Mountain West suspends spring sports indefinitely
Today the Mountain West announced via a press release that all spring sports will be suspended indefinitely, effective immediately. The NCAA has also cancelled the men’s and women’s basketball championships, which Utah State University had earned an automatic bid to compete in.
The Mountain West
According to the release, the Mountain West will be taking precautionary measures to prevent the spread of COVID-19.
“Given the current status of COVID-19, the Mountain West Board of Directors has suspended all spring sport competitions indefinitely. The health and well-being of student-athletes, as well as the campus and general communities, is of utmost priority. Therefore, the Board has determined the most prudent course of action is to align with the recommendations of public health care and government officials to help limit the spread of the virus.”
Teams that are currently on the road are permitted to return home when their competition is over, but may finish out the series. Any teams that have yet to depart have been ordered to suspend travel immediately.
As far as practice activities — spring football for example — are being treated as “a matter of institutional discretion depending upon local conditions” according to the release.
Currently, men’s tennis, women’s tennis, outdoor track and field, softball, gymnastics and men’s golf are all in season and were all set to compete in the next two weeks.
The NCAA
Today, NCAA President Mark Emmert and the Board of Governors canceled the Division I men’s and women’s 2020 basketball tournaments, as well as all remaining winter and spring NCAA championships.
Only a couple hours after the Mountain West decided to suspend activities, the NCAA made the decision to cancel all spring championships, taking the decision out of the hands of the Universities on whether or not their teams would compete. It was previously stated by the Mountain West in its press release, that it would be left to “institutional discretion” on if they would compete.
The Utah State men’s basketball team secured an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament by winning the Mountain West Tournament on Saturday, defeating No. 5 San Diego State to take the crown. The team ends the season with a 26-8 record.
Editor’s note: This article has been updated to reflect the latest information.