The American Athletic Conference announced Thursday afternoon it has suspended all spring sports competitions.
The move comes as many major athletic departments across the country, including Kansas and Duke, shut down competitions as the new coronavirus crisis continues to rapidly progress.
“The decision to suspend competition was made after consultation with member institutions as part of a continued effort to mitigate the spread of the COVID-19 virus and to protect student-athletes, coaches, institutional and event staff, media and spectators,” the conference said in a statement.
Houston-area colleges have also suspended athletic competitions. Rice University, where an employee tested positive for COVID-19 on March 5, shutdown athletic events indefinitely, while Houston Baptist University canceled all sporting events through March 30.
The American Athletic Conference, like many conferences on Thursday, including the SEC, Big 12, Big Ten and AAC, canceled its men’s basketball tournament in Fort Worth with concerns over the virus continuing to take over the sports world.
Houston’s men’s basketball team, the No. 2 seed in the tournament, was less than three hours away from Fort Worth and were set to play Friday evening.