Skip to content
Link copied to clipboard

CDC recommends 8-week hiatus for events drawing 50 or more people. How will sports world react?

The CDC says that large events and mass gatherings can contribute to the spread of COVID-19.

Tasha Jacobs cleans the empty seats at the Wells Fargo Center on Wednesday after the Sixers-Pistons game. The NBA has suspended the season.
Tasha Jacobs cleans the empty seats at the Wells Fargo Center on Wednesday after the Sixers-Pistons game. The NBA has suspended the season.Read moreSTEVEN M. FALK / Staff Photographer

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Sunday night issued new guidelines that will have far-reaching affects on attendance at sporting events for the next eight weeks in dealing with the coronavirus pandemic.

According to its guidance for large events and mass gatherings, the CDC recommends that for the next eight weeks, organizers, whether groups or individuals, cancel or postpone in-person events that consist of 50 or more people throughout the United States.

That would take things into May 9.

According to the CDC, this recommendation does not apply to the day-to-day operation of organizations such as schools, institutes of higher learning or businesses.

The CDC explains, “this recommendation is made in an attempt to reduce introduction of the virus into new communities and to slow the spread of infection in communities already affected by the virus. This recommendation is not intended to supersede the advice of local public health officials.”

ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski said on Twitter that a number of NBA owners and executives believe a best-case scenario is a mid to late-June return to play — with no fans. He said that the NBA is looking for arena dates all the way through August.

Inquiries for comment by the NBA and the 76ers were not immediately returned. On Thursday, NBA commissioner Adam Silver said he wasn’t giving up hope of playing a regular season.