Coronavirus impact on sports worldwide
Sportscaster Jim Gray joins Arthel Neville on ‘America’s News Headquarters’ to discuss the financial impact of the coronavirus on sport organizations and their employees.
Sportscaster Jim Gray joined "America's News HQ" Saturday to discuss the impact of the coronavirus on the sports world, calling the league shutdowns a "disaster economically," but the right step.
"It's a disaster economically, but they've got to get it right. And they're taking the necessary precautions and steps. All of this was very, very necessary. It's the right move to do," Gray told co-host Arthel Neville.
"The economics, unfortunately, are going to cause people a lot of pain. But the ultimate pain would be to have this virus continue to spread and have it be much more pervasive across all of society with these crowds gathering."
CORONAVIRUS: EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW
Neville asked Gray about the NCAA shutting down its March Madness basketball tournaments and how it would impact the student-athletes. Gray said that those with talent have nothing to worry about in regard to transcending to the next level but that many who don't move on had their moment taken away from them, comparing it to former President Jimmy Carter's decision to not send American Olympians to the Moscow games.
"So this virus now, unfortunately, has impacted those kids who worked their whole life for this," Gray said. "And it's just one of the unfortunate things that has happened with this occurrence."
Gray also took issue with those who were critical of NBA players getting access to the coronavirus test, saying it should be a non-issue.
"Why would that be a controversy if anybody's making that into a controversy? They better look at themselves," Gray said. "So there was an NBA player who tested positive. He got the test, spread it to a teammate. He was tested, obviously. So that now shuts down the NBA and rightfully so."
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The NBA suspended play Wednesday night after Utah Jazz center Rudy Gobert tested positive for the coronavirus, or COVID-19. A second Jazz player, Donovan Mitchell, said Thursday that he has also tested positive.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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