Axios

The NCAA men's and women's basketball tournaments will be played without fans, NCAA president Mark Emmert announced in a statement Wednesday.

Why it matters: The shock announcement comes days before Selection Sunday will kick off March Madness, one of the most highly anticipated sporting events of the year. The World Health Organization announced Wednesday that it classified the novel coronavirus outbreak as a pandemic.

Browns center J.C. Tretter was elected as the new president of the NFL Players Association during union meetings Tuesday, beating out Buccaneers linebacker Sam Acho and Giants safety Michael Thomas.

What to watch: The election comes at a turbulent time for the NFLPA, which has plunged into a state of disarray in recent weeks thanks to the public disagreement over the proposed CBA, which includes a 17-game schedule starting in 2021 at the earliest.

At the more than 1,100 schools across all three NCAA divisions, roughly $18.1 billion was spent on athletics in 2018.

Why it matters: The total revenue generated was $10.3 billion, leaving nearly $8 billion that had to be subsidized by other sources — $6.5 billion from institutional and government support and $1.5 billion from student fees.

27 horse racing employees (trainers, veterinarians and others) were charged Monday in a "widespread, corrupt" doping scheme that cheated the betting public and likely contributed to the rise in racetrack fatalities.

The state of play: Among those charged was Jason Servis, the trainer of Maximum Security, the horse that won last year's Kentucky Derby but was disqualified for impeding the path of two other horses.

With TV viewership down, the NBA is weighing all kinds of ideas to rejuvenate its regular season — like fewer games or a midseason tournament — and it's even open to making basketball more of a summer sport.

Driving the news: During a panel at this past weekend's MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference, Atlanta Hawks CEO Steve Koonin proposed starting the NBA season in mid-December rather than mid-October.

The PGA Tour has struck a 9-year rights deal with CBS Sports, NBC Sports and ESPN for around $680 million, Variety reports.

Why it matters: The value of distributing professional golf in the U.S. is increasing as more TV networks clamor to hold live sports rights. In the streaming era, live sports are keeping traditional TV alive.