The Latest: Opener for No. 20 Oregon postponed due to virus
The Latest on the effects of the coronavirus outbreak on sports around the world:
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The season opener for No. 20 Oregon against Eastern Washington scheduled for Wednesday has been postponed because of two positive COVID-19 cases within the Eagles' program.
The Eagles called for the postponement due to concerns of having enough scholarship players available due to the positive tests and contact tracing protocols.
No makeup date has been announced.
Eastern Washington says it believes it will be able to play its scheduled game on Saturday at Washington State, provided players currently under quarantine are cleared to play.
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The Seattle Seahawks will continue to be without fans for their next two home games on Dec. 6 and Dec. 13.
The Seahawks have not had fans in attendance all season due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and the latest decision was made in consultation with local public health and government officials.
The team said it will reach out to season ticket holders if conditions improve to the point of considering having fans for the regular-season finale on Dec. 27 against the Los Angeles Rams.
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The Seattle Sounders say a member of the club’s first-team roster has tested positive for COVID-19, but the team says all other players and staff have returned multiple negative tests and are without symptoms.
The team says the infected player was not a close contact of other members of Seattle’s roster or coaching staff, and the team’s medical personnel has determined the risk to the overall team has been managed. The Sounders say they have also determined this case is unrelated to a positive coronavirus case involving a member of the team’s support staff from a couple weeks ago.
The Sounders are scheduled to play Los Angeles FC in the first-round of the MLS playoffs on Tuesday night.
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The third-ranked UConn Huskies women's basketball team has postponed its first four games after a member of the program tested positive for COVID-19.
The Huskies were going to play Quinnipiac and either No. 6 Mississippi State or Maine this weekend at Mohegan Sun. They were also scheduled to face No. 5 Louisville on Dec. 4 in the Jimmy V Classic women's game. UConn also had its first Big East game scheduled for Dec. 6 at Seton Hall.
Team activities will remain on hold for at least 14 days and will resume when it is deemed safe by medical professionals.
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The University at Albany women’s basketball team has postponed its first three games following a surge of the novel coronavirus in the university community.
UAlbany enacted a full campus pause on Nov. 10 and the women's team has not been permitted to practice since.
The women’s season opener was originally scheduled for Sunday at home against Central Connecticut State. Games against crosstown rival Siena on Dec. 2 and at Marist on Dec. 5 also were postponed.
No makeup dates have been set.
Due to current New York state COVID-19 guidelines, fan attendance at sporting events is not allowed.
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The Butler Bulldogs will open their men’s basketball season Wednesday night with up to 1,500 fans at Hinkle Fieldhouse.
School officials say they voluntarily decided to limit capacity to fewer than the 2,275 fans the Marion County Department of Health approved because it will be the first game played under the school’s new COVID-19 protocols.
Fans will be subjected to temperature checks and are required to follow social distancing measures and wear face coverings.
Butler opens play against Western Michigan and says it will consider increasing capacity to 2,000 fans for Sunday’s second home game, against Eastern Illinois.
Athletic director Barry Collier says in a statement that capping fan capacity at roughly 15% for the opener takes into account the trending COVID-19 numbers locally.
Indiana University announced last week that it won’t begin this season with fans in the stands.
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Syracuse’s season opener against Bryant University is on for Friday afternoon.
School officials say all members of the team have undergone multiple tests since coach Jim Boeheim and another member of the program tested positive. The 76-year-old Boeheim completed his 10-day isolation period on Friday.
The team paused all activities after the two positive tests and the school says no additional players, coaches, or staff associated with the men’s program have tested positive. That means basketball-related activities can resume.
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The SailGP global league has added two new regattas to open its pandemic-delayed second season and moved the previously announced season opener in San Francisco to April 2022, making it the $1 million, winner-take-all finale.
Season 2 will now begin April 24-25 in Bermuda, which hosted the 2017 America’s Cup. The tour will then move to Taranto, Italy, June 5-6.
A full schedule of nine regattas is still being firmed up.
The second season of racing in foiling 50-foot catamarans had been set to begin with races in San Francisco and New York. The schedule was shifted to ensure greater certainty and reduce travel early in 2021. New York will not host a regatta in the second season but likely will early in the third season.
Bermuda has been largely shielded from the pandemic and recently hosted a major match-racing championship. New Zealander Russell Coutts and tech titan Larry Ellison founded SailGP after their Oracle Team USA was beaten by Emirates Team New Zealander in the 2017 America’s Cup in Bermuda.
The tour will then shift to Europe, where four of its eight national teams are based, for five events beginning in Taranto. Regattas will follow in Plymouth, England July 17-18, and Aarhus, Denmark, Aug. 20-21. Two additional European host cities will be announced in early December.
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The Minnesota Vikings have placed star wide receiver Adam Thielen on the COVID-19 reserve list.
The move was made the day after Minnesota’s game against Dallas. The list is used for players who either test positive for COVID-19 or have been in close contact with someone infected with the novel coronavirus.
Teams aren’t allowed to specify which category a player falls in, but if Thielen is being isolated for contact tracing he’d have time to be cleared for the upcoming game against Carolina.
Thielen leads the NFL with 11 touchdown receptions, the most in Vikings history through the first 10 games.
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No. 2 Baylor didn’t travel as planned Monday and won’t play two games that had been scheduled in Connecticut to open the men’s college basketball season.
The cancellations came a day after Bears coach Scott Drew revealed he had tested positive for COVID-19.
The Bears were supposed to play No. 18 Arizona State on Wednesday night, then would have played No. 3 Villanova or Boston College on Thanksgiving Day at the Mohegan Sun Arena.
Baylor officials confirmed that the team didn’t travel, and those games were listed as canceled on the school’s website. They provided no additional information.
The Bears are still scheduled to play Sunday at Seton Hall.
Drew said he was notified of his positive test after team-wide testing Friday, but that the rest of the team had tested negative on Friday and again Sunday. He said his was the team’s first positive test in 12 weeks.
While Drew is in self-isolation and asymptomatic, he said the Bears were on track to open the season with associate head coach Jerome Tang directing the team.
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The college hockey season has barely started, but a COVID-19 cancellation has already hit the Western Collegiate Hockey Association.
Minnesota State announced positive test results within the program will not allow the series with Bemidji State to be completed as scheduled on Monday. The two teams played on Sunday, and no positive tests had been produced by either team prior to game time.
The Mavericks and Beavers are scheduled to play again on Friday and Saturday. Minnesota State said the status of those games won’t be determined until completion of full contact tracing.
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The San Francisco 49ers have placed two more players on the COVID-19 list.
Defensive linemen D.J. Jones and Jordan Willis have been added to the list Monday. San Francisco has added eight players to the COVID-19 list since defensive lineman Arik Armstead was placed on it last week following a positive test.
The list is used for players who either test positive for COVID-19 or have been in close contact with someone who is infected with the coronavirus.
The Niners had a bye last week and play at the Los Angeles Rams on Sunday.
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The Green Bay Packers say they’re inviting a small group of team employees and their family members to attend the team’s Sunday night home game with the Chicago Bears to help evaluate Lambeau Field’s COVID-19 protocols.
Packers officials said about 500 people are being invited to attend the game. This is part of the process of evaluating enhanced protocols in case ticketed fans are allowed to attend home games later this season. Fans haven’t been permitted at any Packers home games so far this season.
Anyone attending Sunday’s game must comply with a new eat policy requiring spectators to remain within their socially distanced household “pod” of seats unless they’re using the rest room or purchasing food or drinks.
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The Mountain West says it’s canceling the Fresno State-San Diego State football game slated for Friday because of the novel coronavirus.
The conference said that “due to COVID-19 contact tracing within the Fresno State football program, the Bulldogs are unable to participate in the scheduled football game.”
The game has been declared a no-contest and there are no plans to reschedule it.
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The fifth-ranked Louisville’s women’s basketball team will visit Southeast Missouri State on Wednesday as the replacement for its canceled game against Middle Tennessee.
The Cardinals’ third meeting against the Redhawks will mark their first visit to Cape Girardeau. They’re 2-0 against SEMO, including an 80-40 victory in November 2017.
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Miami Dolphins offensive lineman Jesse Davis, who has started every game this season at three different positions, went on the reserve-COVID-19 list Monday.
The Dolphins already had defensive tackle Christian Wilkins on the list, and he has missed the past two games.
The team was also without several assistant coaches for two games because of COVID protocols.
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Arizona’s season opener in men’s basketball against Northern Arizona on Wednesday has been canceled due to a positive COVID-19 test in the Lumberjacks’ program.
The game was canceled due to contact tracing and mitigation protocols after the positive test.
The programs will work to possibly reschedule the game at a later date.
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The Milwaukee Bucks say they won’t allow fans at home games for the 2020-21 season until further notice in accordance with state and local health guidelines regarding COVID-19.
Bucks officials say they will work with state and local health officials as well as the NBA to evaluate a potential time that fans can return to games in some capacity later in the season.
The NBA season is set to start Dec. 22, but the Bucks’ schedule hasn’t been released.
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Gardner-Webb’s basketball game at Georgia scheduled for Sunday has been canceled. Georgia says the decision followed a positive COVID-19 test in the Gardner-Webb program.
Georgia says it hopes to find another team to play on Sunday.
The cancellation comes after No. 9 Duke’s scheduled season opener against Gardner-Webb on Wednesday was postponed, also due to coronavirus issues in the Gardner-Webb program. That game may be rescheduled.
Gardner-Webb says the decision followed a positive COVID-19 test and contact tracing within its program. The player who tested positive is asymptomatic.
Georgia is scheduled to open its season on Wednesday at home against Columbus State.
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Michigan State basketball coach Tom Izzo has resumed leading his team, two weeks following a positive COVID-19 test and after isolating at home.
Izzo was cleared to attend practices over the weekend and returned to work in his on-campus office on Monday. The Hall of Fame coach will be on bench with the 13th-ranked Spartans in their season-opening game Wednesday night at home against Eastern Michigan.
“Our front-line workers during this time have been so essential, and I have a great appreciation for those people and what they have done to fight this disease during this time,” Izzo said. “While some people who have tested positive have not been affected too much by it, I am here to tell you that this virus is no joke and everyone must take this seriously."
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The Maryland football team will return to practice Monday with the expectation of playing this week after having its previous two games canceled because coach Michael Locksley and several players tested positive for COVID-19.
Maryland athletic director Damon Evans said, “We are optimistic that we will be able to play this Saturday at Indiana. As we have done throughout, we will continue daily testing, monitor those results and base all decisions upon those results.”
Evans said Locksley is “feeling good” and will participate in practice this week in virtual fashion before traveling with the team to Indiana on Friday and coaching the Terps on Saturday.
Maryland hasn’t played since beating Penn State on Nov. 7.
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Several members of the Baltimore Ravens organization have tested positive for COVID-19, leaving the team to conduct all activities virtually with a game against unbeaten Pittsburgh coming up Thursday night.
The Ravens said they were informed late Sunday night that “multiple” people tested positive. The team has shut down its practice facility and started the process of contact tracing.
The names of those who tested positive for COVID-19 have not been released.
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Tennessee has paused activities in the men’s basketball program with head coach Rick Barnes among staff, players and other personnel that have tested positive for COVID-19.
Barnes, 66, has entered isolation protocol and the program is following SEC, local and university health guidelines.
A release from the school said the positives were detected Sunday during routine surveillance testing conducted three times a week per NCAA and SEC guidelines. The program will be retested Monday.
The No. 12 Volunteers were scheduled to open against Charlotte on Wednesday before facing VCU on Friday in the Volunteer Classic in Knoxville, but that has been canceled. The schools are seeking other scheduling options.
Tennessee’s participation in the Jimmy V Classic in Indianapolis has not been ruled out. A date to resume activity will be determined after further monitoring.
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Ninth-ranked Duke’s season opener against Gardner-Webb has been postponed due to novel coronavirus issues within the Runnin’ Bulldogs program.
The announcement came Monday, two days before the men’s basketball game in Cameron Indoor Stadium. Gardner-Webb says the decision followed a positive COVID-19 test and contact tracing within its program. The player who tested positive is asymptomatic.
The schools said they might look to make up the game at a later date.
Duke is scheduled to host Coppin State on Saturday, while Gardner-Webb has scheduled games at No. 21 Florida State on Friday and at Georgia on Sunday.
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Mississippi has canceled four basketball games and suspended team activities until Dec. 7 because of positive COVID-19 tests and contact tracing.
The school in Oxford, Mississippi, announced Monday that the Justin Reed Ole Miss Classic set for this week is canceled, along with the Dec. 5 game against Memphis.
The Rebels were scheduled to host Central Arkansas on Wednesday, Jackson State on Thursday and Arkansas State on Friday.
Ole Miss says the athletes and staff affected are “taking appropriate safety measures in accordance with university protocol.”
The Rebels are now scheduled to open the season Dec. 12 against UNC-Wilmington.
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Supporters will be allowed to return to English sports stadiums from next week after British Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced the easing of coronavirus restrictions.
The changes take effect after England’s national lockdown ends on Dec. 2.
A maximum of 4,000 fans will initially be allowed into venues in the areas with the lowest COVID-19 infection rates and up to 2,000 in the areas placed in the next tier of restrictions.
The highest-risk areas still won’t be allowed fans.
Plans for the return of spectators in October were put on hold due to a spike in coronavirus cases.
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Borussia Dortmund says attacking midfielder Reinier has tested positive for the coronavirus.
The announcement comes a day before Dortmund is to play Belgian club Brugge in the Champions League.
Dortmund says Reinier is in isolation at home and is not showing symptoms. He is on loan at from Real Madrid.
Reinier most recently played for the Brazilian under-23 national team in two friendlies in Egypt during the last international break. He wasn’t in the Dortmund squad for the 5-2 Bundesliga victory over Hertha Berlin on Saturday.
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