The Latest on the effects of the new coronavirus outbreak on sports around the world:
Major League Soccer has extended its training moratorium through April 24 because of the coronavirus outbreak.
Team facilities are closed to players and staff - except for players requiring treatment that cannot be administered at their homes.
Players are expected to remain in market with their teams during the moratorium to avoid the spread of the virus. The league will consider individual requests for players to travel to another city by car.
MLS teams were two games into the season when it was suspended on March 12. A Philadelphia Union player with mild symptoms recently tested positive for the virus.
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Golden Gate Fields in the San Francisco Bay area has been closed for live racing as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.
The Alameda County Public Health Officer ordered the track to close, which resulted in the cancellation of Thursday’s card.
Golden Gate says it “is abiding by the instructions issued two weeks ago by the California Horse Racing Board to operate under the sanction of the local health authorities.”
The track says there are no known cases of COVID-19 at Golden Gate.
Santa Anita near Los Angeles has been without live racing since March 27 under a similar order from the Los Angeles County Health Department.
Both tracks had been racing without fans and limiting attendance to horsemen and necessary racing and track employees. Both are owned by The Stronach Group.
Horsemen representatives and The Stronach Group have maintained that racetracks are essential businesses in need of continued operations, providing care to animals, and that afternoon racing involves far fewer participants than morning training, which is allowed.
Over 1,200 horses are stabled at Golden Gate, with 400 workers living on site to care for the animals.
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NASCAR has delayed the debut of its next generation stock car that was scheduled to hit the track next season.
The car will now be delayed until 2022 because the coronavirus pandemic has slowed development.
The Next Gen project has been years in the works as an industry-wide collaboration to cut costs and improve competition.
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The California State Athletic Commission has canceled all combat sports events through May due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Several dozen events were scheduled for May, mostly in Southern California.
The affected events include a UFC show scheduled for May 16 in San Diego. The event was scheduled to feature lightweights Dustin Poirier and Dan Hooker in the main event.
The Bellator mixed martial arts promotion had already postponed its two events scheduled for California in May. Golden Boy Promotions also had already canceled a boxing show scheduled for April 25 outside Palm Springs, headlined by light heavyweights Sergey Kovalev and Sullivan Barrera.
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Anaheim Ducks owners Henry and Susan Samueli say they will pay their 2,100 part-time employees across all of their sports and event management companies through June 30 for work that was wiped out by the coronavirus pandemic.
The Samuelis’ Anaheim Arena Management company operates Honda Center, the Ducks’ home rink. They also own two large ice hockey complexes in Orange County - including Great Park Ice, the massive new winter sports facility that houses the Ducks’ training complex in Irvine, California.
The Samuelis own the Ducks’ AHL affiliate, the San Diego Gulls. Their company even operates JT Schmid’s, a popular restaurant and bar just across Katella Avenue from Honda Center.
Henry Samueli is a former UCLA professor who became a billionaire after co-founding Broadcom, a semiconductor company, with one of his students. The Samuelis purchased the Ducks from the Walt Disney Company in 2005, two years after creating Anaheim Arena Management to oversee Honda Center’s operations.
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The Ottawa Senators are making temporary layoffs and salary reductions because of COVID-19.
The team’s parent company says the full-time workforce will be reduced starting Sunday, when the NHL club’s season was originally scheduled to end.
Those not laid off could be placed on furlough. Others could have their salaries reduced. Health benefits will continue uninterrupted.
“We will pull through by staying committed together,” owner Eugene Melnyk said. “I look forward to the day when it is safe to reopen our doors and welcome back employees, fans and community partners.”
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Former baseball All-Star Jim Edmonds says he tested positive for the new coronavirus and for pneumonia.
“I am completely symptom free now and doing really well, and so I must have had it for a while,” Edmonds said in a video posted to his Instagram account. “I appreciate everyone who has said well wishes and wished me the best.”
The 49-year-old played 17 major league seasons from 1993-2010, mostly for the California and Los Angeles Angels (1993-99) and St. Louis Cardinals (2000-07). He hit 393 home runs.
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Browns wide receiver Jarvis Landry has donated $15,000 to provide hygiene products to students and families in the East Cleveland City School District during the coronavirus pandemic.
Landry partnered with Meijer to supply families with soap, shampoo, deodorant, toothpaste and other personal care products.
“Although we are facing unprecedented challenges right now, it is important to remember that we are all in this together,” Landry said. “I love the City of Cleveland, and I want to make sure our communities have the support that they need to stay safe and healthy.”
The partnership estimates more than 1,300 families will receive supplies to support their health and wellness while schools are closed until at least May 1.
Landry has been active in the Cleveland community since joining the Browns in 2018 after four seasons in Miami.
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The Atlanta Braves are marking what would have been opening day at Truist Park with a virtual “At Home” opener.
The team will host a 90-minute, online celebration Friday that features interviews with manager Brian Snitker, general manager Alex Anthopoulos and star first baseman Freddie Freeman as well as messages from other Braves players. Operatic tenor Timothy Miller will perform the national anthem, joined by popular between-innings features such as Beat The Freeze and the Home Depot Tool Race.
The “At Home” opener will serve as a lead-in to Fox Sports South airing a replay of the Braves′ 2019 home opener against the Chicago Cubs.
Like sports around the world, Major League Baseball is on hold during the coronavirus pandemic.
The Braves are two-time defending National League East champions.
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Get ready for a full week of the Masters on television.
With this year’s tournament postponed because of the new coronavirus, ESPN and CBS Sports will broadcast the final rounds of some of the more significant Masters.
ESPN starts it off at 3 p.m. Eastern on Wednesday with the final round from 1986. That’s arguably the most popular Masters of all, when Jack Nicklaus shot 30 on the back nine to win his sixth green jacket at age 46. ESPN will show the the 2012 Masters, when Bubba Watson won his first green jacket, at 2 p.m. Thursday. That’s followed by Tiger Woods’ record 12-shot victory in 1997 at 7:30 p.m. On Friday, ESPN features 2013, when Adam Scott won, at noon and 2005, with Woods and his memorable chip-in on the 16th, at 6 p.m.
CBS takes over on the weekend, starting with a one-hour production of 1975, when Nicklaus won over Tom Weiskopf and Johnny Miller. That begins at 1:30 p.m. Saturday and is immediately followed by 2004, which was Phil Mickelson’s duel with Ernie Els.
On Sunday starting at 12:30 p.m., CBS will show the entire round from last year, when Woods completed his comeback from back surgeries to win his fifth green jacket.
Masters.com and @TheMasters social media will complement the broadcasts with content never before seen from famous final rounds.
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The Russian Sports Ministry says a major training base near Moscow has shut down after a coach and an athlete tested “provisionally positive” for the new coronavirus.
The ministry says the athlete was hospitalized and the coach self-isolated at home. All training is shut down at the sprawling Novogorsk base, a key focus of Russian Olympic preparations across multiple sports, and it has been disinfected. Athletes have either been isolated or sent home to self-isolate.
The ministry didn’t name the coach or athlete. However, the coach was identified as artistic gymnastics head coach Andrei Rodionenko in comments to state news agency Tass by Russian Rhythmic Gymnastics Federation president Irina Viner-Usmanova.
Separately, a Russian boxing coach who was at last month’s Olympic qualifying tournament in London said he tested positive. The Russian Boxing Federation said Anton Kadushin had been at home since returning from the competition.
Previously the Turkish federation said one of its boxers and one of its coaches had tested positive after the tournament, which was cut short due to the virus outbreak. The International Olympic Committee said at the time it was “not possible to know the source of infection.”
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The CEO of World TeamTennis says the league has sent $1,000 each to about 60 players and coaches as a “gift” to help them deal with the financial hardships presented by the coronavirus pandemic.
Carlos Silva said in a telephone interview Thursday that the payments were not an advance of salary for the nine-team league, which was founded by Billie Jean King in the 1970s.
Explained Silva: “It wasn’t so much about the money, but a way to say, ’Thank you,’ and just so they could use it for some rent or some groceries or anything they might need.”
All professional tennis events have been postponed or canceled until early July because of the COVID-19 outbreak.
There will be some tennis to watch on TV this weekend, though: A WTT all-star event featuring 2017 U.S. Open runner-up Madison Keys and other players will air Saturday on CBS. It was filmed March 1.
Silva said WTT is still planning to launch its three-week season on July 12, but will continue to monitor the situation and offer periodic updates.
Matches are slated to be held that day in Washington, Orlando, San Diego and Springfield, Missouri.
That date also was supposed to be when the men’s final was played at Wimbledon.
But the All England Club announced Wednesday that its Grand Slam tournament would not be played this year.
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The New England Patriots’ private team plane is returning to Boston from China carrying more than 1 million masks critical to health care providers fighting to control the spread of the new coronavirus.
The Wall Street Journal reports that Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker secured the N95 masks but had no way of getting them to the U.S.
Team owner Robert Kraft stepped in and offered to help. The plane, a Boeing 767 painted in the team’s colors and logo, is usually used to carry the team to and from NFL games. It is expected back in Boston on Thursday.
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The World Games that were more than a year away have been delayed to 2022 because of the coronavirus outbreak.
The Olympic-style event for sports that are not on the Summer Games program had been scheduled for July 15-25, 2021, in Birmingham, Alabama. But those dates now overlap with the Tokyo Olympics, which were delayed for a full year while the world deals with the pandemic.
The International World Games Association and Birmingham Organizing Committee announced Thursday that the 11th edition of the World Games will now be held on July 7-17, 2022.
The World Games began in 1981 and are held every four years to showcase disciplines that are not on the Olympic program, such as sumo, floorball, billiards, lifesaving, orienteering, dance sport and tug of war.
Birmingham won the right to stage the 2021 competition, beating out Lima, Peru, and Ufa, Russia, to become the first U.S. host since Santa Clara, California, for the inaugural World Games.
Birmingham had expected some 3,600 athletes from more than 100 nations to participate.
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Iowa State coaches and other athletic department staff members are getting pay cuts for one year to help offset lost revenue from the coronavirus pandemic.
Athletic director Jaime Pollard wrote on the Cyclones’ website that his department faces a $5 million shortfall this year because of the cancellation of the NCAA and Big 12 men’s basketball tournaments.
The payroll cut will save more than $3 million. There also will be a temporary suspension of bonuses for coaches totaling another $1 million.
Previously announced increases in Cyclone Club annual giving levels have been delayed, prices for season and individual game ticket prices have been frozen for all sports and the deadline for booster club donations and football season ticket renewals has been extended to May 29.
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The Belgian soccer league has become the first major European competition to recommend ending its season with the current standings declared final because of the coronavirus outbreak.
The league says Club Brugge would be awarded the title if the advice is confirmed at a general assembly meeting on April 15. Brugge would also qualify for next season’s Champions League.
Brugge is currently 15 points ahead of second-place Gent with one game to go before the season-ending playoffs.
The league management board has agreed it is unclear when team training could resume and says it is “very unlikely” any games with fans attending could be played before June 30.
The league says even games in empty stadiums would put stress on public health and security services dealing with the pandemic. It agreed the risk of infecting players would also damage the competition’s integrity.
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The Senior PGA Championship in Michigan has been canceled.
The PGA of America says it based its decision on Michigan’s stay-at-home order that was enacted March 23.
The Senior PGA in Benton Harbor, Michigan, was to be played May 21-24. It will be held next year at Southern Hills in Tulsa, Oklahoma. It will return to Benton Harbor the following year.
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World Athletics says it won’t clear any Russian athletes to compete internationally amid the shutdown caused by the coronavirus pandemic.
The governing body of track requires Russians to apply for “authorized neutral athlete” status each year to compete outside their home country. Russia has been suspended from World Athletics since 2015 for widespread doping.
World Athletics spokeswoman Nicole Jeffery says in e-mailed comments that “the ANA system only applies to international competition, so until there is competition there is no need for any athlete to apply.”
She adds that “for the next two months, at least, there is no competition, so the system does not need to be active until we know when the competition schedule can resume.”
World Athletics hasn’t decided how far in advance to open applications once competitions resume. High jump world champion Mariya Lasitskene and pole vault world champion Anzhelika Sidorova are among those who need their status renewed from last year.
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British Open organizers say postponement is an option for this year’s tournament at Royal St. George’s because of the coronavirus outbreak.
The R&A released a short statement in response to media speculation about the staging of the event in July. Chief executive Martin Slumbers says the “process is taking some time to resolve” because of a range of external factors.
Slumbers says “we are well aware of the importance of being able to give clear guidance to fans, players and everyone involved and are working to resolve this as soon as we can.”
The 149th edition of the Open Championship is scheduled to take place July 16-19. The last time the Open wasn’t played was in 1945 because of World War II.
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The French Grand Prix scheduled for May 17 in Le Mans has been postponed, becoming the sixth MotoGP race to be called off because of the coronavirus outbreak.
The motorcycling series has yet to start its season.
The season-opener in Qatar was canceled, the Thailand, Americas and Argentina races were postponed to October-November, and the Spanish MotoGP has yet to find new dates.
The next race at risk is the Italian MotoGP on May 31.
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World Sailing has canceled the World Cup Series Final in Enoshima, Japan, in June because of the coronavirus outbreak.
The regatta was to give valuable competition for the Olympic classes just over a month before the start of the Tokyo Games.
The Olympics have been postponed to 2021.
World Sailing and Japanese officials were in talks to return to Enoshima in 2021 before the rescheduled Olympics.
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Brescia president Massimo Cellino says he will forfeit his team’s remaining Serie A matches if the Italian soccer league resumes.
Brescia is the third-worst hit province in Italy with more than 8,500 coronavirus cases and more than 1,300 deaths.
In an interview with Gazzetta dello Sport, Cellino says “this season doesn’t make sense anymore.”
He says “returning to activity is pure craziness. If they force us to I am ready to not put out the team and lose the matches 3-0 by default out of respect for the citizens of Brescia and their loved ones who aren’t here anymore.”
Brescia is in last place in the league standings. The president of Lazio recently accused Cellino of trying to avoid relegation.
Cellino says “I don’t care at all about relegation. So far we have deserved it and I have my blame in that, too.”
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Potential hosts of soccer’s 2027 Asian Cup have been given more time to enter the contest by the Asian Football Confederation.
The AFC says the March deadline to show interest was extended by three months to June because many of its member federations have been affected by the coronavirus pandemic.
The Saudi Arabian soccer body said in February it wanted to host the 24-team tournament.
China will host the 2023 edition. A return to western Asia is possible after the United Arab Emirates staged the 2019 tournament.
The AFC is planning for a 2027 tournament but a FIFA task force drafting a future calendar of matches and tournaments will likely be asked to align continental championships. The European Championship and South America’s Copa America are on track to kick off in June 2028.
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