as I have been a lot recently Ah discussing together the situation that we're in And uh we're in a very fluid situation obviously uncharted territory for us and uh and for you as well as I do then it changes daily It did change weekly at one point in time changes daily now and ah may well be changing hourly right now We are Ah ready to tip the afternoon session We want to provide ah an opportunity to continue to compete in this tournament for our players Our understanding and belief is that that is what they would want Uh it'll be under unique circumstances And uh we'll certainly be on a moment in a tournament that these players will remember for unusual reasons Um a tournament that you will remember because your be covering one unlike any other a tournament that I'll remember coz I've certainly never seen one like this or a situation like this over the past Ah 2 to 3 weeks We as a league have been in almost constant conversations Oh with the health authorities locally and in the state of North Carolina with uh the CDC and with the N C A a And that has There's conversations and the advice that we have been given has changed along the way As you well know we try to make the best decisions we can make based on the best information that we can get at the time we make those decisions and I think we have done that But with a situation that is as fluid as this one seems to be now on a daily and sometimes hourly basis uh that gets to be more and more challenging We had thought going into this tournament that once the decision was made to play we would have the opportunity to complete the terms As it has turned out Obviously that opportunity uh did did not did not happen We've had to make adjustments Hopefully we won't have to make another adjustment during the next few days but if it is deemed appropriate to do so and necessary to do so we would do so That's the type of fluid situation that we're in We want the environment that the players will play in today to be a CZ good as it can be given the circumstances Um and that's what we've tried that's what we'll be trying to create But obviously it uh it will be different The most important aspect to this is the protection of fans and anybody associated with this particular tournament a cz well as a greater population And ah as I've said that doing going about that in the most appropriate way uh has changed and could possibly change again And what the N C A A is doing next week could possibly change again So this is something that's much bigger than this tournament much broader than this locale because it's what it's worldwide And as I said something we haven't faced in our lights in our lifetime So when we stopped there Yeah I will tell you the way we make decisions in our league um generally is back and census That's the way I like to operates away After I'd operate for 23 years now and its workforce I think we have an excellent culture in the league of trust and that comes in really handy when you have a crisis situation and this is a crisis situation We ah speak with regularity with our athletics directors and presidents as we did yesterday if we need to do so again we will do that on on a daily basis as we move forward And obviously this won't stop with this particular tournament because we will move forward in terms of ah the spring sports and their regular season competition and ah r A C C championship events So we'll be making determinations on that We've already had several discussions on that And uh we'll move quickly on on those decisions as well I said I was gonna stop so I should stop any questions you have Take questions Start down here What does this mean for Greensboro In terms of getting a tournament in the future Would the city have priority for any future bids Ah I don't know the answer to that And we haven't Haven't really discussed that Ah owner on a personal basis my heart bleeds for for Greensboro Uh this uh what we have the decision that we have make has made We'll have quite an impact on ah on this city And this is where we were founded This is where we live Uh this is where 27 a C C Men's tournaments have been played and 20 or so women's tournaments as well and a lot of insight uh first and second rounds and uh even Final Fours s So there's a tremendous basketball history in this town Loves the A CC This town loves college basketball Ah so I I feel for the impact Don't own the city Go back here Mike The MBA has suspended its season until further notice is what's the difference between the decision being made by the major conferences now in the n B A And other professional sports organizations Is it because college sports right now are heading into their postseason And this is where you make a lot of money No I wouldn't say it's because of that I'd say it's because the n b A made the decision when one of their players contracted the virus I think that's the biggest difference Ah what we have to look at I think is should you make that decision before one of your players contracts of our device I don't know the answer to that right now but that's one of the tough questions that's there that you way Ah as you evaluate on all this David John Mark Emmert announced his decision regarding the tournament yesterday about 4 15 And then you guys followed suit Was there any consideration into closing the doors last night And if not why Um I received an email from Ah Mark Emmert at 4 35 yesterday Um telling us what the n c a a had uh yesterday afternoon I immediately set up a call Ah with the other four commissioners and immediately set up a separate goal with their athletic directors and our president and uh both were fruitful Both were uh extraordinarily helpful And on our call with with the presidents and a day's was when uh there was there was full consensus that we should play Ah last night it was too close uh to the door's opening and we would be creating ah more problems And we would be solving by not playing last night So that's why we played last night And then we turned our attention to today and what we what we excuse me should do today And uh we had a full consensus after a long discussion that uh we should proceed under similar basis A cz two What the N c a a had indicated it would do during its tournament It was also evident that the other A five conferences were leaning in that direction and intended to do to do the same Ah also called Val Ackerman at the Big East There's Ah trusted colleague and they have a great tournament as the A C C does I had a conversation with her and the same conclusions came from that conversation as well as Bernie Bug laid too used to work here Many of you knows that the 18 So Ah there's a lot of discussion and ah playing off each other and relying on each other is these kinds of decisions are made Uh because we're all striving Thio to do the right thing at the right time down here in front Adam since this is a public health issue you said earlier that the N ba canceled games because one of their players tested positive Is that too late at that point So we don't know if players have uh this virus is waiting for somebody to test Positive Too late Fair question and I don't know the answer to that It's probably a really easy answer Toa tohave after the fact Ah we're in a situation where we don't get make decisions after the fact Ah and we're dealing in The medical people are dealing with a lot of unknowns in terms of the nature of excuse me of this virus So I think the answer that question if someone gets it then maybe it was too late If someone doesn't maybe it was the right decision So um there's risk and everything every you know every path you take with something like this Is there a protocol in place either from the conference level or the level in terms of if a player or coach or any participant is except like exhibiting any coughing or anything like that Is there anything like predetermined protocol that every team has to buy buyers in a case by case basis Oh I'm fully confident our medical people Ah that air with our teams know fully well what to do with that If that arises go next On here Ted John is The decision was being made yesterday afternoon with all the discussions with all the presidents and eighties and athletics people Where were the health officials Where was the governor if you'd rely on their information all along to get to yesterday where were they when the decision had to be made And what with the sports people making decisions way with the sports People were making the decisions based on the advice of of the medical people Ah the governor's office has been terrific Uh is uh director of uh of state health Affairs Betsy Tilson Ah we had numerous conversations with her uh two yesterday Ah the governor was actually here yesterday morning for brunch then left but spoke with him during that time as well Uh we had the uh benefit of the N c A a is medical advisory committee We had that information Uh so it's we're not going to make medical decisions in a vacuum without relying on medical people and ah but in mention alors calls all those calls were a part of you know getting this all done And uh you know some people I want those decisions made within about five minutes doesn't happen that way But the appropriate medical people continue to be above That was just a continuation There was also some I don't remember the name but in Congress yesterday another expert medical expert testifying about the virus that that came forward to us as well Don't Here on our right John has there gonna need discussion Concern of administrators at specific school not wanting their athletes to play and withdrawing their team And if that happens how would the league proceed We have not had that happen It hasn't come up at this point in time Um you know if it did And uh I don't know that I can tell you in advance of what we would do but we would uh obviously need to address it and address it very quickly We're here on our left Jenna I realized the tournament is taking up a lot of your decision making time right now But when you mentioned there have been spring sports conversations is there any reason at this point to NC state Just announced that they're basically following the same protocols as we are here now for their spring sports Is there anything and your reason at this point to expect that spring sports would proceed as normal And what in your mind would lead to canceling the spring season altogether as the Ivy League has done well we haven't We haven't Ah we haven't talked about canceling the season Azad really gets done at this point It could come into consideration to turning on Ah determined by what the virus turns out to be Uh oh you know that's why all of their skin is so fluid day to day or week to week because we don't know You know there's that is one foggy crystal ball in terms of uh what our country and the world is going to be dealing with over the next How it however alone ah which I think means that we will continue to ah to make decisions that we hope for the right ones But they may need to be adjusted Um fairly frequently back to David John Based on your timeline as toe when you all hurt from more camera yesterday it sounds like you and your fellow commissioners we left kind of scrambling after the NC Double A's announcement Does this highlight college basketball's need for more central leadership A so called commissioner for the sport Ah you know David I don't know In a crisis situation like this if it um I don't know what you translate that to the normal operational aspects of of of college basketball I have for for a number of years like the idea of of ah basketball commissioner Per se and Dana Gavitt does a tremendous job in his current role but his role has parameters Could that help that I think it generally could help and therefore you know when there's something like this and there's never been anything like this So I don't think we normally wear all of a sudden think where we have to develop a structure that is built around this being normal Ah but you do have to have a structure that's built to effectively manage crisis when when they happen And uh not to say that this is mismanaged I'm not saying that Ah the uh the NC Double A's action yesterday was waas surprising at the time that it happened although we had some anticipation that the that the tournament itself may well be altered by that point in time So it's really probably just the timing And then as I said earlier the timing with the way this is a bobbing it can't be helped So we're all trying to do the best we can with something that uh you can't relate any of your past experiences to In reality somebody asked me earlier I the only thing I can I can think of and it's really not the same It's just an extraordinary crisis was my first year is the A D at North Carolina and we played in the Final Four in the national championship game against Indiana And ah we left the hotel And by the time we got to the arena President Reagan had been shot And there is uh an immediate and long set of meetings with Walter Byers and Art Watson who is the president of NBC Sports and Bill Friday and I and the representatives from from Indiana and Dean Smith and Bobby Knight were outside the door wanting in to plead their case and they weren't really held in Ah but that was pretty sobering when you're sitting there and you don't know where their president who has just been shot is going to live or die in your trend to determine where they're gonna play a national championship basketball game or not Ah things like that and things like this which could affect a multitude of people Ah it puts things in perspective as much as we uh love this sport in all college sports Uh this was sober Sober you up Because the most important thing now is the well being of their citizens And what we have to try and do is continue to try and make appropriate decisions Oh that a reasonable and responsible And hopefully in the best interest of helping do just that That's it for today We're coming up on the 11 o'clock hour I'm sorry that we didn't get to all questions I'm not sure we would have been able to do so but appreciate everybody being here in your patients and getting us off the commissioner off the call earlier We'll see you guys in a little bit Thank you