Most sports fans look forward to the month of March as NBA playoff spots are on the line, March Madness, and new sports seasons. However, many fans have been left disappointed as COVID-19 has rampaged world wide causing a suspension to almost all professional sports.

The NBA was the first to break the news that they would be suspending games for the foreseeable future after Jazz star, Rudy Gobert, came down with the virus. Eventually, other major sports leagues followed. Realizing it is March, sports fanatics waited for the dreaded news the NCAA would share. Unsurprisingly, the NCAA cancelled the conference tournaments, the NCAA tournament, and all spring sports. 

“I was at the Big 10 Tournament watching the Indiana Hoosiers play, and they said the tournament on the following day would no longer be open to fans,” senior Carter Kincaid said. “I later learned that all the tournaments were going to be cancelled.” 

In addition to the cancellation of spring sports, senior athletes will be unable to compete in their senior year. Given the circumstances, the NCAA has announced that some athletes will be given another year of eligibility. 

“I wish they could have postponed to a later date, and played a shorter tournament,” junior Conner Wray said.

In the end, money is going to be lost as $933 million dollars in revenue will be non-existent according to Gio Insignares. Additionally, an estimated $8.5 billion dollars in betting will not be happening.  

“It is one of the only things I watch in March, and it’s always fun to fill a bracket out,” Wray said. 

With the sports world on hold, fans will have to wait in anticipation for their respective sport to begin or commence. 

“I think more people will zone into the sports world once it returns because it took such a long break off,” Kincaid said.

Unfortunately, athletes, coaches, and fans will have to wait another year for college basketball tournament madness.