The world’s sports schedule cratered at warp speed Thursday, with one of the biggest events on the U.S. calendar, the fun-filled and colorful college basketball tournament known as March Madness, becoming the first mega-event to be scrubbed due to fear of the spread of the coronavirus.

Leaders at all levels of sports, including the NCAA, NBA, NHL, Major League Baseball, golf, tennis and soccer, decided the risk of playing games with the threat of the virus hanging over them was too great despite the billions of dollars — to say nothing of the trophies, pride and once-in-a-lifetime experiences — hanging in the balance.

By late in the afternoon of an extraordinary, headline-a-minute day across a pandemic-rattled globe, the NCAA, which regulates March Madness and virtually all major U.S. college sports, basically had no choice. With conferences and individual teams calling off their basketball seasons at breakneck pace, the NCAA followed suit. They scrapped all college winter and spring championships, the highlight of which is the men’s basketball tournament — a three-week extravaganza that stands as the biggest event this side of the Super Bowl on the U.S. sports calendar.

The cancellation leaves a massive hole in American sports — from campuses across the country, to a growing passel of sports-betting businesses that rely on college hoops money, to say nothing of the hearts of players who were poised to get their first, or last, or only chance to shine on the big stage.

All of it was to be covered by CBS and its partners; about 80 percent of the NCAA’s $1.05 billion annual budget is bankrolled by the money the networks pay to present the 68-team tournament over the air, on cable and online.

Gonzaga men’s basketball coach Mark Few and several high-profile coaches held a conference call earlier Monday, with the hopes the tourney would be postponed, not canceled.

Then, during an interview with ESPN on Thursday shortly after 1 p.m., Few was told by ESPN’s Rece Davis that the tournament had been canceled.

“Extremely disappointed,” Few replied. “I think all of us felt we could postpone, and even postpone into May and if we wanted to cancel, we could cancel then. But if that’s what they’re doing, I guess that’s what they’re doing.

“Everybody wanted to take a deep breath, and see if we could postpone this thing, and if we needed to cancel, we could cancel a month from now.

“This is a sad, sad day,” Few added, saying the NCAA may have come to this conclusion eventually, but he and the other coaches hoped the NCAA could have “paused” to see if the event could be rescheduled.

“So you telling me I transferred to not play in the tournament,” tweeted Gonzaga guard Ryan Woolridge, a graduate transfer.

“We were all hoping ... instead of canceling, we were really hoping for a postponement of some sort, and allowing things to play out, and see if maybe we postponed it for a short period time, we would have opportunity to re-evaluate, but for some reason that wasn’t the case,” Gonzaga athletic director Mike Roth said. “I’m not sure why, but I can’t question it either because I don’t know all the factors.

“There’s no words to describe it, actually. Saying it’s unfortunate isn’t strong enough. Saying it’s devastating news isn’t strong enough.”

The Spokane Arena was scheduled to host first- and second-round games next weekend. And Gonzaga ranked No. 2 in the country and a presumptive No. 1 seed, was expected to play in Spokane.

Gonzaga’s women, ranked 11th, were hoping to host the first and second rounds of the NCAA women’s tournament next weekend on campus at the McCarthey Athletic Center, despite being upset by eventual champion Portland in the semifinals of the West Coast Conference tournament.

“The Spokane community has been so great to our men’s and women’s basketball teams for such a long time,” Roth said. “For us to miss out on this oppurtnity is an unfortunate thing for our fans and the Spokane community.There’s not anybody we can be mad at ... you can be mad at a virus. It’s just really too bad for Spokane; we really feel for Spokane.”

It wasn’t even the most jaw-dropping moment of the morning. That came, fittingly, at one of the world’s most renowned sports venues — Madison Square Garden — where at halftime of a Big East Conference tournament game, the PA announcer came on and said the tournament had been called.

By then, every major conference, and virtually all of the minor ones, had done the same thing. They were prompted in part by the NCAA’s decision a day earlier to hold all its tournament games — which had been scheduled to start next week in nine cities and close April 6 at a 71,000-seat stadium in Atlanta — in front of friends and family and limited “essential” personnel.

Only 24 hours later, with the stock market tanking, mixed messages coming out of Washington and no promise of quick relief being offered by world health experts, it became even more clear that gatherings involving thousands of people were hard to justify. Also clear: The NCAA would have trouble assembling an equitable bracket for its tournament, given that most games designed to suss out the most-deserving teams and automatic qualifiers had already been scrubbed.

“I’m not a researcher in immunology or infectious disease, but those who are engaged at the NCAA level provided some stark information yesterday,” said Greg Sankey, the commissioner of the Southeastern Conference.

The March Madness news meant it will be a world free of basketball for the foreseeable future.

Big Sky Conference

The Big Sky Conference canceled the remainder of its 2020 Basketball Championships, beginning with the men’s quarterfinals scheduled for Thursday.

The Big Sky Presidents’ Council convened Thursday morning and voted to move forward in this manner.

“This decision was not made lightly, as we know how meaningful our basketball championships is to our student-athletes, coaches, alumni, and fans,” Commissioner Tom Wistrcill said. “After consulting with medical experts, local authorities, and the leadership of our institutions, we feel that this decision is prudent given the health and well-being of all involved.

Idaho’s women, the No. 2 seed, were scheduled to play No. 1 seed Montana State today for the championship and an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. However, with the cancelation of the conference tourney, Montana State, which won the regular-season title by four games, would have received the Big Sky’s automatic berth to the NCAAs — had the tourney happened.

“It’s an extremely heartbreaking decision for our players, staff and everyone else involved,” Idaho coach Jon Newlee said. “I’m just heartbroken for all the work and everything that we’ve done to get right to where we wanted to be, playing in the championship game against a team we split against, and to not be able to see the season finish. I understand the decision, following in line with all the conferences. I get it but that doesn’t mean that we like it, but we move forward now whatever that means and whatever it will be. We will figure it out from here. I’m really proud of this team, as proud of any team that I have coached, the way they have come together through a lot of adversity and everything else this year. It was a great season, but unfortunately it looks like it has come to an end. We will be back and going forward from here.”

Eastern Washington’s men, which won the regular-season champion and were scheduled to begin tourney play in the quarterfinals Thursday, would have received the Big Sky’s automatic bid to the NCAAs.

The Big Sky and CenturyLink Arena said they will announce a refund policy soon and will contact fans who purchased tickets for the games that have been canceled.

Saturday’s Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony was postponed.

Later Thursday, the Big Sky announced it will suspend all intercollegiate competition for its member institutions’ teams that participate in spring sports until further notice. The Presidents’ Council will monitor the situation and reassess at a later date this spring.

Spokane Chiefs

Western Hockey League Commissioner Ron Robison announced Thursday the 2019-20 WHL season will be paused until further notice.

Following consultation with medical professionals and meetings with the CHL Board of Directors, it was determined that all hockey activity in the WHL will be paused until further notice.

Fans with tickets to the Spokane Chiefs’ home games tonight and/or Saturday are asked hold on to those unused tickets and wait for further direction.

“We realize you may have questions,” the Chiefs said in a statement. “Given the unique situation, we ask for your patience as our staff works diligently to provide answers as quickly and effectively as possible.”

Spokane Shock

The Shock’s return to Spokane was delayed when the Indoor Football League announced the postponement of the 2020 IFL season in response to the coronavirus pandemic.

Spokane was scheduled to open March 22 at the Bismarck (N.D.) Bucks. The Shock’s home opener was to be March 26, vs. San Diego.

“While we are disappointed, the health and safety of our fans, employees, coaches and players remains our top priority,” Shock owner Sam Adams said. “We want to express our deepest condolences to the many families in Washington state who have lost loved ones to the outbreak of COVID-19. To those who are currently in isolation or quarantine, our concern and prayers are with you to make a full recovery and return to your family and friends.”

IFL Commissioner Todd Tryon said, “We are monitoring this on a constant basis and are working with the local municipalities and arenas in all of our markets. Our goal is to resume play as soon as possible. The health of our players, coaches, staffs, fans, and sponsors is of utmost importance to our teams and to the league, and we will not compromise on those values.”

Elsewhere

A day after the NBA put its season on temporary hiatus, a second member of the Utah Jazz — Donovan Mitchell — tested positive for the coronavirus. The league said its suspension would last for at least 30 days — possibly a conservative guess, as teams undertake the task of identifying any player or referee who has had recent contact with the Jazz, then putting them into isolation for the required two weeks.

“What would kill the NBA season is if more players catch it,” Mavericks owner Mark Cuban said in an interview on CNBC. He called the hiatus a matter of “us being vigilant, as all businesses should be. Businesses are going to have to be incredibly vigilant, and that’s hard.”

The NHL also suspended its season, though it did not report any positives for COVID-19.

Major League Baseball scrapped spring training and postponed the start of its season, currently scheduled for March 26, for at least two weeks.

The PGA Tour decided Thursday night to scrap the rest of The Players Championship and shut down its other tournaments for the next three weeks. Commissioner Jay Monahan had said earlier Thursday there would be no fans at the TPC Sawgrass for the final three rounds, or at the next three tournaments on the PGA Tour schedule. The tour changed its mind late Thursday, with no immediate word whether The Players Championship — the premier tournament run by the PGA Tour, offering a $15 million purse — would be rescheduled.

The LPGA Tour postponed three tournaments, beginning next week, including its first major of the season.

Tennis will also be canceling events. The ATP called off men’s tournaments for the next six weeks; the WTA said its tournament in South Carolina, set for April 6-12, would not be held as scheduled, with decisions about the rest of the season to come in the next week.

NASCAR announced it would race the next two weekends, in Atlanta and Miami, without fans, and IndyCar made the same decision for its race this weekend in St. Petersburg, Fla.

Horse races were going on in several states, though without fans in the stands — leaving the parimutuel wagers to be made online; organizers of the Kentucky Derby were moving forward with plans for the May 2 race.

The NFL, never off the radar even in the depths of the offseason, announced a number of changes and cancellations on its schedule of meetings, fan fest and scouting trips — all related to coronavirus.

The U.S.-based Major League Soccer said it would shut down for a target period of 30 days.

Earlier in the day, soccer leagues and teams scrambled to make changes:

• Belgium’s soccer league backpedaled on an earlier decision, and decided to close stadiums to fans.

• A Champions League game involving Real Madrid was postponed after the Spanish team puts its players in quarantine.

• Dutch soccer authorities canceled all matches through the end of the month, including friendlies against the United States and Spain.

• Also, a second player from Italy’s top soccer division tested positive. All sports in that hard-hit country have been suspended through April 3.

For once, there were no major announcements coming out of Tokyo, where conflicting messages about the status of this summer’s Olympics have come out of the country, and the IOC, for weeks.

Instead, the IOC went ahead with its ceremonial lighting of the Olympic flame, an event held in front of the ruined Temple of Hera in Ancient Olympia.

“We are strengthened ... by the many authorities and sports organizations around the world which are taking so many significant measures to contain the spread of the coronavirus,” IOC president Thomas Bach said.