With the World Health Organization (WHO) officially declaring the coronavirus outbreak to be a pandemic on March 11, 2020, there’s been a rash of cancellations and postponements, including various events, conventions, and sports leagues. Coronavirus, or COVID-19, has had an impact on just about every walk of life so far, and that is increasingly extending into pop-culture.
Already a number of major Hollywood movies have been delayed because of coronavirus, including No Time To Die, A Quiet Place 2, F9, Mulan, and The New Mutants. Alongside this, various other films and TV shows have been forced to shut down or close production, leading to big question marks for a number of studios. Some countries have seen cinemas shut down, there are various bans in place regarding travel or gatherings of certain sizes, and no sign of the impact slowing down anytime soon.
This goes far beyond just movies and TV shows. In addition to the number of films that have been postponed, here are all of the events, conventions, and other large gatherings that have been closed, canceled, or postponed so far.
Disney Parks
While they’re usually stalwart about staying open (and had some exemption to the big gathering ban in California), Disney decided to close their Disneyland Anaheim, Disneyland Paris, and Walt Disney World parks. The closure is currently only through the end of the month but could easily be extended further. For Disneyland, CA, this is only the fourth closure in the park's history.
Universal Studios Hollywood
Like the Disney parks, Universal Studios has closed down through March 28th, though that re-opening date may be a little ambitious. City Walk remains open at both the Hollywood and Orlando locations.
Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3)
The biggest video game trade show, E3 2020 has been canceled. Given that it was already suffering from major companies not attending, personal data breaches, and a general falling interest from gamers and the general public, this is a huge blow to the E3 and the Entertainment Software Association that hosts it.
South by Southwest (SXSW)
Arts festival South by Southwest was officially canceled before coronavirus was declared a pandemic, mostly due to the timing of the convention. Originally set to start on March 13th, SXSW was canceled by the city of Austin, Texas, and while the conference is looking at new dates, there’s no news on that front so far.
Game Developers Conference (GDC)
One of the earlier events to be called off due to coronavirus, GDC was canceled in late February after a large number of publishers canceled their appearances. It’s officially been postponed until “later in the summer”, but that would put it in the same time frame as a number of other conferences and events that have also been postponed or canceled, so it doesn’t seem likely to find a new date anytime soon.
Google I/O and Facebook F8 (But Not WWDC Yet)
Continuing the trend of developers’ conferences getting canceled, Google I/O and Facebook F8 shut down before the rush of cancellations in the last couple of days. There appear to be no plans for either conference to reschedule. What this means for the other big developer conference of the year, Apple’s Worldwide Developer Conference (WWDC), is unclear. WWDC usually takes place in mid-June, a time frame that most conferences seem to be abandoning, but as 2020’s WWDC hasn’t yet been announced, Apple is keeping quiet on its potential cancellation.
WonderCon (but not San Diego Comic-Con)
Comic-Con, the organizer of WonderCon, announced that it’s been postponed indefinitely due to coronavirus. They haven’t yet made a decision on the cancellation or postponement of San Diego Comic-Con, which is currently scheduled for July 23-26th.
CinemaCon
The big convention/trade show for theater owners, CinemaCon was canceled after the coronavirus outbreak, in large part due to the travel ban between the United States and the European Union, which would have cut off many of the usual attendees from coming in. There’s no word on if they’re attempting to find another date for it.
ACE Comic Con
ACE Comic Con Northeast has been canceled due to a State of Emergency being declared in Massachusetts because of coronavirus. While they’re looking to reschedule, it’s unclear when they might be able to find a time to fit the convention in, especially with how uncertain things are about how quickly the virus is spreading.
Emerald City Comic Con
While they were initially adamant that the show would go on, Emerald City Comic Con was postponed indefinitely on March 6th, with no news about alternate dates they may be able to move the con to in the summer. This move was inevitable following DC and Dark Horse comics pulling out of the convention, with Marvel having never even scheduled to attend the con.
All Broadway Theaters
A mandate by New York governor Andrew Cuomo shut down all gatherings of more than 500 people due to coronavirus, which means that all Broadway theaters are closed as of 5 PM on March 12th until April 12th, though that date could always be extended. This does mean that smaller, off-Broadway theaters with fewer than 500 seats can continue to operate. This will also require refunding ticket purchases, which can get expensive, especially for shows like Hamilton where ticket prices can go over $1000.
Major League Baseball
The MLB's Opening Day has officially been delayed by coronavirus for “at least two weeks”, but it’s unlikely that Major League Baseball is only away for that long. Currently, all Spring Training games have been shut down to prevent the spread of the disease to players, sports journalists, fans, and anyone else involved in the games. They’re currently trying to remain flexible about when to restart the season to get back up and running as soon as possible.
National Basketball Association
Unlike the other cancelations coming out of an abundance of caution, the NBA suspended its season after Rudy Gobert of the Utah Jazz tested positive for coronavirus. Gobert later apologized for being particularly careless, including joking about the virus while touching things, leading to the infection of teammate Donovan Mitchell.
NCAA Basketball
Yes, March Madness is canceled this year. In addition, all the major conferences canceled their individual tournaments, including the Big East announcing the cancellation at halftime of the Creighton-St. John’s game.
Premier League
On March 13th, the Premier League officially announced that it’s suspending the game due to coronavirus, with the intention of returning April 4th. They do acknowledge that this could change, depending on what exactly things look like in early April.
National Hockey League
National Hockey League Commissioner Gary Bettman announced that the 2019-2020 NHL season has been suspended indefinitely due to coronavirus. While the plan is to resume the season to award the Stanley Cup, it’s unclear when that would be, meaning that 2020 may be a season without a Stanley Cup being awarded, which last happened due to the 2004-2005 lockout.
Major League Soccer
The MLS has suspended its 2020 season because of coronavirus, with the break officially set for 30 days. While commissioner Don Garber gave a specific timeframe for their return, it’s unclear if a return to regular play in that timeframe is feasible.