Page 17 - ARUBA TODAY

A17
Thursday 12 March 2020

Coronavirus
from March STAAL
nixes fans

Madness,

some NHL, TACTIC

NBA games

By JIMMY GOLEN
AP Sports Writer
College basketball's
March Madness became
the highest-profile sporting
event to forego fans during
the coronavirus pandemic,
joining some NBA and NHL
teams that have decided
to play in largely empty
arenas in an effort to slow
the disease's spread.
NCAA President Mark Em-
mert said Wednesday only
essential staff and limited
family will be allowed to
attend the tournaments,
draining the signature
school spirit from one of
the biggest events on the
sports calendar.
The NBA game between
the Warriors and Nets in
San Francisco on Thursday
night will also be played
without fans, as will up-
coming NHL games sched-
uled for Columbus, Ohio,
and San Jose, California.
A person with direct knowl-
edge of the talks said the Hurricanes score 3 in 3rd
majority of NBA owners
are leaning toward a pro-
posal to temporarily play period, beat Red Wings 5-2
games without fans in the
buildings in response to Detroit Red Wings left wing Darren Helm (43) and Carolina Hur-
the global concerns. NBA
owners met via telecon- ricanes center Jordan Staal (11) become entangled behind the
ference Wednesday and net during the third period of an NHL hockey game Tuesday,
have more talks scheduled March 10, 2020, in Detroit.
Thursday with the inten- Associated Press
tion of finalizing plans so
an announcement can be Page 22
made by the league, ac-
cording to the person who
spoke to The Associated
Press on condition of ano-
nymity because no details
had been made public.
Conference tournament
games for the Big Ten and
Big 12 will also be without
fans starting Thursday.

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