97.1 The Ticket -- The Mid-American Conference has announced its men's and women's basketball tournaments scheduled to be held Wednesday-Saturday will be closed to the general public amid the COVID-19 outbreak.
MAC officials say the decision to institute a restricted attendance policy for the tournaments at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse in Cleveland comes at the recommendation of Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine, who strongly urged against holding sports events in Ohio amid the COVID-19 outbreak. The Tournaments will continue as scheduled, but only credentialed media and institutional personnel, student-athlete family members, TV and radio crews, and official team party members will be permitted for attendance for the tournaments.
"The safety of all is our greatest concern. Since January, I have stated that any decision would follow the advice of state governmental officials and medical professionals. Following the feedback we received today we have taken this action which is in alignment with the recommendation of Governor DeWine," Mid-American Conference Commissioner, Dr. Jon Steinbrecher said in a statement.
All three of Michigan's MAC schools -- Eastern Michigan, Central Michigan and Western Michigan -- all lost in the first round of the MAC Tournament on Monday night.
All three women's teams, however, are all scheduled to play Wednesday, with CMU holding the No. 1 seed in the tournament.
The conference will offer a refund for all tickets to both tournaments, either in the form of a credit toward next year's tournament or a full refund. All ticketholders will receive an email with further instructions regarding next steps to receiving credit or refund. Beginning Wednesday during regular business hours, fans can contact the EMU Ticket Office at 734.487.3669 or the Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse box office at 216.420.2200.
Ohio officials announced the first cases of coronavirus in the state on Monday.
The MAC's announcement comes the same day that the Ivy League canceled its conference tournaments, scheduled to be held Friday through Sunday at Lavietes Pavilion in Cambridge, Mass. Yale will earn the men's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament, while Princeton gets the auto-bid on the women's side.
The NCAA issued a statement late Friday afternoon, saying it is assessing the outbreak situation and will make a decision soon whether to make a similar move with the upcoming tournaments.
Statement on COVID-19 and NCAA championship events: https://t.co/KAphcvmwjz pic.twitter.com/6a9Yuu0rcQ
— Inside the NCAA (@InsidetheNCAA) March 10, 2020The Big West also announced its tournaments in Long Beach, Calif., will be held without spectators.
