Sports have been the longtime source of comforting distraction through world wars and financial calamity. But games will not play that role in the coronavirus crisis.

A sweeping shutdown of the American sports scene rolled across the industry on Thursday. The NCAA canceled its marquee March Madness tournaments and other championships. Major League Baseball, Major League Soccer and the National Hockey League suspended their operations. All of them followed the National Basketball Association, which abruptly shut down late Wednesday after a Utah Jazz player tested positive for the coronavirus.

The sports bodies largely waited to act until they had no other choice. The NCAA, for example, has insisted for the last week that cancellation was off the table as an option. It only took action after Duke and Kansas, two of college basketball’s blue-chip brands, forced the NCAA’s hand by suspending all athletic operations. The NCAA’s move also came after its own chief medical officer said the nation’s testing infrastructure couldn’t support widespread testing of competitors.

These unprecedented actions will have wide-ranging implications that extend far beyond championships and statistics. They will cost the leagues hundreds of millions of dollars and dramatically affect the livelihoods of the many thousands of people who work in and around sports. They range from television networks, gambling enterprises and small-business owners near stadiums, to ticket-takers, ushers, popcorn vendors and countless others.

“This is the most extraordinary stretch of days I’ve seen in my 30-plus years in the sports business,” Big East commissioner Val Ackerman said, minutes after she canceled the conference’s men’s basketball tournament at Madison Square Garden at halftime of the day’s first game between St. John’s University and Creighton University.