Warriors to host Nets without fans due to COVID-19

Chase Center in San Francisco, home of the Golden State Warriors. (Eric Risberg/AP)

The Golden State Warriors will play their Thursday home game against the Brooklyn Nets without fans, the team has confirmed.

The Warriors also announced that all events at Chase Center through March 21 have been either cancelled or postponed.

On Wednesday, San Francisco mayor London Breed announced the city was banning all public gatherings with 1,000 or more people — including Warriors games, due to the growing spread of the coronavirus.

The Warriors played a home game Tuesday against the Los Angeles Clippers with fans in the crowd, but did so against the city’s recommendations.

After Thursday’s contest, Golden State plays five games on the road and doesn’t return home until March 25 against the Atlanta Hawks. ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reports that playing without fans at Warriors home games will extend beyond Thursday’s meeting with the Nets.

The Warriors playing in an empty stadium will be the first instance of such measures being taken in North America due to the coronavirus, though some soccer matches across Europe have been played without fans.

[relatedlinks]

When submitting content, please abide by our submission guidelines, and avoid posting profanity, personal attacks or harassment. Should you violate our submissions guidelines, we reserve the right to remove your comments and block your account. Sportsnet reserves the right to close a story’s comment section at any time.