On March 12, the entire sporting world would shut down due to the breakout of the CoronaVirus. A lot of people are upset and worried about what will happen and how long this will last.
Later in the day on March 12, the NCAA would announce that all Winter & Spring sports would be cancelled for the 2020 season.
In 2020, there were supposed to be two NCAA Championships that were to be held in Pennsylvania and they were as follows:
The NCAA Mens Hockey regional was to take place in Allentown, PA at the PPL Center, home of the Lehigh Valley Phantoms. The regional was to take place on March 28 & 29, with Penn State as the host team.
The NCAA Mens Lacrosse Final Four at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia PA, home of the Philadlephia Eagles on May 23 & 25 with Drexel as the host team.
Now one of the questions for those cities that were to host NCAA Championships in 2020, is would they host it in 2021 or would they get a future date to host the championship?
The NCAA would provided a statement to Philly Sports Network that reads as follows:
NCAA Championships host sites affected by the cancellation of all winter and spring championships in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic will receive the opportunity to place a bid in the 2023-26 cycle. The deadline to apply for NCAA Championships hosting opportunities was Feb. 3, but it has been extended for those sites who were unable to host in the winter and spring of 2020 due to these unprecedented times, with the exception of Division I men’s and women’s basketball.
The men’s basketball staff is still discussing the best way to move forward with regards to preliminary round sites. Division I women’s basketball will not make changes to its selection timeline for regional bids, which were due February 3. They have adjusted the timeline for the Women’s Final Four site selection process, with its due date for all bids moved from April 13 to May 8.
NCAA championship committees will select host sites in their respective sports in the upcoming months, and those awarded hosting opportunities for the 2023-26 bid cycle will be announced in October.
We will have to wait until October of 2020 to see when Philadelphia & Allentown would be hosting the championships that were canceled in 2020.
On March 30, the NCAA would announce that athletes that played spring sports would get an additional year of eligibility, as their season was canceled for 2020.
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