(Bloomberg) -- The Ivy League has canceled its postseason basketball tournaments as a result of the spreading coronavirus, joining a wave of shuttered and scaled-back sporting events.
The league's two regular-season champions -- Yale on the men's side and the Princeton women's team -- will receive the conference's automatic bids to the NCAA tournaments.
Tickets for the event, which was to take place at Harvard University outside Boston, will be refunded in full.
“We understand and share the disappointment with student-athletes, coaches and fans who will not be able to participate in these tournaments,” Ivy League Executive Director Robin Harris said in a statement. “Regrettably, the information and recommendations presented to us from public health authorities and medical professionals have convinced us that this is the most prudent decision.”
The fast-spreading virus has roiled the sports world. Pro hockey and soccer teams in Santa Clara County, California, have been barred from having spectators at their arenas. And the BNP Paribas Open tennis tournament in Indian Wells, California, one of the biggest events on the pro tennis circuit, was also canceled this week.
Several U.S. colleges have been moved proactively to change their schedules as a result of the virus. Among the Ivy League schools, Yale and Columbia have curtailed business-school travel, while Princeton has suspended in-person classes and encouraged students to stay home after spring break.
To contact the reporter on this story: Eben Novy-Williams in New York at enovywilliam@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Nick Turner at nturner7@bloomberg.net, John J. Edwards III
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