# How should the NCAA be handling the the basketball tournament and the coronavirus? **URL:** \ **Category:** The Quarantine Zone\ **Tags:** covid-quarantine\ **Created:** [March 11, 2020, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-should-the-ncaa-be-handling-the-the-basketball-tournament-and-the-coronavirus/849271 "2020-03-11T15:05:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Biotop](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biotop/32/321_2.png) [@Biotop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biotop)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2020, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-should-the-ncaa-be-handling-the-the-basketball-tournament-and-the-coronavirus/849271/1 "2020-03-11T15:05:52Z")
As I watch and enjoy the big conference basketball tournament games this weekend I am wondering: should these games be going on at all? I know there is a lot of money involved, and I understand fan and player desire to have these games. But the risk for so many people in such close quarters seems unnecessary. It is after all just a game. Should we be holding such events right now? ---
**Author:** ![dalej42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@dalej42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dalej42)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2020, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-should-the-ncaa-be-handling-the-the-basketball-tournament-and-the-coronavirus/849271/2 "2020-03-11T15:19:43Z")
Yes. The paranoia is insane. I’d certainly be going. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2020, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-should-the-ncaa-be-handling-the-the-basketball-tournament-and-the-coronavirus/849271/3 "2020-03-11T15:21:51Z")
Play the games in empty arenas, or cancel them. That’s what all spectator sports should be doing right now. The more social distancing we do now, the less of a disaster May and June will be. [Exponential growth is a sonuvabitch.](https://www.statnews.com/2020/03/10/simple-math-alarming-answers-covid-19/) ---
**Author:** ![Biotop](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biotop/32/321_2.png) [@Biotop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biotop)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2020, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-should-the-ncaa-be-handling-the-the-basketball-tournament-and-the-coronavirus/849271/4 "2020-03-11T15:44:55Z")
> [@RTFirefly](#): > > Play the games in empty arenas, or cancel them. > > That’s what all spectator sports should be doing right now. The more social distancing we do now, the less of a disaster May and June will be. [Exponential growth is a sonuvabitch.](https://www.statnews.com/2020/03/10/simple-math-alarming-answers-covid-19/) The empty arena idea is weird. So much about the tournament is the atmosphere at the games, the crowd and the players feeding off each other. Take that away and you lose a lot what makes people want to watch in the first place. Canceling or postponing seems a better move than playing a vacant arena. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2020, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-should-the-ncaa-be-handling-the-the-basketball-tournament-and-the-coronavirus/849271/5 "2020-03-11T17:33:23Z")
SI: [Coronavirus is a Serious Threat, Keeping Fans Out of Arenas Should be Obvious](https://www.si.com/sports-illustrated/2020/03/10/coronavirus-keep-fans-out-of-arenas) > [@Biotop](#): > > The empty arena idea is weird. So much about the tournament is the atmosphere at the games, the crowd and the players feeding off each other. Take that away and you lose a lot what makes people want to watch in the first place. Canceling or postponing seems a better move than playing a vacant arena. In the case of a relatively short event like the NCAAs, that might make sense, but with the other sports, we’re talking about big chunks of seasons at the very least. Wonder if people would rather watch a MLB or NBA game on TV without crowd noise, or have no season to watch at all? I bet people would rather at least be able to watch, given that they’re going to be going out less before too long. [We’re up against exponential growth here](https://www.statnews.com/2020/03/10/simple-math-alarming-answers-covid-19/). As a header in the WaPo said this morning, “when a danger is growing exponentially, everything looks fine until it doesn’t.” We can speed up that growth or slow it down, with the main variable being how many people get exposed to how many other people in a given unit of time. And we want to slow that growth, flatten the curve, so we never hit the point where our medical resources are overloaded. So really: one of our watchwords should be **no unnecessary crowds**. The crowds at sporting events are gratuitous, not necessary. Cut 'em out. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2020, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-should-the-ncaa-be-handling-the-the-basketball-tournament-and-the-coronavirus/849271/6 "2020-03-11T17:53:26Z")
No crowds, no blackouts. Let everybody watch from home for free. What? Networks lose money? Awwwww. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2020, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-should-the-ncaa-be-handling-the-the-basketball-tournament-and-the-coronavirus/849271/7 "2020-03-11T17:59:11Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > No crowds, no blackouts. Let everybody watch from home for free. > > What? Networks lose money? Awwwww. They ought to be fine - a lot more eyeballs watching the games. Plenty of ads to sell. ---
**Author:** ![dalej42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@dalej42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dalej42)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2020, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-should-the-ncaa-be-handling-the-the-basketball-tournament-and-the-coronavirus/849271/8 "2020-03-11T18:48:16Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > No crowds, no blackouts. Let everybody watch from home for free. > > What? Networks lose money? Awwwww. Isn’t the entire tournament available online for free? Maybe something changed for this year. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2020, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-should-the-ncaa-be-handling-the-the-basketball-tournament-and-the-coronavirus/849271/9 "2020-03-11T18:55:24Z")
Except we’re not up against exponential growth. We’re up against logistic growth. Remember when all those people were getting the flu? You should, because it just happened this year. And last year. And the year before. And the year before that. And yet, it never reached the entire population, nor even the entire unvaccinated population. The population it reached was much smaller than the population of those whom it could have reached. ---
**Author:** ![dalej42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@dalej42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dalej42)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2020, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-should-the-ncaa-be-handling-the-the-basketball-tournament-and-the-coronavirus/849271/10 "2020-03-11T20:50:41Z")
Ugh!!! No fans allowed, but at least we will have the games. ---
**Author:** ![Tigers2B1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/9fc29f/32.png) [@Tigers2B1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tigers2B1)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2020, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-should-the-ncaa-be-handling-the-the-basketball-tournament-and-the-coronavirus/849271/11 "2020-03-11T22:14:49Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Except we’re not up against exponential growth. We’re up against logistic growth. > > Remember when all those people were getting the flu? You should, because it just happened this year. And last year. And the year before. And the year before that. And yet, it never reached the entire population, nor even the entire unvaccinated population. The population it reached was much smaller than the population of those whom it could have reached. First flu has natural stops. People who are vaccinated and people who may have some resistance because of prior exposures are less likely pass on the flu if exposed… Covid 19 is a new virus and there’s no vaccine. Also unlike flu we don’t know if there’s a “covid-19 season.” I’m not sure the comparisons work that well especially with the unknowns. ---
**Author:** ![Bijou\_Drains](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bijou_drains/32/2814_2.png) [@Bijou\_Drains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bijou_Drains)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2020, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-should-the-ncaa-be-handling-the-the-basketball-tournament-and-the-coronavirus/849271/12 "2020-03-11T22:54:26Z")
Most viruses are more common in cold weather but for this one we don’t know that now. That’s why flu shots are given out in the fall. In the southern hemisphere they give out shots in our spring season, their fall. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2020, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-should-the-ncaa-be-handling-the-the-basketball-tournament-and-the-coronavirus/849271/13 "2020-03-11T23:43:23Z")
And a lot of people also have prior exposure to coronaviruses, too. We know that it’s a logistic curve; we just don’t know what the saturation level is. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2020, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-should-the-ncaa-be-handling-the-the-basketball-tournament-and-the-coronavirus/849271/14 "2020-03-11T23:45:41Z")
> [@dalej42](#): > > Isn’t the entire tournament available online for free? Maybe something changed for this year. I thought they limited you to a few hours before you have to pay. Is it really all free online? ---
**Author:** ![Bijou\_Drains](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bijou_drains/32/2814_2.png) [@Bijou\_Drains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bijou_Drains)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2020, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-should-the-ncaa-be-handling-the-the-basketball-tournament-and-the-coronavirus/849271/15 "2020-03-12T00:24:31Z")
It was all free online in the past but not sure if they are still doing that . ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2020, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-should-the-ncaa-be-handling-the-the-basketball-tournament-and-the-coronavirus/849271/16 "2020-03-12T01:04:25Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Except we’re not up against exponential growth. We’re up against logistic growth. Not much difference until the virus hits some sort of resistance, meaning people who’ve been vaccinated or already exposed and have developed antibodies. By the time that it matters that this is a logistic curve rather than exponential, we’ll likely have tens of millions of Americans exposed to the coronavirus. I’d rather not take a chance that it’s capable of producing far more serious cases than our health system can handle, which is something that the flu hasn’t done in a century. > [@](#): > > Remember when all those people were getting the flu? You should, because it just happened this year. And last year. And the year before. And the year before that. And yet, it never reached the entire population, nor even the entire unvaccinated population. The population it reached was much smaller than the population of those whom it could have reached. Well, _yeah_. Between people who’ve been vaccinated, and people who already have resistance due to being exposed and not catching it, or having been exposed to a similar strain in a different year, eventually the odds turn against the virus. And then warm weather comes along, and it’s game over. > [@Chronos](#): > > And a lot of people also have prior exposure to coronaviruses, too. So you have a cite that this matters? ---
**Author:** ![Ike\_Witt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ike_witt/32/283_2.png) [@Ike\_Witt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ike_Witt)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2020, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-should-the-ncaa-be-handling-the-the-basketball-tournament-and-the-coronavirus/849271/17 "2020-03-12T01:40:29Z")
It seems the NBA is suspending all games for the foreseeable future. ETA: > [@](#): > > The NBA announced that a player on the Utah Jazz has preliminarily tested positive for COVID-19. The test result was reported shortly prior to the tip-off of tonight’s game between the Jazz and Oklahoma City Thunder at Chesapeake Energy Arena. At that time, tonight’s game was canceled. The affected player was not in the arena. > The NBA is suspending game play following the conclusion of tonight’s schedule of games until further notice. The NBA will use this hiatus to determine next steps for moving forward in regard to the coronavirus pandemic. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2020, 12:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-should-the-ncaa-be-handling-the-the-basketball-tournament-and-the-coronavirus/849271/18 "2020-03-12T12:28:47Z")
Major kudos to the NBA - good for them for stepping up. It isn’t always easy to do the right thing, and this is going to cost them a ton of money. But it’s the right thing, and they’re not only doing it, they’re leading the way in doing it. Note to the NCAA, NHL, MLB: if the NBA does this, you can too. ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2020, 1:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-should-the-ncaa-be-handling-the-the-basketball-tournament-and-the-coronavirus/849271/19 "2020-03-12T13:06:36Z")
[Seattle Dragons XFL team will play game without fans on Sunday.](https://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2020/03/11/xfl-announces-seattle-dragons-will-host-game-without-fans/) This is after the Washington State governor banned large gatherings. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2020, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-should-the-ncaa-be-handling-the-the-basketball-tournament-and-the-coronavirus/849271/20 "2020-03-12T14:20:06Z")
[NCAA: March Madness will be played without fans](https://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/ncaa-limit-attendance-events-coronavirus) > [@](#): > > The NCAA announced in a statement Wednesday that it will hold its March Madness tournaments without fans and restrict attendance to “essential staff and limited family.” Well done, NCAA. Good on ya. 🙂 [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-should-the-ncaa-be-handling-the-the-basketball-tournament-and-the-coronavirus/849271.md?page=2)