The spread of the new coronavirus is affecting sports as well. The J.League postponed its official matches, and the Yomiuri Giants baseball team decided to play two exhibition games without spectators.
The J.League announced Tuesday that it would postpone a total of 94 official matches for about three weeks until March 15.
This is the first time since the Great East Japan Earthquake in 2011 that it suspended all league matches at once, and the first time the J.League has ever done so for reasons other than natural disasters.
The matches to be postponed are: the 60 J1 and J2 matches; 18 J3 matches in rounds 1 and 2, scheduled to start on March 7; and 16 matches in rounds 2 and 3 of the group stage of the YBC Levain Cup.
As for the decision on when to resume the season, J.League Chairman Mitsuru Murai said at a press conference: "It's difficult to foresee what the situation will be on March 15. We'd like to take expert advice and make a careful decision. The possibility of an extension is not zero."
The league hopes to set alternative dates for the postponed matches so that they will not overlap with the Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games.
"It's a kind of national crisis. J.League as a whole will cooperate," Murai said, asking for fans' understanding.
The Yomiuri Giants announced on Tuesday that its exhibition games against the Tokyo Yakult Swallows on Feb. 29 and March 1 at Tokyo Dome would be held without spectators.
As an expert panel of the government's Novel Coronavirus Response Headquarters said, "The next week or two will be a critical time for either rapid spread or resolution," The Yomiuri Giants independently consulted infection control experts to make the decision.
Tokyo Dome is an indoor venue, but with its high capacity for ventilation and large area, its environment is like the outdoors, according to the team.
However, at professional baseball games, spectators are seated in a crowded space, cheering energetically.
As society as a whole needs to reduce the risk of spreading infection, the team concluded that it would be best to hold the games without spectators.
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