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The high school sports season of one of the top leagues in the New York City area has been suspended because of coronavirus concerns.
All New York Catholic High School Athletic Association events and practices are suspended indefinitely, the league announced Thursday. The winter sports season, which includes its basketball playoffs, has been canceled because of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to CHSAA Brooklyn/Queens girls president Denise Hillig.
Archdiocesan president Kevin Pigott sent an email to the diocese’s member schools Thursday morning announcing the suspensions of CHSAA activities.
“We have been instructed by the Superintendent of Schools of the Archdiocese of New York to suspend all CHSAA events effective immediately,” Pigott wrote. “As of now, this suspension includes games, scrimmages, meets and matches.”
The league’s boys basketball playoff’s original schedule had been altered earlier this week when traditional host Fordham University cancelled all on-campus events because of coronavirus. The CHSAA held two boys’ basketball playoff games Wednesday night at Archbishop Stepinac in White Plains without spectators. The only people allowed in were school administrators, the players and members of the basketball staffs of the competing schools.
The PSAL held its Class AA girls basketball playoff games at York College with fans allowed in on Wednesday night. It has four girls Class B quarterfinal games scheduled for Thursdays and boys Class AA semifinal games scheduled for Saturday at a site to be determined. PSAL boys basketball coordinator Danny Harris did not immediately return an email asking for comment about the state of the league’s playoffs.
The New York State Public High School Athletic Association also announced its regional and state championships for winters sports are postponed indefinitely.
The canceling of the CHSAA season and Fordham’s decision to suspend on-campus events likely puts the New York State Federation basketball tournament — scheduled for March 27-29 at Rose Hill — in jeopardy, but no official decision has been made.
The CHSAA’s decision comes after the NBA chose to suspend its season and as every major college basketball conference in the country decided to cancel its conference tournaments, including the Big East at Madison Square Garden.
