Major League Soccer joined sports leagues from around the world Thursday in postponing weekend play in the aftermath of Tuesday’s terrorist attacks in New York and Washington.
The NASCAR Winston Cup race in New Hampshire and truck race in Ft. Worth were canceled, as was the IRL race in Ft. Worth.
But the U.S.-based CART auto racing circuit became one of the few sports organizations to go on with a scheduled weekend event when it announced Thursday it would run its German 500 as scheduled Saturday in Lausitz, Germany.
The PGA Tour announced earlier in the week that it would cancel its four weekend events. The LPGA originally said it would hold its tournament in Portland, Ore., as scheduled, but announced Thursday the event would be canceled.
The NBA postponed next week’s annual rookie seminar as well as the annual league meetings.
The final soccer match of the Nike U.S. Women’s Cup, featuring the U.S. vs. China and scheduled for Sunday at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City, was canceled.
The International Canoe Federation canceled the slalom, or whitewater, world championships, which were to have taken place Sept. 20-23 on Tennessee’s Ocoee River. The field included 300 athletes from 27 countries.
The International Skating Union decided to put off the Junior Grand Prix figure skating series event Sept. 19-23 in Scottsdale, Ariz., where 75 athletes from 19 countries were expected. The event may be rescheduled for October.
No decision has been reached on the world amateur wrestling championships, scheduled Sept. 26-29 for Madison Square Garden in New York.
The MLS games that were to be played Wednesday and this weekend were canceled and will not be rescheduled. Four games were to be played Wednesday, four Saturday–including the Fire at Dallas–and two Sunday.
“MLS believes it is appropriate to take some time to acknowledge the nation’s loss and honor the victims and heroes,” Commissioner Don Garber said.
The league’s playoffs will begin Thursday. All eight playoff teams had clinched spots before Wednesday’s cancellations, but there were still some seeding questions to be determined.
The league will seed the eight teams according to a points-per-game formula. Under that formula, only two teams will change spots: Dallas moves from the eighth spot to seventh and Kansas City falls from seventh to eighth. That shift means the Fire will open the playoffs Thursday at Soldier Field against Dallas, with Game 2 Sept. 23 in Dallas.
Garber said the cancellations will cost the financially strapped league “in excess of several million dollars.” It was his decision, he said, and it had the backing of the league’s board of governors.
Garber said he also took into account the feelings of the league’s players, which “were as mixed as you would expect,” Garber said. “There was a balance. One of our teams felt it would be an appropriate statement to go forward and play.”
Garber conceded that it might not have been logistically possible to play this weekend’s games. With the nation’s air-travel system slow to resume, there was no guarantee that teams would be able to get to various cities to play the games. MLS teams rely on commercial flights, unlike more prosperous leagues that use charters.
Who’s playing, who’s not
Selected sports events canceled or postponed because of Tuesday’s terrorist attacks:
Auto racing: NASCAR postponed the New Hampshire 300 and the Craftsman Trucks race in Ft. Worth scheduled for Sunday. The IRL Chevy 500 in Ft. Worth scheduled for Sunday was postponed. NHRA postponed the Keystone Nationals in Reading, Pa., until Oct. 4-7. CART will run its German 500 Saturday as scheduled.
Baseball: Major League Baseball postponed all 91 games Tuesday through Sunday; they will be rescheduled. Midwest League canceled rest of playoffs and named Kane County Cougars champions. The International, Pacific Coast, Eastern, Southern, California, Florida State and New York-Penn leagues also canceled the remainder of their championship series.
College football: All Division I-A games scheduled for Thursday, Friday and Saturday were postponed. Four games were canceled: Navy at Northwestern, Marshall at TCU, Bowling Green at South Carolina, and Appalachian State at Troy State. Twenty-three Division I-AA games were postponed and five games were canceled.
Golf: All four PGA Tour-sanctioned events, the American Express Championship, Tampa Bay Classic, Vantage Championship and Buy.com Oregon Classic, were canceled. The LPGA canceled the Safeway Classic at Portland, Ore.
Hockey: NHL canceled the 23 preseason games scheduled for Saturday and Sunday.
Horse racing: Arlington will hold thoroughbred cards and Maywood and Balmoral will hold harness cards as scheduled. Belmont Park and Yonkers Raceway, both in New York, called off their cards through Friday.
Pro football: NFL called off all games for Week 2: 14 games scheduled for Sunday and Monday.
Soccer: Major League Soccer canceled the final 10 games of the regular season scheduled over Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday. A-League playoff games scheduled for this week were postponed. In Europe, 40 UEFA Cup games scheduled for Thursday were postponed.
