Mark Emmert Says NCAA Considering Moving Final Four to Smaller Venue in Atlanta

The NCAA men's and women's basketball tournaments are going to look a lot different this year because of the coronavirus. 

NCAA president Mark Emmert said Wednesday that the organization is looking at smaller venues to host the men's Final Four in Atlanta, rather than the Mercedes-Benz Stadium, according to Ralph D. Russo of the Associated Press. Per that report, regional sites could also be moved to smaller venues in host cities, though first-round sites will host as planned.

That follows the NCAA's announcement earlier Wednesday that the tournaments would be played without fans in attendance to combat the potential spread of the coronavirus. Only essential personnel and family will be permitted to watch the games in person:

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NCAA President Mark Emmert statement on limiting attendance at NCAA events: https://t.co/TIHHJjdse5 pic.twitter.com/8I1HdceDfN

— NCAA (@NCAA) March 11, 2020"

Emmert also told Ralph D. Russo of the Associated Press that the NCAA even considered canceling the tournament, though settled on playing without fans in attendance:

"The decision was based on a combination of the information provided by national and state officials, by the advisory team that we put together of medical experts from across the country, and looking at what was going to be in the best interest of our student-athletes, of course. But also the public health implications of all of this. We recognize our tournaments bring people from all around the country together. They're not just regional events. They're big national events. It's a very, very hard decision for all the obvious reasons."

The fear of the coronavirus spreading has begun affecting other sports in the United States as well. The Golden State Warriors will be playing in an empty arena at home after the city of San Francisco banned public gatherings of 1,000 or more people through March 21.

The NBA is considering its options to combat the spread of coronavirus and to protect its players, reportedly discussing moving games to cities less impacted by the virus, per ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski, or potentially pushing the calendar back into July and simply putting games on hold for the time being, per The Athletic's Sam Amick. 

While those measures may sound extreme, the World Health Organization announced Wednesday that the spread of the coronavirus worldwide now classifies it as a pandemic. 

"All countries can still change the course of this pandemic," WHO Director Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said, per CBS News. "If countries detect, test, treat, isolate, trace and mobilize their people in the response."

The coronavirus has infected over 115,800 people globally (over 1,000 in the United States), according to CNN.com, and has killed over 4,200 people worldwide.