Update (3/13/2020, 3:37 p.m.): Major League Baseball (MLB) has announced a two week delay to the start of their regular season due to coronavirus concerns, ESPN reported the league as stating.
The league also announced that as of Thursday at 4 p.m., all spring training going forward have also been suspended.
Original Story: We can now add two more to the mix of sports leagues suspending their seasons
The National Hockey League (NHL) announced on Thursday that the league will be suspending the 2019-2020 season until further notice amid the spread of the coronavirus pandemic, also known as COVID-19.
Here is the statement from the league, according to NHL.com:
In light of ongoing developments resulting from the coronavirus, and after consulting with medical experts and convening a conference call of the Board of Governors, the National Hockey League is announcing today that it will pause the 2019 20 season beginning with tonight's games.
The NHL has been attempting to follow the mandates of health experts and local authorities, while preparing for any possible developments without taking premature or unnecessary measures. However, following last night's news that an NBA player has tested positive for coronavirus -- and given that our leagues share so many facilities and locker rooms and it now seems likely that some member of the NHL community would test positive at some point -- it is no longer appropriate to try to continue to play games at this time.
We will continue to monitor all the appropriate medical advice, and we will encourage our players and other members of the NHL community to take all reasonable precautions -- including by self-quarantine, where appropriate. Our goal is to resume play as soon as it is appropriate and prudent, so that we will be able to complete the season and award the Stanley Cup. Until then, we thank NHL fans for your patience and hope you stay healthy.
Major League Baseball (MLB) is expected to announce the suspension of the rest of this year’s spring training schedule and are also expected to delay the beginning of the regular season, according to ESPN’s Jeff Passan.
ESPN also reported that many MLB teams “have already pulled scouts off the road and sent them home because of coronavirus concerns.”