Schools directed to suspend ticket sales for KHSAA Boys Sweet 16 basketball tournament
LEXINGTON – Athletic directors at four high schools whose boys basketball teams qualified for next week’s Whitaker Bank/KHSAA Sweet 16 confirmed Thursday morning that they’ve been instructed to suspend ticket sales for the tournament.
Athletic directors at Fern Creek, Collins, McCracken County and George Rogers Clark confirmed the instruction through text messages with The Courier Journal and through social media.
The Boys Sweet 16 is scheduled for March 18-22 at Rupp Arena, but Kentucky High School Athletic Association commissioner Julian Tackett announced Wednesday that plans for the tournament likely would be altered in light of the coronavirus pandemic.
Tackett said the KHSAA would make an announcement Thursday on the futures of the ongoing Girls Sweet 16 and next week’s boys event.
“The best-case scenario is an announcement that the virus is gone, but that’s probably not going to happen,” Tackett said. “The worst-case scenario is some form of directive that says, ‘Don’t play at all.’ We’re trying to find an answer in the middle, and I think we have a pretty good idea. I don’t want it to drag on.”
Tackett said one scenario is limiting the number of fans who can attend the games.
“Playing with less fans is better than not playing at all,” Tackett said. “There’s no fans, limited fans, less limited fans. The first priority is, ‘Can we play?’ That’s what we want to try to guarantee first.”
Total attendance for last year’s Boys Sweet 16 was 96,048 during the eight sessions played over five days, including 11,967 for the state final between Trinity and Scott County.
The Girls Sweet 16 is set to resume at noon Thursday with Sacred Heart facing South Laurel in a first-round matchup.
By Jason Frakes
Louisville Courier Journal
