Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on sports

The 2019–20 coronavirus pandemic has caused the most significant disruption to the worldwide sporting calendar since World War II. Across the world and to varying degrees, sports events have been cancelled or postponed.

Spectators have no games to watch and players no games to play. In response, players are being encouraged to "play for lives" rather than for points. Former footballer Craig Foster, for example, is using his connections in the sporting world to set up a volunteer workforce for charities helping those in need.

Multiple event competitions

The 2020 Arctic Winter Games were cancelled, while the 2020 ASEAN Para Games were postponed.

Summer Olympics

Main article: Impact of the 2019–20 coronavirus pandemic on the 2020 Summer Olympics

The 2020 Summer Olympics were scheduled to take place in Tokyo starting at the end of July. Due to the upcoming Olympic games, the country's government had taken extra precautions to help minimize the outbreak's worst impact. However, qualifying events were being canceled or postponed almost daily. There had been suggestions that the 2020 Olympics be moved to London in light of the situation, but Governor of Tokyo Yuriko Koike indicated at the end of February 2020 that such a move was not under consideration at the moment.

The traditional Olympic flame lighting ceremony in Olympia, Greece, to mark the start of the 2020 Summer Olympics torch relay was held on 12 March without spectators.

On 24 March, it was announced that the Summer Olympics would be postponed to 2021, still to be held in Tokyo. Six days later, the Olympics made a reschedule date to twelve months from the original scheduled dates of 24 July to 9 August 2020, to 23 July to 8 August 2021.

Gaelic games

The Gaelic games of football, hurling, camogie and ladies' football – mostly played in Ireland – saw all competitions suspended from 12 March 2020. The National Hurling League, National Football League, National Camogie League and Ladies' National Football League were suspended, with competitions not intended to resume until 29 March at the earliest. On 17 March, the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA) confirmed that the opening fixture of the 2020 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship – due to have taken place at Gaelic Park in The Bronx on 3 May – had been postponed.

United States

On 11 March 2020, the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) — the main U.S. sanctioning body for college athletics — initially announced that its winter-semester championships and tournaments, including its popular men's basketball tournament (widely known as "March Madness"), would be conducted with "only essential staff and limited family attendance". However, the following day, the NCAA announced that all remaining championship events for the 2019–20 academic year would be cancelled entirely. This marked the first cancellation in the 81-year history of the NCAA basketball tournament. This de facto created a mythical national championship situation in college basketball and hockey, with such winners being crowned by polls. Other American multi-sports organizations; NAIA, NJCAA, CCCAA have also cancelled their seasons. Additionally the Community College level sports governing bodies restored the season of eligibility to athletes who had already participated in the 2020 spring season.

BUCS

On 16 March 2020, British Universities and Colleges Sport, the UK organisation for university sport, announced that all fixtures from 17 March to 1 April would not take place. Some individual events, like the orienteering and windsurfing championships were cancelled entirely, while others were postponed indefinitely.

Philippines

In the Philippines, NCAA Season 95 and UAAP Season 82 were both indefinitely suspended. NCAA Season 95 was terminated on 19 March after the then community quarantine in Luzon was upgraded to an "enhanced community quarantine", in effect a lockdown. UAAP Season 82 was canceled on 7 April, after the enhanced community quarantine was extended to 30 April.

Alpine skiing

The 2019–20 FIS Alpine Ski World Cup ended two weeks earlier after World Cup races in Sweden, Slovenia, and Italy scheduled for March were cancelled. An earlier February World Cup race was moved from China to Austria.

Archery

The opening stage of the 2020 Archery World Cup, scheduled to be held in Guatemala City, Guatemala from 20 to 26 April, was postponed. Other events postponed include the Pan American Archery Championships, which were scheduled to be held in Monterrey, Mexico, from 23 to 29 March, and the European Para-Archery Championships, which were scheduled to be held in Olbia, Italy, from 18 to 26 April.

Association football

On 13 March 2020, FIFA announced that clubs did not have to release players to their national teams during the international windows of March and April 2020, while players also had the option to decline a call-up without any consequences. FIFA also recommended that all international matches during these windows be postponed, though the final decision was left to the competition organisers or member associations for friendly matches.

By 28 March, Belarusian Premier League and Liga Primera de Nicaragua were the only two top flight national football leagues not suspended.

On 3 April 2020, FIFA announced that the 2020 FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup, scheduled to be held in Panama and Costa Rica in August, and the 2020 FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup, scheduled to be held in India in November, would be postponed and rescheduled.

Africa

On 17 March 2020, CAF announced that the 2020 African Nations Championship had been postponed to a later date due to the pandemic.

Asia

In China, the 2020 Chinese Super League was postponed as a result of the virus. In Hong Kong, the 2020 Lunar New Year Cup was cancelled on 23 January. Other leagues in Asia were affected, including South Korea's K League 1 and Japan's J1 League. The AFC Champions League and AFC Cup was also impacted, a number of group stage and play-off matches being postponed.

On 9 March 2020, FIFA and AFC announced that 2022 FIFA World Cup qualification matches due to take place in March and June 2020 were postponed to later dates due to the pandemic. Play-off matches between South Korea and China in the 2020 AFC Women's Olympic Qualifying Tournament were also postponed.

In India, the remaining I-League matches were postponed and the Indian Super League final was played behind closed doors.

The championships of all Central Asian Football Association members were suspended.

Europe

In Europe, various knockout matches in the Champions League and Europa League were played behind closed doors in February and March 2020. On 12 March 2020, UEFA announced that the elite qualification round of the men and women's under-17 and under-19 youth international tournaments had been postponed. The following day, UEFA postponed all fixtures for the following week in the Champions League, Europa League and Youth League.

Many of the domestic European leagues were impacted in February and March 2020. After various fixtures were rescheduled or played behind closed doors, Serie A was postponed on 9 March 2020. On 12 March, La Liga and the Segunda División were suspended for at least two weeks after a Real Madrid basketball player tested positive for the virus, which resulted in Real Madrid's footballers being put in quarantine. The Eredivisie was also suspended, while Ligue 1 and the Bundesliga followed suit shortly afterwards.

On 10 March, the Premier League match between Manchester City and Arsenal, due to be played the next day, was postponed after a number of Arsenal players made close contact with Olympiacos owner Evangelos Marinakis, who had tested positive for coronavirus, when the two teams had met in the Europa League 13 days earlier. Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta tested positive for the disease, prompting the team's Premier League match against Brighton & Hove Albion for that weekend to also be postponed. As of 13 March, there has been at least one recorded case of the disease affecting a player in the aforementioned leagues; Serie A footballers Daniele Rugani and Manolo Gabbiadini, 2. Bundesliga footballer Timo Hübers, and Premier League footballer Callum Hudson-Odoi. Rugani tested positive while being asymptomatic. On 13 March, English elite football was suspended until early April, including the Premier League, English Football League, FA Women's Super League and FA Women's Championship.

By 19 March, the Belarusian Premier League was the only active top flight in all 55 UEFA member associations.

Concerns were raised regarding UEFA Euro 2020, being held in twelve host cities across Europe, and the potential impact of the coronavirus on players, staff and tournament visitors. UEFA president Aleksander Čeferin said the organisation was confident that the situation could be dealt with, while general secretary Theodore Theodoridis stated that UEFA was maintaining contact with the World Health Organization and national governments regarding the coronavirus. UEFA announced that a videoconference would be held on 17 March with representatives of its 55 member associations, along with a FIFPro representative and the boards of the European Club Association and European Leagues, to discuss the response to the outbreak for domestic and European competitions, including Euro 2020. The tournament was moved by 12 months.

North America

On 12 March 2020, the CONCACAF Champions League was suspended with immediate effect. The same day, Major League Soccer was suspended for 30 days. Also on 12 March, the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL), whose season was not scheduled to start until 18 April, canceled its preseason matches, and also imposed a moratorium on team training that initially ran through 22 March. On 19 March, Major League Soccer's suspension was extended to a target return date of 10 May.

The day after MLS was initially postponed, all CONCACAF competitions scheduled for the next month were suspended. Match week 10 of Mexican Liga MX was played but as of 15 March, league executives have now taken the decision to postpone Liga MX activity until further notice.

The 2019–20 Major Arena Soccer League season was terminated early, effective 12 March.

The USL Championship suspended the 2020 season on 12 March, for at least 30 days.

Oceania

On 9 March 2020, the Oceania Football Confederation announced that all tournaments were postponed until May 2020.

South America

On 12 March 2020, FIFA announced that the first two rounds of the South American qualification for the 2022 World Cup due to take place in March 2020 were postponed to later dates. The same day, CONMEBOL announced that the Copa Libertadores would be temporarily suspended.

On 15 March all top-tier football in Brazil was suspended until April.

On 17 March CONMEBOL announced that the 2020 edition of Copa América was postponed to 2021.

Athletics

The 2020 World Athletics Indoor Championships were scheduled to be held from 13 to 15 March in Nanjing, China, but were postponed until March 2021.

The 2020 World Athletics Half Marathon Championships was scheduled to be held on 29 March in Gdynia, Poland, but was postponed until October 2020.

The first three events of the 2020 Diamond League, scheduled to be held in Qatar in April, followed by two events in China in May, were postponed until later in the year.

The 2020 Boston Marathon, originally scheduled for 20 April, was postponed until 14 September. The 2020 London Marathon, scheduled to take place on 26 April, was postponed until 4 October. The 2020 Rome Marathon was cancelled.

The 2020 Two Oceans Marathon, scheduled for 8–11 April has been cancelled.

The 2020 Three Peaks Race originally scheduled for 25 April has been postponed to 26 September.

The 2020 Grandma's Marathon, scheduled for 20 June, was canceled by the organizers more than 50 days before it was to begin. They announced on 31 March that the marathon, the half-marathon and the 5K would all be canceled.

Two of the Standard Chartered 2020 marathon series, Hong Kong Marathon and Kuala Lumpur Marathon was cancelled by the organizer over uncertainty of the COVID-19 outbreak.

Australian rules football

At the conclusion of its first round of games, the 2020 AFL season was suspended until 31 May at the earliest, while the Finals series of the 2020 AFL Women's season was cancelled after its semi-finals were played with no premiership awarded.

Badminton

All scheduled Badminton World Federation tournaments were suspended until 12 April due to coronavirus concerns. The affected tournaments are Swiss Open, India Open, Orléans Masters, Malaysia Open, and Singapore Open. Previously the body had suspended the German Open and pushed the Lingshui China Masters from February to May 2020. The 2020 Thomas & Uber Cup had also been postponed to 15–23 August.

Baseball

International

The qualifying round of the World Baseball Softball Confederation-sanctioned 2021 World Baseball Classic, scheduled in Tucson, Arizona, United States in March 2020 was postponed on 12 March 2020.

Asia

Japan

On 26 February 2020, Nippon Professional Baseball announced that spring training would continue without fans in attendance. On 9 March, the league announced that the start of its 2020 season would be postponed until April.

On 4 March, the Japan High School Baseball Federation announced that the National High School Baseball Invitational Tournament, scheduled to begin on 19 March, would take place without fans in attendance. However, on 11 March, the governing body of high school baseball in Japan declared that the tournament had been cancelled. The cancellation of the 2020 tournament marked the first time the contest had been cancelled since its establishment in 1924. The tournaments were not formally scheduled between 1942 and 1946, due to World War II.

South Korea

Opening Day of the 2020 KBO League season was originally scheduled for 28 March 2020. The Korea Baseball Organization announced in March that all ten exhibition games would be cancelled, and the start of the regular season would be delayed until April.

North America

On 12 March 2020, Major League Baseball suspended all spring training activities. Opening Day of the 2020 Major League Baseball season, scheduled for 26 March, was postponed, as was the start of the regular season for Minor League Baseball, which was to begin on 9 April. In addition, the Mexico Series and Puerto Rico Series games were canceled; the former would have featured the San Diego Padres playing the Arizona Diamondbacks at Mexico City's Estadio Alfredo Harp Helú, and the latter featuring the New York Mets playing the Miami Marlins at Hiram Bithorn Stadium in San Juan. MLB also canceled the 2020 London Series games, which would have featured the Chicago Cubs playing the St. Louis Cardinals at London Stadium.

Also on 12 March, the National Collegiate Athletic Association announced the suspension of its baseball season and cancellation of the 2020 College World Series.

Basketball

Africa

The launch of the inaugural season of the Basketball Africa League set for March 2020 was delayed due to the coronavirus pandemic. No new date has been announced.

Asia

The 2019–20 Chinese Basketball Association season was suspended on 1 February 2020.

On 14 February, FIBA ordered two qualifying games for the 2021 FIBA Asia Cup, Philippines vs Thailand in Quezon City, and Japan vs. China in Chiba to be postponed to a later date. This brought the postponed games to three, after FIBA earlier ordered the China vs. Malaysia game in Foshan to be postponed. Later that week, the Guam vs. Hong Kong game in Hagåtña was also postponed.

The Korean Basketball League canceled its 2019–20 season on 24 March, after playing its last game on 29 February. This comes as the Women's Korean Basketball League canceled its season a week before.

On 4 March, FIBA announced the cancellation of the 2019 FIBA Under-16 Asian Championship in Beirut and the 2019 FIBA Under-16 Asian Championship for Women in Canberra. It also postponed the 3x3 Olympic qualification tournament in Bangalore, and rescheduled the 2020 FIBA Asia 3x3 Cups in Changsha and the 2020 FIBA 3x3 Under-17 Asian Cup in Cyberjaya.

ASEAN Basketball League

Several fixtures of the ASEAN Basketball League 2019–20 season scheduled on February onwards were rescheduled due to the coronavirus pandemic. In early March 2020, four participating teams, Alab Pilipinas, Hong Kong Eastern, Macau Black Bears and Formosa Dreamers has released statements urging the suspension of the whole season due to logistical issues posed by COVID-19-related travel measures in Southeast Asia, mainland China and Taiwan. On 13 March 2020, the league's 2019–20 season was postponed indefinitely.

Philippines

The 2020 season of the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) and the PBA D-League was suspended indefinitely on 10 March 2020. The inaugural of the PBA's 3x3 tournament was also likewise delayed. The PBA management also imposed a two-week prohibition on team "practices, scrimmages and other related activities" which took effect on 14 March 2020.

Several leagues have suspended their tournaments on March 12: Community Basketball Association, National Basketball League, Maharlika Pilipinas Basketball League.

On April 7, 2020, the PBA Board of Governors have decided to shorten this season into a two-conference format following the postponement of the Philippine Cup due to the outbreak of COVID-19 and the enforcement of the Enhanced Community Quarantine in Luzon until April 30.

Europe

Jordi Bertomeu, CEO of the Euroleague, suspended the games from 14 March to 11 April. The Euroleague previously suspended the Eurocup. FIBA also suspended the Basketball Champions League and the FIBA Europe Cup starting on 14 March. Lithuania, Sweden, Switzerland, Slovakia and Ukraine canceled outright their respective first division leagues, naming the teams in the top of the standings as champions. Top flight divisions in Spain, France, Germany, Italy, Israel, Belgium, Finland, Croatia, Greece, Poland, Cyprus and Czech Republic suspended its games as of 14 March. The Adriatic League and the VTB United League suspended its competitions until April. The government of Turkey suspended the Basketball Super League on 19 March, the last major European league to do so.

North America

In many New York City parks, hoops were removed from basketball courts to discourage people being in groups.

On 11 March 2020, the National Basketball Association (NBA) suspended its season after Utah Jazz player Rudy Gobert tested positive for coronavirus prior to tip-off for a scheduled game against the Oklahoma City Thunder. Commissioner Adam Silver stated the next day that this suspension "will be most likely at least 30 days, and we don't know enough to be more specific than that". On April 6 in an interview with TNT's Ernie Johnson Jr., he stated there would be no decision on a restart of the season made before May 1 at the minimum.

On 12 March, all Division I conferences in NCAA college basketball cancelled their respective tournaments in-progress. The Ivy League had already called off its tournament prior to the decision, while some conferences, as well as the NCAA for its men's and women's tournaments, had previously announced that they would conduct their games behind closed doors. The NCAA subsequently cancelled its tournaments outright.

The Baloncesto Superior Nacional of Puerto Rico suspended its season on 14 March.

The National Basketball League of Canada suspended the remainder of the 2019–20 season on 12 March.

On 3 April 2020, the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) announced that they will postponed the start of training camp and regular season which was originally scheduled for 15 May. The 2020 WNBA draft will be held virtually on 17 April 2020 without players, guests, and media on-site and will be televised as planned.

Oceania

In Australia's National Basketball League, the Sydney Kings announced 17 March that they would pull out of the 2020 NBL Finals after three games, due to "a critical mass of relevant and actual concerns related to player welfare and the club's social responsibility". The NBL had been considering playing Game 4 of the series on 18 March instead of 20 March as originally scheduled to accelerate its completion. The decision effectively forfeited the series to the Perth Wildcats—who were leading the best-of-five series 2–1 after Game 3, and were officially announced as NBL champions on 18 March. The series was played behind closed doors beginning with Game 2, and the NBL stated that it would be suspended immediately if any player was diagnosed.

Biathlon

The 2019–20 Biathlon World Cup ended a week and a day earlier than previously scheduled. The World Cup final in Norway was cancelled as was the last day of the penultimate World Cup in Finland.

Bodybuilding

Several competitive events in international competitive bodybuilding on the amateur and professional levels have seen limitations, postponements, or even cancellations due to concerns about the spread of COVID-19.

Due to these concerns Ohio governor Mike DeWine reduced the 2020 Arnold Sports Festival in Columbus, Ohio on 3 March, before any cases or deaths had been reported in the state. The cancellation was widely regarded as 'radical' at the time. The Fitness Expo (under orders from the state government) held the bodybuilding and physique competitions, including the Arnold Classic, without spectators with exceptions for parents and guardians of minors participating in the competitions. Similar Arnold Sports Festivals planned to be held in Africa, Australia, and South America were postponed for later in the year.

On 16 March 2020, Jim Manion, president of the IFBB Professional League and the National Physique Committee announced that competitions planned through to 10 May 2020 in the United States would be postponed for later in the year or cancelled until the 2021 season.

Bowls

The 2020 World Outdoor Bowls Championship scheduled to be held on the Gold Coast from 23 May to 7 June 2020, has been postponed until 25 May to 6 June 2021.

Castells

In response to the shutdown of extracurricular activities for children in Catalonia, the Coordinadora de Colles Castelleres de Catalunya (CCCC), the governing body for castells (Catalan human towers), issued a statement on 10 March 2020, recommending the suspension of all castells practices and performances. Subsequently, the lockdown imposed throughout Spain shut down all castells activities throughout Catalonia as of 15 March. As of 25 March 2020, there was no word about the potential impact of the pandemic on the biennial Tarragona Castells Contest, scheduled for 3 and 4 October 2020.

According to the CCCC, the last April without any castells was in 1966.

Chess

The 44th Chess Olympiad scheduled to take place in Moscow, Russia from 5–17 August 2020 was postponed and rescheduled for the summer of 2021.

The FIDE Candidates Tournament 2020, held in Yekaterinburg, Russia, was suspended at the mid-point of the tournament on 26 March. FIDE decided to postpone the second half of the tournament after Russia announced it would be interrupting air traffic with other countries starting on 27 March.

Combat sports

Mixed martial arts

Due to 2019–20 coronavirus pandemic, ONE Championship will host all events closed door at least until 29 May 2020.

Bellator MMA 241 was scheduled to be a closed-door event, but was cancelled the day of the fight.

Konfrontacja Sztuk Walki (KSW) cancelled KSW 53 in Łódź, Poland for 21 March 2020 event.

Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) hosted its event UFC Fight Night: Lee vs. Oliveira behind closed doors in Brasília, Brazil.

UFC Fight Night: Overeem vs. Harris, UFC on ESPN: Ngannou vs. Rozenstruik, and UFC Fight Night: Woodley vs. Edwards were postponed to future dates.

Professional wrestling

New Japan Pro-Wrestling

In accordance with recommendations from the Japanese Ministry of Health, New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) decided to cancel all scheduled shows from 1 March through 15 March. On 10 March, NJPW announced that they were cancelling all shows through 22 March, which meant that they either cancelled or postponed the 2020 New Japan Cup as well. The Stardom promotion, sister company of NJPW also owned by Bushiroad, also made adjustments to their scheduled, cancelling shows from 19 February to 14 March. Their 8 March show in Korakuen Hall was held without any spectators in attendance, instead streaming live on their YouTube channel.

WWE

American promotion WWE began to move the broadcasts of its weekly programs, including SmackDown and Raw (which usually broadcast from arenas), and NXT (which is usually filmed at Full Sail University; the school has suspended group activities through April) to the WWE Performance Center in Orlando, beginning with SmackDown on 13 March, with no audience and only essential staff in attendance. The first SmackDown and Raw broadcasts under this arrangement included fewer live matches than usual episodes, with time filled by encores of matches from recent WWE pay-per-view events (Elimination Chamber and Royal Rumble respectively). The promotion also postponed some of its upcoming house shows.

WrestleMania 36—WWE's flagship PPV event—was originally scheduled to be held at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa. On 16 March, WWE announced that it would also be produced from the Performance Center and air across two nights (4 and 5 April). WrestleMania's associated festivities, such as the NXT TakeOver event and 2020 Hall of Fame ceremony were also postponed to unannounced dates. Matches for WrestleMania, as well as the final two episodes of SmackDown and final episode of Raw before WrestleMania, were recorded in advance at the Performance Center between 21 and 26 March.

While the majority of matches were filmed in the empty arena and presented plausibly live, two matches were presented as in an atypical manner: the "Boneyard match" between The Undertaker and AJ Styles (held in an outdoor setting and filmed in a cinematic style), and the "Firefly Fun House match" between "The Fiend" Bray Wyatt and John Cena (which was presented as a self-referential series of dream sequences spoofing Cena's past WWE appearances and other wrestling programs).

All Elite Wrestling

On 12 March, All Elite Wrestling (AEW) announced the relocation of its two remaining live broadcasts of Dynamite for TNT for the month of March, scheduled for Rochester, New York and Newark, New Jersey respectively (with the latter originally scheduled to feature AEW's "Blood and Guts" event, also indefinitely postponed), to an alternative location with no audience. AEW stated that it had re-booked the two cities for future episodes in July. AEW subsequently cancelled on-location Dynamite broadcasts through at least 13 May.

Beginning on 15 March, AEW began to originate Dynamite from a closed stage at TIAA Bank Field's Daily's Place amphitheater in Jacksonville, Florida. Beginning with 1 April episode, Dynamite moved to an undisclosed location, later reported to be in Norcross, Georgia. On 3 April, after a state-wide stay-at-home order was issued, it was reported that AEW had also pre-recorded content for Dynamite on 1 and 2 April, and that they had amassed enough content "for weeks if not months if necessary."

Impact Wrestling

On 16 March, Impact Wrestling announced that Lockdown scheduled for 28 March in Windsor, Ontario, and March Breakdown scheduled for 29 March in Belleville, Michigan have been postponed. On 17 March, Impact Wrestling announced that TNA: There's No Place Like Home has been cancelled along with the other events associated with WrestleCon. On 24 March, it was announced that Against All Odds scheduled for 17 April in Toronto, Rebellion scheduled for 19 April in Columbus, and the TV tapings schedule for 24 and 25 April were cancelled.

Ring of Honor

On 12 March, Ring of Honor announced the cancellations of its ROH 18th Anniversary Show scheduled for 13 March and its Past vs. Present event scheduled for 14 March at Sam's Town Live in Las Vegas. On 17 March, Ring of Honor announced the cancellation of all events through 31 May.

Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre

The Mexican Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre company announced that they were cancelling their shows in Guadalajara, Jalisco to comply with the statewide recommendations. The promotion cancelled both their Tuesday Martes de Glamour shows and their Sunday Domingos Tapatíos shows for the foreseeable future.

Lucha Libre AAA Worldwide

On 13 March, Lucha Libre AAA Worldwide announced that they were cancelling their next major show, the 2020 Rey de Reyes ("King of Kings") show originally scheduled for 21 March in Medida, Yucatán. They announced that they would announce a future date for the event.

National Wrestling Alliance

On 16 March, National Wrestling Alliance announced the suspension of its operations until June, which included the 2020 Crockett Cup on 19 April and NWA Power tapings on 20 and 21 April. NWA also cancelled an airing of Super Powerrr, scheduled for 17 March, in order to not create confusion in the marketplace.

Sumo wrestling

In spite the March Haru basho 2020 taking behind closed doors without a hitch, bar one rishiki (Chiyomaru) having temporarily withdrawn from the tournament with a fever whilst undergoing tests; both Natsu basho in May and Nagoya basho in May and July have been postponed by two weeks. The July tournament had been previously moved forward a week to avoid conflict with the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo, which have since been postponed a year.

Cricket

The coronavirus pandemic impacted on several international cricket fixtures and tournaments. The 2020 ACA Africa T20 Cup Finals was scheduled to take place in Kenya in March 2020, before it was postponed in line with the Kenyan government's 30-day ban on international gatherings. A women's quadrangular series was scheduled to take place in Thailand in April 2020, but was cancelled a month before it was due to start. The 2020 Malaysia Cricket World Cup Challenge League A, scheduled to take place in March 2020, was postponed, along with two T20I matches between a World XI and Asia XI side.

On 11 March 2020, English teams Worcestershire and Surrey both cancelled their pre-season warm-up tours to the United Arab Emirates. The following day, Australia Women's tour to South Africa in March 2020 became the first major international series not to go ahead as planned due to coronavirus. On 13 March 2020, the 2020 United States Tri-Nation Series was postponed due to the pandemic and travel restrictions to the United States. On 12 March, the Pakistan Cricket Board announced that all remaining matches of the Pakistan Super League's ongoing fifth season being played in Karachi (where the majority of cases in Pakistan had been concentrated) would be closed to spectators. The 2020 Everest Premier League was also postponed on 12 March.

On 13 March, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) announced that the start of 2020 Indian Premier League will be postponed from 29 March to 15 April. Later that day, it cancelled the ODI matches between India and South Africa on 15 and 18 March, which were originally announced to be played without spectators. On the same day, the two-match Test series between Sri Lanka and England, scheduled to be played in March 2020, was also postponed. The remaining seven matches of the 2020 Road Safety World Series were rescheduled to a later date. It was earlier decided that the remaining seven matches of the tournament would be played behind the closed doors in DY Patil Stadium.

On 14 March 2020, the remaining two One Day International (ODI) matches of the Chappell-Hadlee Trophy along with the three-match Twenty20 International (T20I) series between Australia and New Zealand were cancelled due to new border restrictions imposed by the New Zealand government. The first ODI match of the series had been played on 13 March behind closed doors in Sydney. The following day, Cricket Australia confirmed that the final round of matches in the 2019–20 Sheffield Shield season had been cancelled, with New South Wales being named as the winners of the tournament. New Zealand Cricket cancelled the final two rounds of matches in the 2019–20 Plunket Shield season, with Wellington being named the winners of the tournament.

On 16 March 2020, the remaining play-offs in the 2020 Pakistan Super League were postponed due to a huge spike in the number of coronavirus cases around the country. The Bangladesh tour of Pakistan for a single ODI and a Test match was also postponed.

The West Indies cricket championship was suspended due to the pandemic and Barbados was declared the champion on 24 March.

Curling

The curling season typically ends in May but was cut short by the pandemic, effectively ending in early March. The World Curling Federation cancelled the last five championships scheduled for the 2019–20 curling season, most importantly the 2020 World Women's Curling Championship, 2020 World Men's Curling Championship, and 2020 World Mixed Doubles Curling Championship.

Cycling

Road cycling

The 2020 UAE Tour was scheduled to run until 29 February, but was abandoned following stage five after two support staff tested positive for coronavirus. Of the following nineteen 2020 UCI World Tour races scheduled to take place up to 31 May, only Omloop Het Nieuwsblad and Paris–Nice, which also had the final day of racing removed, took place at the intended time, some with the stated hope of taking place at a later date. The postponed races in this block include the 2020 Giro d'Italia and four of the five annual monuments, and many lower category races were also cancelled or postponed. Also races of the 2020 UCI Women's World Tour were cancelled or postponed.

On 15 March, UCI requested to suspend all UCI-sanctioned events in affected territories until 3 April, and the qualification for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games and Paralympic Games to stop retroactively as of 3 March. On 18 March, the suspension of events were extended at least until the end of April. On 1 April, the suspension was extended until 1 June.

BMX

Race days of the 2020 UCI BMX Supercross World Cup were cancelled including 2 to 3 May in Papendal, the Netherlands.

The 2020 UCI BMX World Championships, scheduled to take place in Houston, United States on 26–31 May, are postponed.

Other

The annual Cape Epic endurance race scheduled from 15 to 22 March was cancelled.

Darts

The Professional Darts Corporation's European Tour was impacted by the coronavirus; with the 2020 European Darts Grand Prix, the 2020 European Darts Open and the 2020 German Darts Grand Prix all being postponed following restrictions on gatherings implemented by federal governments in Baden-Württemberg, North Rhine-Westphalia and Bavaria, respectively. The two 2020 Premier League Darts rounds to be held in Rotterdam at the end of March were postponed to September following restrictions on gatherings in the Netherlands; and the round to be held in Newcastle a week earlier was subsequently postponed to October; meaning the Newcastle date would serve as the Premier League's play-off round. The next five rounds, in Belfast, Sheffield, Manchester, Berlin and Birmingham were also postponed to later dates. All ProTour events from 16 March to the end of April were postponed.

The planned first event on the 2020 World Series of Darts, the US Darts Masters, was cancelled for 2020, and the 2020 Nordic Darts Masters was postponed from June to October. The PDC's North American affiliate, the Championship Darts Corporation, cancelled the first weekend of its season in Ontario, and the New Zealand affiliate DartPlayers tour was ended for 2019/20 following the cancellation of events in Queenstown.

Esports

Impact of the pandemic on esports have primarily affected events and leagues that host competitions in-person at venues with spectators, which have led to cancellations, postponements, and competitions being held behind closed doors—either in the traditional sense, or with competition being conducted entirely over the internet (although latency between players can be a factor), with streaming broadcasts (as is typical for esports).

Leagues

Global StarCraft II League

The Global StarCraft II League Super Tournament Season I were delayed, but remain offline event, but without spectators. The event won by Terran player Maru.

Overwatch League

The Overwatch League cancelled homestand events (matches held on-location at home venues akin to traditional sports leagues, as opposed to a centralized studio) in Asia at the onset of the pandemic, and subsequently cancelled all homestands through to April following its spread in North America in mid-March. The league planned a shift to online play, and competition of the 2020 season to resume 21 March. The mid-season tournament was also removed from the schedule, and its all-star festivities were moved to the off-season due to not all players having played an equal number of games. Due to stay-at-home orders imposed by the state of California (where Blizzard's headquarters and several other teams are located), the resumption of play was postponed (although exhibition matches showcasing the game's newly-unveiled character Echo were still held). Play resumed on 28 March, with teams realigned into three regional conferences. Due to various factors, including several teams suspending their operations (including the New York Excelsior, in compliance with a local stay-at-home order, and the London Spitfire and Vancouver Titans re-locating their staff to South Korea), six of the 16 matches scheduled for the weekend were dropped from the schedule.

League of Legends

Riot Games announced that the League of Legends Championship Series would temporarily suspend its season and switch to online play. In addition, the Spring Finals event in Frisco, Texas was called off and moved back to Riot's Los Angeles studio.

Counter-Stroke: Global Offensive

The 2020 IEM Katowice World Championship was played without a live audience due to preemptive closures of large events in Poland. As the pandemic became more severe and closures became more common, virtually all Counter-Strike: Global Offensive events were either postponed, cancelled, or moved online. Most notably, the ESL One Rio Major 2020 was postponed from March to November. Remaining qualifiers for the major were cancelled, to be rerun online later.

Crossover with traditional sports

Sportcal suggested that the esports industry had an opportunity to attract mainstream sports fans as a "viable alternative" to traditional sporting events. Roundhill Investments CEO Will Hershey predicted that games that are straightforward for casual viewers to understand (such as sports games) could see particular interest among this new audience.

With the suspension of nearly all sporting events, some professional athletes began to increase their involvement in video game streaming as a means to engage with fans. Some teams have taken advantage of sports games in a similar manner, such as the Phoenix Suns holding NBA 2K20 streams with guest players, between the teams the Suns were scheduled to play that night if the season had continued. This culminated with a game actually being commentated by the team's radio broadcasters on team flagship KMVP-FM.

Esports organisations have also invited professional athletes to compete in specific competitions (often alongside, or in competition with professional players); FaZe Clan organized a charity Call of Duty: Warzone pro-am entitled "Fight 2 Fund" in support of coronavirus-related charities, where professional players were partnered with celebrity participants (such as Ben Simmons, Chad Johnson, and JuJu Smith-Schuster), and several sim racing competitions similarly invited professional race drivers.

In turn, both the IndyCar Series and NASCAR announced partnerships with sim racing platform iRacing to hold online invitational events featuring series regulars, with the latter employing television broadcasts by NASCAR television partner Fox Sports (styled after and still featuring personalities associated with their traditional broadcasts, including the commentary pair of Mike Joy and Jeff Gordon, based at Fox Sports 1's studio in Charlotte). The first event (using Homestead-Miami Speedway, where the NASCAR Cup Series was to have raced that weekend) drew a television audience of 903,000 on Fox Sports 1, making it the most-watched esports broadcast on U.S. linear television since a 2016 Mortal Kombat X event aired by The CW. This record was surpassed the following week with a Texas Motor Speedway race — also aired by the main Fox network — which attracted 1.339 million viewers.

Fencing

On 3 March 2020 the Fédération Internationale d'Escrime (FIE) issued its first bulletin on COVID-19 precautions. On 10 March FIE strongly recommended that all participants in its competitions (athletes and other members of national delegations) fill and carry with them a questionnaire about their health status. On 12 March a FIE circular reported the postponement of six World Cup or Grand Prix competitions and the World Junior/Cadet Championship. Since the World Cup and Grand Prix events were part of the qualifications for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, the circular warned on the need to postpone the zonal qualifications tournament for the Olympics. No news was given on other events, and their possible postponement or cancellation.

FIE reported on its web site the postponement of the Olympic Games, but hasn't yet given any information on the World Fencing Championships, which is supposed to happen in non-Olympic years, so there is a 2021 Championship planned (assigned to Cairo), but not a 2020 Championship.

Individual countries had different decisions. For example, on 4 April the Federazione Italiana Scherma announced it was suspending all competitions until 31 August.

Field hockey

Many field hockey leagues in Europe have been suspended, including in Spain, England, Germany, and the Netherlands.

The 2019–20 Euro Hockey League Final 8 and 2020 Euro Hockey League Women seasons were suspended on 12 March. The 2020 Men's EuroHockey Club Trophy I, 2020 Men's EuroHockey Club Trophy II, 2020 Boys' EuroHockey Youth Championships and 2020 Girls' EuroHockey Youth Championships were cancelled.

In Asia, the 2020 Men's Hockey Junior Asia Cup, 2020 Women's Asian Champions Trophy, and 2020 Women's Hockey Junior Asia Cup were postponed. The 2020 Sultan Azlan Shah Cup has been postponed to 24 September.

Futsal

The 2020 AFC Futsal Championship in Ashgabat had been postponed following consultation with all relevant stakeholders. On 9 March 2020, FIFA and AFC announced that the tournament were postponed to 5–16 August 2020.

Golf

Many elite golf tournaments, both professional and amateur, have either been postponed or cancelled in response to the pandemic, including the major championships. On 13 March, it was announced that the Masters Tournament (scheduled for 9–12 April) had been postponed. The 2020 PGA Championship (scheduled for 11–17 May) was postponed the following week. On 6 April, The R&A announced the cancellation of the 2020 Open Championship, the first cancellation since World War II. This was soon followed by the USGA announcing the rescheduling of the 2020 U.S. Open from 18–21 June to 17–20 September, and new dates in November for the Masters and in August for the PGA Championship. The ladies majors have been similarly affected, with the LPGA Tour postponing the ANA Inspiration until September.

On 12 March 2020, midway through the first round of the 2020 Players Championship, the PGA Tour announced that the remainder of the tournament and the next three events, the Valspar Championship, WGC Match Play, and the Valero Texas Open, would continue without fan attendance. Subsequently, after completion of the days play, the tour decided to cancel the remainder of tournament and the three following events. On 17 March, the tour announced the cancellation of all scheduled tournaments through 10 May. The European Tour have also cancelled or postponed many tournaments, mostly those scheduled from mid-March through to the end of May, including the Irish Open, a Rolex Series event. The Ladies European Tour postponed the 2020 Evian Championship, originally scheduled for 23–26 July, to 6–9 August.

Other leading professional tours have announced similar measures, as have the bodies responsible for organising leading amateur events. On 1 April, the R&A and the USGA jointly announced that the Curtis Cup was being postponed until 2021, and the British mens and womens amateur championships were being rescheduled from June to August. The LPGA Tour have cancelled three tournaments and postponed five others including the ANA Inspiration, and the Japan LPGA Tour cancelled five tournaments scheduled from March into April.

Recreational golf has also been affected, with many countries and regions ordering the closure of golf clubs and courses.

Greyhound racing

The 2020 English Greyhound Derby was postponed on 16 March with no replacement dates set at present. The Arena Racing Company tracks announced a behind closed doors policy from 24 March and racing in Ireland continued with a behind closed doors policy. Subsequently all racing in the United Kingdom and Ireland was postponed until further notice.

Gridiron football

Canadian Football League

On 12 March, the Canadian Football League announced the cancellation or modification of several pre-season events in response to the pandemic. Several scouting combines across Canada and the United States were cancelled, while other events such as rules committee meetings will now be held remotely. The League initially planned to hold both its International and National Drafts in April, but it was announced on 24 March that the Global Draft would be postponed indefinitely.

The start of the 2020 regular season was officially postponed until at least the start of July by Commissioner Randy Ambrosie on 7 April. In a press statement, he announced that the CFL was exploring multiple options to ensure that the league will be able to play as close to a full season as possible. The regular season had originally been scheduled to begin on 11 June.

National Football League

The National Football League has been in its off-season since 2 February 2020, but the 2020 NFL Draft is scheduled to be held in Las Vegas from 23–25 April 2020. On 12 March, various NFL teams began to suspend travel by their coaches and player scouts, while the league itself had advised its non-critical staff to work from home. On 13 March 2020, the NFL announced that it had temporarily prohibited draft-eligible players from travelling to meet team personnel, and vice versa.

On 16 March, the NFL announced that it had cancelled public festivities associated with the draft; the draft itself will still be held, but the league stated that it was exploring "innovative options for how the process will be conducted".

Labor negotiations with the National Football League Players Association continued through the pandemic, resulting in ratification of a new, ten-year collective bargaining agreement in March 2020.

XFL

On 12 March, the XFL announced the suspension of the 2020 season, with all players to be paid their base pay and benefits for the full 2020 regular season; the season was officially cancelled on 20 March, with half of its ten-week regular season schedule played. The XFL, which is the revival of a league that played only one season in 2001, stated that they were committed to playing a full season in 2021 and future years.

Gymnastics

Multiple international artistic gymnastics competitions, many of which were Olympic qualifying events, were either canceled or postponed. On 13 March, after already having completed qualifications, the Baku World Cup canceled its event finals. The Stuttgart, Birmingham, and Tokyo World Cups (scheduled to take place between 21 March – 5 April) were all canceled. The European Women's Artistic Gymnastics Championships (scheduled to take place 30 April – 3 May) and the European Men's Artistic Gymnastics Championships (scheduled to take place 27–31 May) were both canceled. The Pacific Rim Championships (scheduled to take place 17–19 April) was postponed until 2021.

Handball

The 25–29 March, 2020 European Women's Handball Championship qualification matches in Rotterdam, the Netherlands were cancelled.

Horse racing

In the early stages of the outbreak, most horse racing events remained scheduled as normal, but with restricted attendance at racecourses. This included Hong Kong, France, Japan, United Arab Emirates, United States, Australia, Ireland, United Kingdom, Germany, New Zealand, and Singapore.

The Macau Jockey Club suspended racing events from 31 January to 15 February and resumed racing from 22 February. The Korea Racing Authority suspended horse racing from 8 March. Sunland Park Racetrack in the United States canceled its race meeting from 16 March, which included the Sunland Derby, part of the 2020 Road to the Kentucky Derby. Many tracks in North America followed suit over the following weeks, although some remained open depending on state-by-state decisions. In Britain, although the Cheltenham Festival proceeded as normal in mid-March, the Grand National meeting at Aintree in April was cancelled. By mid-March Ireland had become the only major horse racing country in Europe where the sport continued, albeit strictly regulated and behind closed doors. Ireland finally closed down racing on 25 March until at least 19 April.

Churchill Downs announced that the 2020 Kentucky Derby, normally the first leg of the American Triple Crown, would be delayed to 5 September; this also cascaded to the Preakness Stakes, with the Maryland Jockey Club also delaying their second leg race to a date to be determined, likely in September as well. The New York Racing Association has not announced plans to reschedule the third leg, the Belmont Stakes.

On 22 March, it was announced that the Dubai World Cup, due to celebrate its 25th anniversary running on 28 March, had been cancelled.

On 7 April, it was announced that the first four Classics of the British flat racing season – the 2000 and 1000 Guineas, scheduled to be held on 2–3 May, and the Epsom Oaks and Derby, scheduled to be held on 5–6 June – would be postponed until later in the season. It was also announced that Royal Ascot, scheduled to be held from 16–20 June, would take place behind closed doors if it gets the go-ahead.

Some horsemen are limited from travelling to other racecouses or horse racing facilities. Hong Kong-based jockey Keith Yeung felt unwell on 22 March night, but his test for COVID-19 PCR was negative. On 26 March, it was announced that American-based jockey Javier Castellano had tested positive.

Cancelled race meetings

• Macau Jockey Club – 31 to 15 January February 28 March to 11 April
• Korea Racing Authority – from 8 March
• Selangor Turf Club, Malaysia – from 14 March
• Sunland Park Racetrack, New Mexico – March meeting
• Keeneland, Kentucky – April meeting. Kentucky Downs and Ellis Parks closed down in mid-March, while Turfway Park curtailed its meeting from 29 to 26 March. Churchill Downs deferred the Kentucky Derby and Kentucky Oaks, normally scheduled for early May, to September
• Woodbine Racetrack, Toronto – harness racing from 14 March for at least two weeks. Status of Thoroughbred meeting, scheduled to begin in April, is to be determined
• Aqueduct Racetrack, New York – indefinitely from 19 March after a backstretch worker tested positive
• Laurel Park, Maryland – indefinitely from 20 March
• Fair Grounds, Louisiana – cancelled last week of its winter meeting, 22 to 29 March
• Santa Anita Park, California – indefinitely from 27 March
• All United Kingdom racecourses – 18 March to 30 April (excluding Downpatrick and Down Royal in Northern Ireland, which come under Irish racing rules)
• All Ireland racecourses – 25 March to 19 April
• All German racecourses – 17 March to 18 April
• All French racecourses France Galop and LeTrot – 17 March to 15 April
• All United Arab Emirates race meetings – Including Dubai World Cup Night and four April meetings.
• All New Zealand racecourses – From 24 March
• All South African racecourses – 27 March to 16 April
• Singapore Turf Club – Form 4 April

Remaining racing meetings

• Hong Kong Jockey Club – no meeting canceled and rescheduled under coronavirus.
• Macau Jockey Club – resumed racing from 22 February to 21 March
• Japan Racing Association and National Association of Racing – no meeting canceled and rescheduled under coronavirus.
• Sweden, including flat racing and harness racing.
• Most Australian racecourses – Some County and Picnic meetings are canceled, also Tasmanian racing canceled form 2 April.
• Some American racecourses, including Gulfstream Park in Florida and Oaklawn Park in Arkansas

Ice hockey

International

The IIHF Women's World Championship, IIHF World Championship Division IV and Women's Ice Hockey World Championships were all cancelled by the International Ice Hockey Federation due to the coronavirus. The federation also cancelled the 2020 event of one of its two official junior world championship tournaments, the IIHF World U18 Championship. On 21 March, IIHF publicly announced that the senior men's world championships had also been cancelled.

Cancelled tournaments:

• 2020 IIHF World U18 Championships
• 2020 IIHF World Championships
• 2020 IIHF World Championship Division I
• 2020 IIHF World Championship Division II
• 2020 IIHF World Championship Division III
• 2020 IIHF World Championship Division IV
• 2020 IIHF Women's World Championship
• 2020 IIHF Women's World Championship Division I
• 2020 IIHF Women's World Championship Division II Group A

Europe

As a result of the German government's ban on large events, the Deutsche Eishockey Liga announced on 10 March that it would cancel the remainder of its season, marking the first time in the league's history a champion would not be crowned. The top four teams at the time of the cancellation — EHC Red Bull München, Adler Mannheim, Straubing Tigers, and Eisbaren Berlin — would advance to the Champions Hockey League.

The Swedish Ice Hockey Association suspended all remaining hockey, the playoffs and qualification rounds, in the Swedish elite leagues on 15 March; no awarding of the Le Mat Trophy for the 2019/20 season nor transference of teams from the leagues' qualification plays for the 2020/21 season will happen as a result.

Cancelled or ended leagues:

• 2019–20 Czech Extraliga season
• 2019–20 Slovak Extraliga season
• 2019-20 Austrian Hockey League season
• 2019-20 DEL season
• 2019-20 SHL season
• 2019-20 EIHL season

North America

In early March 2020, the National Hockey League suspended media access to the locker rooms, saying that only official personnel would be allowed in after the games to limit person-to-person contact. On 12 March, the NHL, American Hockey League, the leagues of the Canadian Hockey League (Ontario Hockey League, Quebec Major Junior Hockey League, and Western Hockey League), the USHL, and ECHL announced that their 2019–20 seasons would be indefinitely suspended.

On 12 March, the National Women's Hockey League postponed its Isobel Cup Final game indefinitely.

The ECHL announced on 14 March that the remainder of the season would be scrapped. The leagues of the CHL announced on 18 March that they would scrap the remainder of their regular seasons. On 23 March, the CHL confirmed that all playoffs and the 2020 Memorial Cup were cancelled.

Hockey Canada, the governing body for amateur hockey in the country, cancelled the remainder of its season on 13 March. This included national championships such as the Telus Cup and Esso Cup, as well as all regional and provincial playoffs. It also included the Canadian Junior Hockey League playoffs and the 2020 Centennial Cup.

Lacrosse

The National Lacrosse League (NLL) temporarily suspended the 2020 season on 12 March.

Motorsport

Australian Supercars

The Supercars Championship had planned to hold an event, the Melbourne 400 supporting the Australian Grand Prix. The event was cancelled the same time the Grand Prix was also cancelled. The Championship is currently seeking to hold a replacement event later in the year. The Supercars' Tasmania Super400 at Symmons Plains Raceway (originally scheduled for 4–5 April), the Auckland Super400 at Hampton Downs ( 25–26 April), and the Perth SuperNight at Wanneroo Raceway (16–17 May) rounds were also postponed beyond June. The Supercars' support series like the Boost Mobile Super Trucks were also affected, though the trucks intend to commit to their support schedule once new dates are finalised.

Supercars formed the All Stars Eseries to allow its drivers to compete against each other.

Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters

The Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters series postponed the start of its championship until July 2020.

Formula One

The early Formula One season was disrupted by the coronavirus pandemic. Prior to the start of the season, Ferrari and AlphaTauri expressed concern about the spread of the virus and its effect on the championship. Both teams are based in Italy, which has suffered one of the worst outbreaks of the virus outside China, and so both Ferrari and AlphaTauri were therefore concerned over the ability of their staff to leave a quarantine zone that was established in northern Italy. Ross Brawn, the managing director of the sport, announced that Grands Prix would not go ahead if a team were blocked from entering a host nation, but that events could go ahead if a team voluntarily chose not to enter a host nation. The Australian and Monaco Grands Prix were cancelled. The cancellation of the Monaco Grand Prix meant that 2020 would mark the first time since 1954 that the race has not been held. The Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Chinese, Canadian, Dutch, Spanish and Vietnam Grands Prix were postponed. The summer break shut down period—which includes mandatory factory closures as a cost-cutting measure—was also brought forward from August to March and April and was extended to three weeks, allowing for postponed races to be held in August.

The sport had planned to overhaul its technical regulations for the 2021 championship in one of the largest changes in its seventy-year history. The pandemic prompted these changes to be postponed until 2022, with teams required to enter their 2020 cars in the 2021 championship to minimise the financial stress placed on the teams.

Recently, some Formula One drivers have entered a virtual version of the Australian Grand Prix. and the Bahrain Grand Prix The races are hosted by Jean-Éric Vergne's Veloce Esports and F!. The online races are contested by current and former F1 drivers, like Lando Norris, Nicholas Latifi, Stoffel Vandoorne, Esteban Gutiérrez, Nico Hülkenberg, Johnny Herbert and Martin Brundle, as well as celebrities and other sportsmen.

Formula 2 and Formula 3

The Bahrain, Zandvoort and Barcelona rounds of the FIA Formula 2 and Formula 3 Championships—a series of races for junior drivers that run in support of Formula 1 events—were postponed when the Bahrain, Dutch and Spanish Grands Prix were postponed. The Monaco Formula 2 round was cancelled when the Monaco Grand Prix was cancelled and the Baku round postponed when the Azerbaijan Grand Prix was postponed; Formula 3 had not been scheduled to race in Monaco or Azerbaijan.

Formula E

The Formula E championship for electric cars initially responded to the pandemic by postponing the Rome and Sanya ePrix. Planned races in Paris, Jakarta and Seoul were also postponed, prompting organisers to postpone the entire season by two months.

GT World Challenge Europe

The 3 Hours of Monza round of the 2020 GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup, scheduled for 19 April, was cancelled.

IndyCar

The IndyCar Series initially announced on 12 March that it would hold the Grand Prix of St. Petersburg — the opening race of the 2020 season — behind closed doors. On 13 March, the series announced that it would cancel all races through at least the end of April, including St. Petersburg, Alabama, Long Beach, and Austin. IndyCar intended to begin the season with the traditional "Month of May" races at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, including the GMR Grand Prix (held on IMS's road course configuration), and the 104th running of the Indianapolis 500 on its traditional Memorial Day weekend scheduling.

On 26 March, IndyCar announced that it would tentatively delay the beginning of the season to the end of May (beginning with the Detroit Grand Prix on 30 and 31 May) by postponing the two Indianapolis races to later in the season. The GMR Grand Prix will join NASCAR's Brickyard 400 race weekend, as part of a double-header with the Xfinity Series' Pennzoil 150 on 4 July. The Indianapolis 500 was postponed to 23 August—marking the first time in history that it has not been held in May. The Grand Prix of St. Petersburg was reinstated as the planned season finale, with a date to be determined.

IndyCar eventually formed the IndyCar iRacing Challenge, with its drivers racing against one another on the iRacing racing simulation game.

MotoGP

The MotoGP World Championship cancelled the opening round of the 2020 championship in Qatar. The Moto2 and Moto3 support categories raced in the country, as the teams were already in Qatar before the quarantine measures were put in place. Planned events in Thailand, the United States, and Argentina were also postponed, but were later rescheduled to 4 October, 15 November and 22 November respectively. The races at Jerez, Le Mans, Mugello, and Catalunya were also postponed.

NASCAR

Prior to the 2020 Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500, part of the 2020 NASCAR Cup Series, NASCAR announced that no fans would be permitted to attend the race; this event, along with the Dixie Vodka 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway, were later postponed. On 16 March, NASCAR announced that all race events through 3 May were postponed, however they still intend to run all 36 races for the season.

NASCAR subsequently began to organize invitational eSports events on iRacing, featuring current and past NASCAR drivers, officially known as the eNASCAR iRacing Pro Invitational Series. Fox Sports also picked up broadcasts of these events to provide filler content for Fox Sports 1.

World Endurance Championship

The 1000 Miles of Sebring race was cancelled. The 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps and the 24 Hours of Le Mans were both postponed.

World Rally Championship

The 2020 running of Rally Argentina, Rally Italia Sardegna and Rally Portugal were postponed. The 2020 Rally Mexico was shortened to allow competitors time to pack their equipment up and return to their headquarters in Europe before a series of travel bans were implemented. The World Rally Championship-2, World Rally Championship-3 and Junior World Rally Championship support categories were also affected by the postponements.

World Rallycross Championship

The opening rounds of the 2020 FIA World Rallycross Championship in Barcelona and Portugal were postponed.

World Touring Car Cup

The opening rounds of the 2020 World Touring Car Cup in Hungary and Germany were cancelled. The four races that would have been held across the two rounds were rescheduled for other rounds.

Motorcycle road racing

The 2020 Isle of Man TT and Scottish Six Days Trial were cancelled. The 2020 North West 200 event was postponed.

British national-level championships

All British motorsport, including the British Touring Car Championship, the British GT Championship, and the Britcar Endurance and Trophy Championships. were postoned until July 2020.

Monster trucks

Monster Jam events in multiple localities were affected. Shows in Austin, Texas, Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Columbia, South Carolina, Cincinnati, Ohio, Columbus, Ohio, Colorado Springs, Colorado, Denver, Colorado, Detroit, Michigan, and Grand Rapids, Michigan were postponed; and a show in Albuquerque, New Mexico was cancelled.

Hot Wheels Monster Trucks Live postponed a show in Louisville, Kentucky.

Monster X Tour postponed its World Finals event in Honolulu, Hawaii.

On 27 March 2020, World Finals XXI, scheduled to take place 2–3 May 2020, was cancelled.

Radio-controlled racing

Despite taking place in the second half of the year, all 4 blocks (representing Asia (FEMCA), North America (ROAR), Europe (EFRA) and the rest of the world (FAMAR)) and the IFMAR committee have agreed to postpone all remaining IFMAR World Championships (1:10 Electric Touring Car in Heemstede, Netherlands); 1:8 IC Off-Road in Cianorte, Brasil and 1:10 IC Touring Car in Brisbane, Australia) to an alternative date, possibly early 2021. This was the first postponement since 2001 when the events of the September 11 attacks caused the 1:10 Electric Off-Road Worlds to be moved to May the following year.

Poker

As of 18 March, most casinos and other gaming venues worldwide have been closed indefinitely and many upcoming live poker tournaments have been either postponed, cancelled or (in jurisdictions where currently permitted) moved to an online platform. Tournaments originally scheduled to be played live and now being played online include the 2020 Irish Poker Open.

The pandemic has resulted in a massive increase in online poker traffic. It is believed to have directed both professional and recreational players who normally prefer live poker to online platforms due the indefinite closure of most casinos and other live gaming venues worldwide, with even many unlicensed venues shutting down. In addition, the sudden dearth of live entertainment options due to the widespread disruption of the sports and entertainment schedules around the world is believed to have resulted in more than the usual number of casual players turning to online poker as an alternative. Many operators reported traffic of double or more the previous volume, depending on the time of day.

Rodeo

The 2020 Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo was cancelled after a festival attendee was diagnosed positive with the virus.

Rowing

Four Olympic qualification regattas were cancelled, including the final qualification event scheduled to be held in Lucerne, Switzerland, from 17 to 19 May. All three events of the 2020 World Rowing Cup were also cancelled.

The Boat Race 2020, due to take place on the River Thames in London on 29 March, was cancelled.

Rugby league

The Australian/New Zealand National Rugby League was scheduled to continue with no spectators permitted in the stadiums however this was abandoned after round two.

For the first time in the competition's history, the entire season was suspended indefinitely on 23 March 2020, and if the season cannot be restarted by 1 September, it will be abandoned with no premiership awarded.

Super League and the Rugby Football League suspended the season until 3 April as a result of the spread of coronavirus.

Rugby union

At the end of February and start of March, the 2020 Six Nations Championship saw all games against Italy postponed due to the worsening situation in that country, with games against the Scotland women's team also cancelled as one of the players tested positive and the team went into isolation. By 13 March, the competition had been suspended. On 12 March, the Pro14 European rugby competition was suspended,.

In Super Rugby, two fixtures of Japanese team Sunwolves had been moved to Australia from Japan, while Australia announced on 12 March that beginning in the next round of fixtures, all matches held in Australia would be played with no spectators, but otherwise continue as normal. However, on 14 March, New Zealand (who fields five teams in the competition) announced that it will require 14 days self-isolation for any person that arrives in the country from outside of the Pacific Islands, regardless of origin and including New Zealand citizens. League organizer SANZAAR stated that it was evaluating the impact of this restriction, and ultimately announced later in the day that the season would be suspended following the completion of the weekend's fixtures.

On 12 March, Major League Rugby in the United States suspended its third season for 30 days, but on 18 March, organizers announced that it will suspend until 2021.

Shooting

The 2020 ISSF World Cup, which was to commence on 15 March in New Delhi, was postponed. The Olympic Test Event in Tokyo, originally scheduled for April 2020, was also cancelled.

Short track speed skating

The 2020 World Short Track Speed Skating Championships in Seoul, South Korea scheduled 13–15 March were cancelled. The International Skating Union announced they were trying to reschedule the tournament to late 2020 at the beginning of the 2020–21 season.

Snooker

The 2020 Gibraltar Open and its qualifying rounds took place from 11 to 15 March. For the first day, there was a limit of 100 spectators per session. On the remaining days, there were no spectators. A significant number of players withdrew, and there was a shortage of referees, with some early matches played without referees.

The 2020 Tour Championship, originally scheduled for 17 to 22 March, was postponed until 21 July.

The 2020 China Open, originally scheduled for 30 March to 5 April, was indefinitely postponed.

The 2020 World Snooker Championship, originally scheduled 18 April to 4 May, has been postponed, tentatively until July or August.

The 2020 World Women's Snooker Championship, originally scheduled 22 to 27 June, has been postponed.

Squash

The 2020 European Squash Individual Championships, scheduled to take place in Eindhoven, the Netherlands from 29 April to 2 May are cancelled.

Surfing

The 2020 World Surf League, which was due to start in Australia on 26 March, is on hold until at least June. The first event of the season, the Corona Open Gold Coast, was cancelled, while the second and third events, the Rip Curl Pro Bells Beach and Margaret River Pro, were postponed.

The 2020 ISA World Surfing Games, scheduled to be held from 9 to 17 May in El Salvador, was postponed. It is hoped that it will take place during the second half of 2020.

Swimming

The YMCA Short Course Nationals swim meet is canceled in the United States for the first time since 1947.

Table tennis

The 2020 World Team Table Tennis Championships were scheduled to be held from 22 to 29 March in Busan, South Korea. Provisionally, the event will now be held from 21 to 28 June.

The 2020 ITTF-ATTU Asian Cup was scheduled to be held from 28 February to 1 March in Hainan, China, but was postponed until later in the year.

Five events on the 2020 ITTF World Tour have also been postponed, including the China Open and the Japan Open. Four Olympic qualifying events, scheduled to be held in April, were also postponed.

Tennis

On 12 March, the ATP Tour and ATP Challenger Tour were initially suspended for six weeks due to the escalating health and safety issues caused by the coronavirus. Also, the WTA Tour and 125K series were initially suspended for eight weeks.

On 17 March, the 2020 French Open, originally scheduled for 24 May – 7 June, was postponed to 20 September – 4 October. On 1 April, the 2020 edition of The Championships, Wimbledon was canceled, while the ATP and WTA suspensions were extended to 13 July.

Volleyball

On 13 March, the International Volleyball Federation (FIVB) decided to postpone the Nations League for men (finals scheduled for Turin, Italy) and women until after the 2020 Summer Olympics caused by the outbreak of coronavirus.

Water polo

International

The 2020 Women's Water Polo Olympic Qualification Tournament was scheduled to take place in Trieste, Italy, 8–15 March 2020. On 28 February 2020, International Swimming Federation (FINA) announced that the tournament would be postponed to 17–24 May due to the coronavirus outbreak.

On 12 March, FINA announced that several international water polo tournaments would be postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic. The 2020 Men's Water Polo Olympic Qualification Tournament due to take place in Rotterdam, Netherlands, 22–29 March, would be postponed to 31 May – 7 June. The 2020 FINA Men's Water Polo World League and 2020 FINA Women's Water Polo World League would be postponed to September–October 2020.

Asia

2020 Asian Water Polo Championship, the Asian continental qualification for the 2020 Olympic water polo tournament, was scheduled to take place in Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan, 12–16 February 2020. In late January the event was cancelled as the Kazakh Government suspended all flights and visas from China due to concerns about the coronavirus outbreak in the country. In mid-February Asia Swimming Federation decided to use the final ranking of the 2018 Asian Games to allocate its continental quotas.

Europe

On 28 February 2020, European Swimming League (LEN) announced that the match of 2019–20 LEN Champions League Day 10 between Ferencváros (Hungary) and Pro Recco (Italy), and the match of 2019–20 LEN Euro Cup semifinal between Egri VK (Hungary) and AN Brescia (Italy) would be postponed due to the coronavirus outbreak.

On 11 March 2020, LEN announced that all eight matches of 2019–20 LEN Champions League Day 11, the second leg of the 2019–20 LEN Euro League Women quarter-finals, and the 2020 men's U19 European Championships qualification tournaments would be postponed to later dates due to the coronavirus pandemic.

North America

On 11 March 2020, the USA Water Polo (USAWP) announced that the 2020 ODP Girls National Water Polo Championship would be postponed, and the exhibition matches scheduled to be played on 19–21 March 2020 in California between United States and Spain men's national water polo teams would be cancelled.

On 16 March 2020, USAWP announced that the inaugural USA Water Polo Division III Women's National Championship scheduled for 8–10 May 2020 in Southern California would be rescheduled for May 2021; and week three of the 2020 National Water Polo League and the 2020 National League Championship/Fisher Cup would be canceled.

Oceania

On 16 March 2020, the Australian Water Polo (WPA) announced that the 2020 Australian National Water Polo League would be terminated, the 2020 WPA National Championships scheduled to take place in Adelaide, South Australia in May would be cancelled, and the 2020 Open Championships (Country and Masters) scheduled to take place in the Gold Coast, Queensland in May would be postponed.

See also

• List of major events affected by the 2019–20 coronavirus pandemic
• Impact of the 2019–20 coronavirus pandemic on religion
• Impact of the 2019–20 coronavirus pandemic on television
• Impact of the 2019–20 coronavirus pandemic on education