This was the news we all expected but still hate to hear it.
The Southeastern Conference has canceled any and all winter and spring sports for the rest of the year due to the coronavirus outbreak. In addition to that news, all spring games have been shutdown.
The league issued the following statement on Tuesday:
“The SEC has announced all regular season conference and non-conference competitions are cancelled for remainder of the 2019-20 athletic year, including all Spring FB Games and remaining SEC championship events, due to continuing developments related to the coronavirus.”
The SEC’s decision comes after the 2020 SEC Tournament from Nashville was canceled, which was soon followed by the 2020 NCAA Tournament and all winter and spring sports by the NCAA.
“This is a difficult day for all of us, and I am especially disappointed for our student-athletes,” said SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey in a statement. “The health and well-being of our entire conference community is an ongoing priority for the SEC as we continue to monitor developments and information about the COVID-19 virus.”
With this news, the SEC has officially confirmed sports like baseball and softball will not be played. There remained some hope that the SEC would continue these sports even after the NCAA decided it would not hold any championships for those sports but that was apparently done without the knowledge of the individual conferences.
This latest development comes following several PSAs have been issued around the league urging fans to practice social distancing and take all precautions against the coronavirus outbreak.
A graduate of the University of Tennessee, Michael Wayne Bratton oversees the news coverage for Saturday Down South. Michael previously worked for FOX Sports and NFL.com
