AUSTIN, Texas — Amid growing concerns over the coronavirus, Texas Athletics announced Wednesday night that all University of Texas at Austin home sporting events will be contested without fans in attendance through March 22.
The announcement was made by UT Vice President and Athletics Director Chris Del Conte, who also said Texas Athletics teams will continue travel to road competitions as scheduled at this time.
“We realize COVID-19 [coronavirus] is a major concern to everyone and, in an effort to mitigate any potential risks for our student-athletes, coaches, staff and fans, we will be limiting those in attendance at our home sporting events through the next two weekends,” Del Conte said. “We regret that our fans will not be able to attend our events to support our teams, but this decision was made with the health and well-being of our campus community and fans as the top priority."
Del Conte said this is an evolving situation and that Texas Athletics will remain in constant communication with university leadership and continue to reassess the situation.
"Ultimately, we will take direction from President [Greg] Fenves and the university while continuing to discuss and evaluate the best way to handle our future events. We will continue to monitor the situation and make additional announcements if other events are impacted," Del Conte said.
RELATED:
Even with UT's efforts to continue hosting athletic events, many of them will no longer take place.
Texas was scheduled to host a baseball series with New Mexico this weekend, but the Mountain West has suspended its baseball season until further notice, per Kendall Rogers of D1Baseball.com.
Columbia University was scheduled to play a men’s tennis match at Texas this Saturday but Ivy League schools have opted to suspend their spring sports seasons.
Texas may be soon trending toward a similar decision.
PEOPLE ARE ALSO READING: