COVID-19 or on the streets, coronavirus, has spread rapidly and has forced the entire world to shut down. Today you’ll see how the coronavirus has specifically affected the sports world as a whole. As an athlete myself, I miss sports a lot. I’m pretty sure everyone else that enjoys watching their favorite sport on TV misses it too. 

The first sport to take action is basketball. The NBA suspended the season indefinitely on March 12th. The playoffs were supposed to start on April 18th. The first NBA player to unfortunately catch this virus was Rudy Gobert. He is a center on the Utah Jazz, and most likely spread it to his teammate, Donovan Mitchell. Mitchell was the second player in the NBA to catch this virus. Although both players have fully recovered from this, it has reportedly, per Bleacher Report, caused the relationship between the two star players  to be “unsalvageable” . The latest NBA player to catch the virus was Marcus Smart of the Boston Celtics. There are no updates on whether he has recovered from this yet. Other notable players to catch the virus are: Christian Wood of the Detroit Pistons and Kevin Durant of the Brooklyn Nets. Other notable figures in the NBA to catch it are: James Dolan, owner of the New York Knicks, and Doris Burke, a sideline reporter, as well as other unnamed players and members of the NBA organizations. Per Adrian Wojnarowski, the NBA is also planning to withhold 25% of player paychecks, starting on May 15th. This sport has been affected the most by this virus and by far we can’t wait for the NBA season to resume!!

Onto the NFL. This hasn’t hit this sport too hard, but it has affected this sport a little bit. They aren’t planning on cancelling the NFL draft, but they are cancelling the public events that are tied to the draft. Per NBC Sports Washington, they are planning to hold the NFL draft in studio. As of right now, on April 19th, only two NFL players have tested positive for the coronavirus. Those two players are Brian Allen of the Los Angeles Rams, and Von Miller of the Denver Broncos. Per ESPN, Von Miller tried to take every precaution to not catch the virus, but unfortunately still caught it. The NFL still plans to start the 2020 season on time, but there have been talks of shortening the season, and also have no fans in the stadiums per the New York Times.

Next sport is the MLB. The MLB had to suspend Opening Day as well as the season in general due to the coronavirus. As reported, no notable MLB players have tested positive for the virus. Only minor leaguers from the Yankees and the Reds have tested positive. The MLB are in discussions to still play the entire 140 game season, or at least the start of all the games until the stay at home orders are lifted. They are also discussing the possibility of using the spring training facilities in Arizona and Florida for regular season games. The most likely way to get the MLB season started is to play the games in Phoenix to start the season. This is also known as the “Arizona Plan”. The 2020 MLB draft will also be pushed back to July, and that instead of the usual 40 rounds, they will limit it to 10 rounds. The players are also open to playing in empty stadiums, and the rosters could be expanded, and the All-Star game could be canceled.

The coronavirus also cancelled the NCAA winter and spring championships, which most notably included the NCAA men’s and women’s basketball tournaments. It has also cancelled Wimbledon. This is the first time Wimbledon has been cancelled since World War 2. That’s a long while ladies and gentlemen, that’s how serious this virus has gotten. It also got to the Olympics as they have postponed the 2020 summer olympics until July 23rd of 2021 and they will end on August 8th of 2021. It’s gotten so bad that even Nascar and IndyCar have cancelled their events.

This virus is very serious everybody. There’s a reason why the entire world has shut down, and there’s a reason you’re advised to stay in your homes. Everybody please stay safe, stay healthy, and stay clean!!