Restrictions at Brown University may effect Bear athletic teams.

No one can predict the spread of the coronavirus over the coming weeks but it appears it could radically alter the sporting world.

With basketball’s conference championship week and the NCAA’s March Madness tournament on the horizon, schools and conferences are measuring the growth of COVID-19 and potentially restricting access of fans to athletic contests. The first such game to be impacted happened on Friday night at Johns Hopkins in Baltimore. It appears that Brown University could restrict its teams from playing in the Ivy Madness basketball tournament if the men’s team qualifies.

Late Friday, Brown issued a directive to its community effective on Monday that all in-person school events with 100 attendees or more, in venues on and away from campus, must be postponed, canceled or offered virtually. Academic courses are excluded from the restriction.

Brown added that "policies for athletic events are being developed and will be announced on Monday."

The Ivy Madness basketball tournament is scheduled for March 13-15 at Harvard’s Lavietes Pavilion. The Ivy League has not said it will restrict fan attendance.

The Brown basketball team doesn’t have to worry about this happening to them. Even though the Bears defeated Dartmouth, 70-58, on Saturday night in Hanover, N.H., the tiebreakers didn’t go their way and they were eliminated.

The Brown’s men’s hockey team lost its second straight at Colgate, 3-2, in overtime in the ECAC playoffs on Saturday night and it, too, was eliminated from any further postseason play.

It is unclear what will happen with Brown’s spring sports or if there will be different policies for indoor or outdoor events. The men’s lacrosse team hosts defending national champion Virginia on Sunday and fans will be allowed.

On Friday night, Yeshiva University beat Worcester Polytechnic Institute, 102-78, with no fans in attendance at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. Only players, referees, employees, and media members were present in the 1,100-seat Goldfarb Gymnasium after a student at Yeshiva tested positive for the virus.

An NCAA COVID-19 advisory panel said Friday it is "not recommending cancellation or public spacing of athletic and related events scheduled to occur in public spaces across the United States."

Brown’s restrictions will apparently cost the school a visit from former President Bill Clinton. He is scheduled to speak at the school on March 19.

While the college sports world is facing these challenges for its biggest events, pro sports may be looking at more serious issues with the start of major league baseball a month away and the playoffs in the NBA and NHL set to begin in April. In Italy, Japan and South Korea, sporting events already have been postponed or have been played with no fans in attendance.

On Friday, the NBA sent out a memo to teams to begin developing processes to play games without fans in attendance. Soon afterward, superstar LeBron James said, "Nah, that's impossible. I ain't playing. If I ain't got the fans in the crowd, that's what I play for. I play for my teammates. I play for the fans. That's what it's all about. If I show up to an arena, and there ain't no fans there, I ain't playing. So, they could do what they want to do."

On Saturday, the women’s world hockey championships in Canada were canceled because of concerns over the spread of the new coronavirus. The two-week tournament was set to open March 31, with venues in Halifax and Truro, Nova Scotia.

kmcnamar@providencejournal.com

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On Twitter: @KevinMcNamara33