With the news that the Coronavirus pandemic in Italy has reached the severity to where the country has been placed under lockdown, the Italian national Olympic committee (CONI) has declared that all domestic sports have been suspended until April 3rd at the earliest.
This has risen concerns that the current Serie A season may not finish, concerns that have become more likely to be true after Juventus defender Daniele Rugani tested positive, only days following a 2-0 victory over Inter Milan, a game that was already played behind closed doors.
A statement from Italian football federation president Gabriele Gravina has attempted to appease Serie A fans with the news that they are exploring alternatives to conclude the current season should the competition be unable to conclude in the traditional fashion. Proposed alternatives have included staging playoffs to determine the key aspects of the league table i.e. champions, European qualification and relegation, not crowning a champion for the current season or declaring that the current standings be considered the final standings. The latter option would likely cause immense controversy as Juventus reclaimed top spot over Lazio after Sunday’s aforementioned victory over Inter.
Similarly, the NBA has suspended its season after a Utah Jazz player, reportedly French centre Rudy Gobert preliminarily tested positive for Coronavirus. This led to the abrupt postponement of the game between the Jazz and the Oklahoma City Thunder, where both teams were already on the court but were called back into the locker rooms. Gobert was apparently not in the arena but the positive test results were reported shortly before the game was scheduled to tip-off.
The league released a statement saying that they would ‘use this hiatus to determine next steps for moving forward in regard to the Coronavirus pandemic’.
The Inbound Observer 