The COVID-19 epidemic has paralyzed global sports almost completely and huge marquee events like March Madness have been canceled. All major leagues including NBA and NHL have suspended their seasons and MLB postponed the start of the season by two weeks on Thursday.
The following leagues/events have been affected:
With most cancellations already coming in, we decided to focus on what is still happening.
eSports have continued. They are now working without a live audience, remotely.
A few nations continue their soccer leagues as well. For any soccer betting fans, check out the Belarusian Soccer Premier League or Nicaragua’s Liga Primera.
The Indianapolis 500 has been postponed until August, due to coronavirus concern. The NFL has confirmed it has no plans to either cancel its draft or delay the start of its season.
The WWE held Wrestlemania without an audience on March 24-25. It will air on pay-per-view April 4-5.
The avalanche of canceled and postponed events has turned into a trickle. We are now able to focus on the few events that are still happening.
The NFL draft is still scheduled to happen on Thursday, April 23 – Saturday, April 25. It will not take place in the normal crowded room, but rather it will be televised.
UFC 249 is still scheduled to take place. Similarly, this event will take place behind closed doors.
No surprises here. The Tokyo Olympic games originally scheduled for the Summer of 2020 are being postponed for one year.
Japanese President Abe met with officials from the IOC, and they agreed that the games would occur no later than the Summer of 2021.
The IOC has set a deadline, four weeks from today, to make a final decision on the Olympic Games, scheduled to take place in Tokyo this summer. Meanwhile, Canada has withdrawn.
The Cannes Film Festival has been postponed, with the hope to reschedule for later this year. Tennis set to resume in June. And the Monaco GP has been canceled.
The South American Football Confederation (CONMEBOL) has officially postponed the Copa Americana until 2021. The African Football Federation postponed indefinitely the African Nations Championship. The postponing of these big events comes with the Russian league also canceling its soccer matches. Until last weekend, they were the best-attended soccer events still running
Not even animal events have weathered this pandemic. The Kentuck Derby has been postponed until September. This is one of the world’s biggest betting events. Meanwhile, we are all holding our breath for the Olympic Games in Tokyo this Summer.
March Madness matches will be closed for spectators and NBA season has been suspended due to the global Coronavirus pandemic known as COVID-19. The pandemic, which originated in Wuhan, China, has spread to over 100 countries and threatens to cancel the rest of the season for many big US and International sports leagues. March Madness matches, which are scheduled to start next week (17 March), are still scheduled to go on, but the stands in the arenas will be empty. This is an attempt to control the spreading of the virus by canceling events that cause big crowds to form in one place.
If no matches are played, there will be no betting either. We spoke with GT Bets to find out what this situation means for betting and if NBA bets are still standing. They said that the issue is pending – for now.
Europe seems to be a little ahead of the US in terms of the spreading, so we can see what happens in Europe and use that to project what could happen here in the US.
An English Premier League match between Manchester City and Arsenal was postponed on Wednesday 11 March after a couple of Arsenal players self-quarantined themselves because they had come into contact with somebody who had later been tested positive for the infection.
Norwegian, German and Czech ice hockey leagues, among others, have already canceled the rest of their season completely.
The Women’s Ice Hockey World Championship Tournament has been canceled and there have been talks that the same will be done for the men’s tournament, which is scheduled to be played in Switzerland in May.
San Jose Sharks and Columbus Blue Jackets of the NHL will also play their home games without fans after their local authorities banned all large public events. We will see if NHL will follow NBA and suspend or even cancel at least the rest of the regular season.
