Sports leagues cope with increased COVID-19 outbreaks

DENVER — U.S. sports leagues are seeing rapidly increasing COVID-19 outbreaks with dozens of players in health and safety protocols, amid an ongoing surge by the delta variant of the coronavirus and rising cases of the highly transmissible omicron mutation.

The NBA and NHL have had to postpone games during the past month with so many players sidelined, and the men’s basketball teams at Tulane and the University of Washington have seen cancellations because of outbreaks in their programs. The NFL won’t postpone games, saying forfeits could be in play instead.

In this area, the Washington State women’s basketball team has been affected, with a nonconference game set for noon Sunday at Cornell canceled. It was replaced Thursday with a game set for 11 a.m. Sunday at Stony Brook.

The difficulties for U.S. sports come on the heels of soaring infections in Europe, where English Premier League officials called off three soccer matches in four days because of the virus and the German government temporarily restricted Bundesliga arenas to 50 percent attendance or 15,000 fans.

But don’t expect the U.S. leagues to return to “bubble” play or shut down for a couple of weeks to let things subside.

In moves reminiscent of the environment for the 2020 season, the NFL updated its protocols and advocated for booster shots Thursday in reaction to an increase in COVID-19 cases around the league.

As part of its protocol changes, it is requiring masks regardless of vaccination status, and remote or outdoor meetings. It also is stopping in-person meals, adding restrictions on activities outside the facility, prohibiting outside visitors during team travel, and limiting the amount of people in team weight rooms.

“Finally, and based on expert advice, we will adjust the return-to-participation requirements for those who have recovered from COVID-19,” the league said in a statement. “All of these changes are grounded in our data and science-backed approach, with safety our No. 1 goal for the entire NFL community.”

The updated protocols will be enforced through Week 15 games, but are likely to continue or even strengthened after that point.

Russell Westbrook entered the NBA’s health and safety protocols, joining Milwaukee’s Giannis Antetokounmpo and Brooklyn’s James Harden as past league MVPs currently sidelined by coronavirus concerns.

Westbrook played 42 minutes for the Los Angeles Lakers on Wednesday in their overtime win at Dallas. The Lakers said he would not play today in Minnesota, along with four other players because of virus issues and two more because of injuries.

All that means the Lakers would have no more than 10 available players on their roster for the game against the Timberwolves. If granted permission by the NBA to sign reinforcements and temporarily exceed the roster-size limit, the team was planning to sign former All-Star guard Isaiah Thomas to a 10-day hardship contract, according to a person with direct knowledge of the negotiations. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because of the pending league approval.

As of Thursday, there were at least 39 players — roughly 8 percent of the league’s total player roster — from at least 13 different teams known to be in the league’s protocols. Chicago had a league-high eight players known to be in protocols, one more than Brooklyn. Harden and Antetokounmpo each entered the protocols earlier this week.

The Montreal Canadiens and Philadelphia Flyers played an NHL game in an empty Bell Centre because of a spiraling rise of COVID-19 cases.

The Canadiens announced about two hours before puck drop that Quebec public health officials had requested that no fans attend the game.

The team said in a statement it accepted the request “in order to help ensure the safety and security of our fans and fellow citizens.”

The Canadiens said there will be an update on the status of Saturday night’s game against the Boston Bruins, who currently have a six players in COVID-19 protocol, including captain Patrice Bergeron and star winger Brad Marchand.

The Nashville Predators announced that assistant coach Dan Hinote had been added to the protocol list, and the Edmonton Oilers said forward Devin Shore had joined center Ryan McLeod and coach Dave Tippett in protocol.

More than 140 NHL players have been on the protocol list this season in a league that has proudly noted that all but one of its approximately 700 players are considered fully vaccinated, even if booster shots are not mandated.

It is a discouraging trend for the league, which plans to allow its players to participate in the Winter Olympics in China in February unless COVID-19 disruptions prove to be too much.

Rising coronavirus concerns hit college basketball on Thursday, with officials calling off two Top 25 men’s games this weekend.

The game between No. 15 Ohio State and No. 21 Kentucky in the CBS Sports Classic in Las Vegas was canceled because of positive COVID-19 results within the Buckeyes program. Kentucky said the Wildcats still were scheduled to travel to Las Vegas to find a possible replacement game and are working with Classic officials to fill the void.

No. 4 UCLA is scheduled to play North Carolina in the same tournament on Saturday, but the Bruins had to cancel Wednesday’s home game against Alabama State because of protocols.

On the East Coast, No. 16 Seton Hall canceled Saturday’s game against Iona in the Gotham Classic game at Madison Square Garden in New York because of COVID-19 issues within the Pirates’ program. The Big East school said the status of future games will be determined later.

A men’s game at Northwestern on Saturday was canceled because of positive COVID-19 results within the DePaul program. Second-ranked Duke has scheduled a Saturday game with Loyola Maryland as a replacement for a canceled matchup with Cleveland State. The Vikings have paused team activities and also canceled a Tuesday game at Kent State because of positive tests.