NASCAR and IndyCar on Friday either postponed or canceled multiple events, ending their bids to hold races over the coming weeks without fans. With both citing the fluid nature of the coronavirus situation, NASCAR said it will postpone its next two event weekends at Atlanta and Homestead-Miami, while IndyCar is canceling its season through April. That means IndyCar has canceled races at St. Petersburg, Circuit of the Americas, Barber Motorsports Park and the Grand Prix of Long Beach. NASCAR, IndyCar and UFC had been the lone holdouts in sports to not cancel their respective weekend activities.

NASCAR was considering packing all three national series races into Friday and Saturday as part of a revised schedule sent to teams Friday morning, but it later reversed course and canceled the event entirely. On an afternoon conference call, IndyCar CEO Mark Miles said he would not cite one specific thing that led IndyCar to switch from holding a spectator-less event to canceling, but he did cite President Trump’s forthcoming statement to the nation, along with Disney World closing and the PGA Tour canceling The Players Championship last night as contributing events.

Miles said that IndyCar is now fully moving its attention toward pulling off its May festivities, including the Indianapolis 500 at the end of the month. He refused to entertain hypotheticals about rescheduling the race, but IMS in a statement noted that there are close to 60 days before the event and that it is monitoring the coronavirus situation closely.

The Boston Marathon "has been postponed to Monday, Sept. 14, to help contain the coronavirus outbreak" in Massachusetts. Gov. Charlie Baker said that he "intends to introduce and sign a bill to make Sept. 14 the new marathon Monday, and a local holiday in Boston." City Mayor Marty Walsh said that there was "never any thought of not having spectators." He added that runners who "try to run the race as previously scheduled on April 20" will face repercussions (BOSTON HERALD, 3/13).

NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman on Friday said that players and staff "have been told to stay away from the rink and self-isolate while the league is on a hiatus of uncertain length." He added that he was "not aware of any player or league employee testing positive for the new coronavirus, but he can’t say for certain that no one is feeling ill or awaiting test results." Bettman told owners that the "decision to suspend the season came after that happened in the NBA." He "would not put a timeframe on the NHL hiatus" (AP, 3/13).

The NCAA Council Coordination Committee has agreed to "grant relief for the use of a season of competition for student-athletes who have participated in spring sports." The committee also will "discuss issues for winter sport student-athletes" (TWITTER.com, 3/13). After the cancellation of the NCAA basketball tournaments and all winter/spring championships, "athletes, particularly seniors, were left with their seasons and careers cut short." There has been a push for athletes to "retain their year of eligibility" (247SPORTS.com, 3/13).

The Call of Duty League has canceled all in-person home series events for '20, shifting to an online-only format to close out a season that began in January. The Activision Blizzard-owned property was supposed to have a big year that would mark the start of newly franchised and geo-located leagues holding home events like Overwatch League, also owned by Activision. However, while OWL has only announced that in-person events are canceled through April, Activision says the rest of the CDL season will be played online.

Activision also unveiled details today of how OWL will play online-only events, saying teams will compete in three regional groups. Matches will resume March 21 on YouTube, and the schedule will be released next week. OWL previously had a deal for linear rights with ESPN, but no matches have aired on TV this year and ESPN recently told THE DAILY that the partnership with Activision has concluded.

Elsewhere in esports, League of Legends’ European division suspended in-person events and is now considering options for a restart.

Fox Sports announced it is "suspending production on all of their daily FS1 programs." Other networks "may obviously follow suit as well" (AWFULANNOUNCING.com, 3/13). The affected shows include "First Things First," "Skip and Shannon: Undisputed," "The Herd," "Speak For Yourself," "Lock It In" and "NASCAR Race Hub." FS1 said in a statement, “Our top priority is the health and safety of our employees. We will continue to monitor the situation and adjust accordingly.” See the full updated programming schedule (DEADLINE.com, 3/13).

The USTA has decided to suspend all of its sanctioned events through April 20 due to the coronavirus (USTA).

WWE's Friday night "SmackDown" event at Little Caesars Arena is canceled. However, the TV production is scheduled to air "live as regularly scheduled and emanate from WWE's training facility in Orlando," with only "essential personnel in attendance" (DETROIT FREE PRESS, 3/13).

"It's serious. We've got to listen to what we're supposed to do. And act accordingly" -- Hurricanes TV announcer John Forslund, who is self-quarantined in his home near Raleigh. Forslund stayed in the same hotel room that Jazz C Rudy Golbert had been in earlier this week in Detroit (Raleigh NEWS & OBSERVER, 3/13).

"Besides the fact that there would be insufficient testing resources to accommodate such a direction, the medical professionals don’t believe it is necessary" -- NHL Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly, on if players would be widely tested for the coronavirus (THEATHLETIC.com, 3/13).

Since we have no sports teams to cheer for, I’m cheering for the medical personnel, healthcare workers, scientists and public servants tasked with handling what is happening and what’s to come. You are appreciated and valued. Go team. (Not a political tweet.)

— Pat Forde (@ByPatForde) March 13, 2020

The NFL informed teams in a memo today that teams no longer can host draft-eligible players on visits, and team personnel no longer can travel to a college campus or any other location to see a player.

— MarkMaske (@MarkMaske) March 13, 2020

We want to race as much as you want us to race but this is the right decision. This is so much bigger than sports right now and the health and safety of our fans, industry members and the overall public is top priority.

— Jimmie Johnson (@JimmieJohnson) March 13, 2020

One important but perhaps overlooked aspect of @TheMasters postponement is accompanying delay of Champions Dinner. Lots of older guys with a higher mortality risk who didn't all need to be in the same room together. Jack, Player, Watson, Floyd, Fuzzy, Crenshaw all 68 and older.

— Dave Shedloski (@DaveShedloski) March 13, 2020

Justin Thomas on the unknowns surrounding this year's Masters, likely speaking for many of his peers: "I don't care if it's 25 degrees and nobody is there. I'm going to go play it with a chance to win the Masters."

— Will Gray (@WillGrayGC) March 13, 2020

The remarkable Coco Gauff turns 16 today, which in normal times would have us checking the WTA rule book to see how many tournaments she will be eligible to play in the next year. Instead, we're wondering how many tournaments anyone will be able to play in the next year

— Christopher Clarey (@christophclarey) March 13, 2020

If you see a tweet we will not want to miss, send it to us at editorial@sportsbusinessdaily.com.

USA Today examines some of the dominoes that could fall in NFL free agency if Tom Brady leaves the Patriots.

122,814 -- Total attendance at the Academy Sports + Outdoors Bassmaster Classic in Alabama this past weekend, easily eclipsing the previous attendance record for the event (BASS).