The regular season has been cut short for the Owensboro Thoroughbreds and the rest of the teams in The Basketball League (TBL), though they’ll play a league tournament at the Owensboro Sportscenter next weekend.
The tournament, set for March 19-22, is restricted to players and personnel only. The games can be watched live via @SportsCastrLive.
The Sportscenter was chosen as the tournament site because it is the most central location and the nicest venue, according to Thoroughbreds owner Chris Allison.
The decision was announced Wednesday in a statement from league CEO Evelyn Magley amid rising concerns about COVID-19 (the coronavirus).
The choice to close games to the public falls in line with decisions made at both the collegiate and professional levels. All collegiate basketball conference tournaments will be finished with extremely limited or no spectators allowed. Even the NCAA men’s and women’s basketball tournaments will be closed to fans.
The NBA has gone even further, suspending all games after a player tested positive for coronavirus Wednesday night.
The TBL tournament format will be as follows:
• Teams seeded 5-12 play on Thursday
• Thursday’s winners play teams seeded 1-4 on Friday
• Consolation games on Saturday morning, followed by the the Final 4
• Championship Game on Sunday
Times and matchups will be announced on all TBL social media platforms sometime today.
Magley’s announcement read:
“We are #adifferentleague and as such always want to keep our players and fans health as top priority. At the same time, we owe it to our teams to give them more opportunities to be seen as well as a true championship that they all play for.”
