By Mark Maynard

Kentucky Today

LEXINGTON — The Kentucky High School Athletic Association has decided to “postpone indefinitely” the remainder of the Girls Sweet 16 basketball tournament and next week’s Boys Sweet 16 at Rupp Arena.

KHSAA commissioner Julian Tackett earlier Thursday announced a plan of “extreme limit” attendance on fans attending the games. But they had a change of heart and decided to suspend both events because of health risks with the coronavirus.

Tackett said the loss of Boys Sweet 16 ticket sales would cost the organization about $1 million.

Here’s a news release from the Kentucky High School Athletic Association:

“Based on additional information and guidance from both the Kentucky Department of Education and the Governor’s office in the last hour, at this time, the girls’ state tournament is postponed indefinitely effective with the conclusion of game five. Next week’s boys’ basketball tournament is also postponed indefinitely,” the KHSAA said in a news release. “The Association will try and seek options for rescheduling later in the spring if at all possible, but not until after we have received collaborative approval from our Governor’s office, the Commissioner of Public Health and the Kentucky Department of Education.

“As has been stated for the last two weeks, the situation with the COVID-19 or Coronavirus is extremely fluid. As announced earlier today, our intention was to attempt to complete this first tournament with restrictions, however, this does not appear to be a wise option at this time and is not in the best interest of the student-athletes and the thousands of individuals who attend these events. The KHSAA has to make the health and welfare of the citizens of our great Commonwealth the primary factor in our decision-making process in dealing with this issue.

“We are hopeful that with all of the collaborative efforts of the citizens of our Commonwealth, we see this situation subside very quickly, and we have to be leaders in that journey. We also encourage all Kentucky citizens to pay close attention to the CDC and Kentucky health information at kycovid19.ky.gov and strictly adhere to those CDC guidelines, which are always subject to revision as we learn more about the virus.

“Announcements will be coming later today regarding refund options for tickets that were purchased as well as other logistics and information for fans.”