interview. "We've contingency planned for all circumstances."

The men's tournament is scheduled to get underway on March 17, with the women's tournament following three days later. The massive tournament stretches through 14 U.S. cities and accounts for more than 80 percent of the NCAA's annual revenue, according to Bloomberg.

A 2019 report from CNBC showed that the NCAA makes more than $800 million each year from just its television deals surrounding the March Madness tournament.

The National College Players Association, a nonprofit collegiate athlete advocacy group, said in a statement Saturday that "there should be a serious discussion about holding competitions without an audience present." The group cited the "emerging coronavirus pandemic" and said the NCAA should take steps to protect its players.

Worries about the new coronavirus at sporting events have begun to catalyze changes on both a domestic and international scale.

Chicago State announced late Tuesday that its men's basketball team will not travel for two regularly scheduled conference games this week and that its women's team will not host two games.

The school cited the spread of new coronavirus in both cases.

On an international level, it was announced on Wednesday that all sporting events in Italy will be played behind closed doors until April 3 as a result of the coronavirus.

Here are all the cities that are scheduled to host a March Madness tournament game in 2020:

• Dayton, Ohio
• Albany, New York
• Spokane, Washington
• St. Louis, Missouri
• Tampa, Florida
• Greensboro, North Carolina
• Omaha, Nebraska
• Sacramento, California
• Cleveland, Ohio
• Indianapolis, Indiana
• Los Angeles, California
• Houston, Texas
• New York, New York
• Atlanta, Georgia