CIF cancels basketball championship games, effective immediately

Just as the NBA has suspended the season, and the NCAA has opted to run March Madness with limited audience, the impact of COVID-19 has a trickledown effect that has hit our local schools. On Thursday morning, the CIF governing body of high school sports has canceled all remaining CIF State Basketball Championship games, effective immediately.

Locally, this impacts the Arroyo Grande High School Eagles, who were slated to play St. Mary’s on Friday, March 13 in Division III.

The community spread of COVID-19 continues to have a significant impact on communities worldwide, and we are not immune here on the Central Coast. Preparation for sudden change is necessary as the outbreaks and impact are playing out by the moment. The Atascadero News and The Paso Robles Press encourages that we continue to act in good faith with each other, other organizations, other communities, and plan to overcome this challenge in our way as we all rely on working together and COVID-19 is making that very difficult. Add a little extra patience, kindness, compassion, understanding, and community spirit to you coffee or tea this morning.

From CIF Executive Director Ron Nocetti:

Effective Immediately – The California Interscholastic Federation (“CIF”) has canceled all remaining CIF State Basketball Championship games. This includes regional finals scheduled for March 12, 2020, and the CIF State finals scheduled for March 13- 14, 2020 at Golden 1 Center in Sacramento. This decision was made after careful deliberation and in the primary interest of protecting the health and safety of our member schools, fans, and most importantly, our student-athletes. While we understand this decision is disappointing, we strongly believe that the opportunity to compete in this event does not outweigh our obligation to place the health and safety of our member schools and school communities above all else.

We want to recognize the hard work and commitment our student-athletes have made to reach the State Basketball Championships. The impact of COVID-19 created many unexpected challenges during this year’s tournament season, and we want to thank everyone involved for their flexibility, patience, and commitment in providing our student-athletes a great experience despite this unique situation.

For those that have already purchased tickets for the March 13-14, 2020 games at Golden 1 Center, refunds will be made available at the original point of purchase. If tickets were purchased online via ticketmaster.com, refunds will be processed automatically.

Ron Nocetti
CIF Executive Director