NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Greg Sankey’s opening statement during an impromptu press conference Wednesday night at Bridgestone Arena, site of the SEC men’s basketball tournament, summed up the situation quite succinctly.

“When I woke up this morning, I did not anticipate being here with you at this moment in this fashion with this new,” Sankey told reporters.

Indeed, Wednesday night’s announcement by the conference that it will conduct the rest of the SEC Tournament with only essential staff, limited family and credentialed media, qualified as major news. The decision was made following the recommendation of the NCAA COVID-19 Advisory Panel to close sporting events to the public.

“It’s disappointing news for everyone involved,” Sankey said. “Disappointing is a good word for it, but we also have a reality around public health, which we are managing.”

Georgia and Florida are scheduled to play in Thursday’s second game of the tournament. According to sources, each school will be able to bring “roughly” 200 individuals to attend the remaining games.

In addition, the SEC announced that all regular-season contests in all sports on SEC campuses and SEC Championship events will be conducted with similar attendance restrictions. The policy will remain effective from March 12 through at least March 30, at which time the conference and its member universities will re-evaluate conditions.

That includes all baseball and softball games, the upcoming SEC Gymnastics Championships at the Gwinnett Center, as well as the SEC Equestrian Championships scheduled for Athens.

“It’s going to be odd, but it’s the right thing to do and certainly when the conference made the decision, they had gathered a lot of information and when the NCAA came out with their guidelines, we’re certainly in step with those guidelines,” Georgia athletic director Greg McGarity said. “It’s unfortunate, but at the end of the day it’s the right thing to do.”

Bulldog basketball coach Tom Crean agreed.

"This is such a serious situation, whatever gets canceled, whatever gets postponed, whatever gets put away, the people that are making those decisions, they know what they're doing," Crean said. "We just have to trust it. You take the hand that's dealt."

Freshman Anthony Edwards said that he and the rest of the team will adjust.

“It will be like a closed scrimmage, like at the beginning of the season when we play against other teams, with no fans, just referees, I guess,” Edwards said. “At the end of the day, we came to play basketball so I don’t think it will faze anybody.”

The decision by the SEC came on the heels of the NBA and the NHL suspending their respective schedules.

As of Wednesday night, Sankey said the league has not discussed the possibility of canceling the rest of the tournament altogether.

“We have not discussed with intent not holding the event,” Sankey said. “As you can imagine, when you go through contingency planning in the conference office, we have considered that, but we don’t believe we’re there.”

Sankey said the league has taken every precaution to ensure that athletes taking part in this week’s event are indeed safe, and there are no infected players.

“We convened a call last Friday of our sports medicine professionals on campus. Each of our universities and their teams are fully attentive to their conditions,” Sankey said. “Sitting here, that’s a responsibility they undertake on a daily basis for their student-athletes."

According to Sankey, the league will continue to monitor the situation as it pertains to other sports.

“We’ve already been mindful because this is our fourth consecutive week of conference championships, swimming and diving, indoor track and field, women’s basketball, men’s basketball …” Sankey said. “Gymnastics next week will have the same approach, limited attendance, limited to family of student-athletes, official party and media members who are credentialed.”

The future of the remaining spring championships, including baseball and softball, will continue to be evaluated.

“We have a break for about four weeks, then we’ll be on the other side of March 30. We’ll be in conversation to see what that means,” Sankey said. “Tennis and golf are next in mid-, late April. Then we go into softball, outdoor track and field, and baseball in May.”