Arsenal Football Club has closed its London training center after manager Mikel Arteta tested positive for the coronavirus, the club announced in a statement Thursday.
Why it matters: Premier League games are still proceeding this weekend, but Arsenal noted in its statement that this could soon change. The NBA quickly moved to suspend the rest of its season after Utah Jazz player Rudy Gobert tested positive for the coronavirus.
The NCAA announced Thursday that it will cancel its annual men's and women's Division I basketball tournaments, set to begin with Selection Sunday on March 15, due to the coronavirus outbreak.
Why it matters: March Madness is a cultural phenomenon and one of the biggest sporting events in America. The NCAA was initially planning to play games without fans, but faced pressure to cancel after top-ranked teams Duke and University of Kansas suspended all athletic activities.
Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban told ESPN Wednesday that his team would "put together a program" for hourly workers who'd lose work after the NBA suspended the season following a Utah Jazz player testing positive for the novel coronavirus.
Why it matters: Cuban's remarks during his team's game against the Denver Nuggets come as momentum builds to compensate hourly workers impacted by the virus. Tech giants have led the charge, with Microsoft, Google, Facebook and Twitter pledging to pay hourly workers including cooks and cleaners regular wages. Cuban said at a news conference later he's more worried about his family than the NBA games suspension.
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.
