Sports Shutdown of March 11, 2020: Stadium Silence

On March eleventh, twenty twenty, is a day when sports shut down, followed by the whole world. Here's the story behind this iconic day on Daily Sports History. Welcome to Daily Sports History. I'm Ethan Reese, your guide to a rapid deep dive into sports history every day. Now to set the scene of March eleventh, to go back a little bit, as China was going through a pandemic of their own, similar to what they've had before with the diesus such as SARS, which never quite reached to America. But the difference with the coronavirus and COVID was now it was reaching America and we started to hear stories about patients testing positive for COVID right around the of the Super Bowl at the beginning of February. It started to be in the public consciousness where everyone started to talk about it and try to understand what it was and what was going on. Even athletes were being asked in press conferences what they thought about it, and famously Rudy Gobert joked about the coronavirus touching everything and saying, oh, am I going to get the coronavirus? Am I going to get it? Which he would get it and test positive on March eleventh. These times I'm going to give you for this day are all based on Eastern times. So shortly before eleven AM on March eleventh, top infectious disease expert Anthony Fauci, which probably none of us knew until this day who he was, and would become a common name for the remainder of the pandemic. He testifies before Congress that the coronavirus outbreak in America has involved almost six hundred and fifty KI firm cases and it would get worse. Shortly after noon, the World Health Organization officially declared Corona nineteen as a global pandemic. Then, just before two pm that day, San Francisco Mayor London Breed banned gatherings over one thousand people in the city, and the Golden State Warriors made the decision to play their game the next day against the Brooklyn Nets without any fans. All other events at the Chase Center would be canceled through March twenty first, and the NBA was already considering moving games out of San Francisco and other cities where the virus was quickly spreading. And around six pm that day, Paris Saint Germain defeats brush Out Drumont three to two to advance to the Champions League quarterfinal. Over three thousand fans received special permission to go again against France's gathering band to celebrate the victory, waving a banner that said our only virus is Paris SG. Shortly after that, European's premier defender Danielle Brugani is the first predominant European footballer to test positive for COVID nineteen. Shortly before seven pm that day, the Wednesday practice round for the Players Championship in golf went as normal. Golfers stopped to sign autographs and take pictures with fans, and spectators were allowed onto the course for the first round. The tournaments and the next three of PGA events were all canceled. Shortly after that, the Big Ten announced it would continue its men's basketball tournaments without fans. The Big twelve commissioner said they would limit tickets to one hundred and twenty five per team for their tournament. Every other conference would follow suit by the end of the day, and by the next day all tournaments were canceled altogether. Just before eight pm, the United States women's national soccer team were their pre match jerseys inside out before their match versus Japan, and then she believes cut to protest the US Soccer Federation not treating them as equals compared to the men. At eight pm in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma City Thunders were getting ready to face off against the Utah Jazz, but just before tipball, officials brought the two head coaches to have court to tell them the games canceled as the Jazz sinner Rudy Gobert, as we mentioned before, had tested positive for COVID and they were canceling the game. Teams were sent back to their locker room meet but fans were not told what was going on. Instead, recording artist Frankie J, who was set to perform at halftime, came out and gave it impromptu concert, and following his last song, the announcement came on the PA to tell the crowd that the game was canceled and please drive home safe. Then, at nine thirty that day, the NBA suspended the season for the foreseeable future. Meanwhile, in Atlanta, at ten thirty, their game had finished, being the last NBA game played before the shutdown and the Hawk's beat the New York Knicks in double overtime, with it being Vince Carter's last game in his twenty two year career, a record for the longest career in the NBA. Now, there's much more that goes into what all happened after with bubbles and playing games with no one in attendance. Sports was up forever are changed by this. The way we do scheduling, the way we hold games, how we attend games, where we sit. Lots of things changed due to the pandemic, and sports was one of them, and it showed how important it was for us as non athletes to take this seriously and kind of changed our mindset on sports and culture. Thank you for listening to today's Daily Sports History. I really hope you enjoyed this and like in review. Wherever you're at, I want to hear how you're enjoying it. 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