NEW: RIIL Cancels Remainder of Winter Tournaments, Delays Start of Spring Sports

NEW: RIIL Cancels Remainder of Winter Tournaments, Delays Start of Spring Sports

The Rhode Island Interscholastic League (RIIL) has canceled all remaining winter tournaments, including games that were scheduled for Friday.

This comes after Governor Gina Raimondo and the RI Department of Health announced nine new cases of coronavirus and canceled school next week.

“The RIIL made every effort to keep the tournaments going and to give the student-athletes an opportunity to finish out their winter seasons. However, the league in conjunction with the Principals’ Committee on Athletics has determined that is not possible given the extenuating circumstances created by the COVID-19 health crisis,” said RIIL Executive Director Thomas Mezzanotte in a press release.

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RIIL also announced that the start of the spring sports season will be delayed one week.

The spring sports season was originally scheduled to begin on Monday, March 16.

There are now 14 confirmed cases of coronavirus in the state. 

RIIL’s Original Plan

The cancelation comes after RIIL announced on Thursday that the state basketball and hockey championships would be played with no fans in the building, as GoLocalProv reported.