After cancelling the men’s basketball conference tournament on Thursday, the SEC announced it would also cancel all sporting events for its member institutions until at least March 30.
The cancellation comes a day after the SEC announced the games would be played without fans in attendance due to concerns over the continued spread of coronavirus, or COVID-19, which the World Health Organization labelled a pandemic on Wednesday.
The SEC’s announcement also includes all championship events until March 30, including the 2020 Men’s Basketball Tournament, which was cancelled prior to the suspension of all sporting events.
“We understand that this decision will be disappointing to our student-athletes and coaches who have been preparing all season to compete in this event as well as viewers at home,” SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey said in a statement. “While this was not an easy decision, the health and well-being of our entire SEC community is of paramount importance.”
The Big 12 and American Athletic Conferences have also discontinued their respective conference championships.
As the regular season SEC champion, Kentucky will be awarded an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament, the league announced.
The SEC also announced on Wednesday that all regular season games held at its member universities would limit attendance to “only essential personnel and limited family.”
The A&M men’s team was scheduled to take on Missouri at 6 p.m. on Thursday in Nashville.
