The end of the high school sports season in March.

That’s a very real possibility with the coronavirus pandemic according to Idaho High School Activities Association Executive Director Ty Jones. He told the Idaho Press on Thursday that while there hasn’t been a documented case of COVID-19 yet in the state, serious discussions to alter, postpone or cancel Idaho’s spring seasons that include baseball, softball, tennis, golf and track have already begun.

The upcoming state tournaments for debate, cheer and dance, which officially mark the end of the winter season, could be the first dominos to fall. Jones said they're in jeopardy of being canceled.

The state debate tournament is set to get underway Friday at Boise High School. A decision on that could come as soon as Thursday evening.

Cheer and dance state tournaments are currently scheduled for March 20 and 21 at the Ford Idaho Center.

“We’re honestly worried about those tournaments,” Jones said. “That’s the frustrating thing is we want to get information out to people, and we’re getting the information out that we have. But we’re just sitting and waiting in a holding pattern right now while we plan our tournaments at the same time.”

Several well-known sporting events in the Treasure Valley have already been canceled.

The Buck's Bags baseball and Win the Pitch (WTP) softball tournaments were both canceled. Thirty-six teams, including out of state teams from Oregon and Nevada — which both have confirmed cases of the COVID-19 — were expected to compete at both events. Buck's Bags was scheduled for March 26-28, while WTP was March 27-28. Eleven different sites would have hosted the two events.

"Obviously, it's a tough decision," said Vallivue Athletic Director Tony Brulotte, whose school was set to run the WTP. "You never want to be put in a position where you have to cancel and event of this magnitude, especially something that you know teams are planning on and put a lot of preparation into. But ultimately, we felt like in order to protect our student athletes, our families and staff members, it was in the best interest of all those parties to take the ultra precautionary measure."

Saturday's 17th Annual All-Star Game at North Idaho College in Coeur d'Alene was also canceled.

Boise, Caldwell, Kuna, Nampa, Vallivue and Caldwell School districts all issued out of state travel bans for their athletic programs. The Mountain View and Meridian baseball teams were slated to play in a tournament in Phoenix during spring break. So Mountain View is now trying to recoup $16,000 in travel costs.

Nearby Oregon schools Ontario and Nyssa have postponed their spring sports until further notice. Ontario is right on the Idaho border and borders Fruitland. Nyssa is less than 40 miles from Boise.

But everything else was business as usual Thursday.

All 15 of Thursday's baseball and softball games went on as regularly scheduled according to District Three Softball Commissioner Ted Pettet.

That doesn't mean things can't rapidly change, though.

But the IHSAA didn’t cancel those respected events. Those decisions came from the schools who run them. The IHSAA only controls its state tournaments. The schools themselves are the ones which would make the decision about whether or not to postpone or cancel their seasons.

Jones did say the IHSAA, which has been in constant contact with the CDC and the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare for three weeks now, could recommend the state’s schools either play games with no or limited spectators, postponing or shutting down their spring seasons entirely. It could also maybe explore the option of taking the decision out of the schools' hands cancel the season, but that has never been done before.

Jones said the IHSAA will wait for the recommendation of the CDC, the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare and the governor's office before suggesting such drastic actions.

However, Jones said it’s really more of a matter of when than if.

“I would not be surprised if more districts didn’t follow suit,” Jones said. “I don’t know that with any certainty, but I cannot imagine that you will not see more cancellations or postponements.”

The IHSAA has been monitoring the situation for three weeks. There was even talk of cancelling the basketball and wrestling tournaments that just wrapped up. Those events did go on as scheduled with precautions in place like multiple hand sanitizing stations and signs on how to stop the spread of illnesses.

But all of that was before the unprecedented events of Wednesday and Thursday. On Wednesday evening, it was revealed that Utah Jazz All-Star Rudy Gobert had tested positive for COVID-19. Moments later, the NBA announced it was suspending its season.

On Thursday, every college basketball tournament, including the Big Sky at CenturyLink Arena, was canceled before both the NCAA men’s and women’s tournaments were canceled too. Several local high school events quickly followed suit later in the day.

Surrounding states have already taken preventative actions with their high school sports. Oregon will not allow fans at its upcoming state events and Wyoming has canceled its boys state basketball tournaments entirely. Jones has been in touch with those and other state executives as well for guidance.

“This is our top priority right now,” Jones said. “So far Idaho has been fortunate to not have any confirmed cases. But that being said, it’s most likely just a matter of time before we have a confirmed case. So we have to be ready to protect our kids and coaches.”