The cornhole community was rocked a couple weeks ago with the cancellation of what was going to be the ACL’s biggest event yet, the Cleveland National.
As the world is being impacted by the effects of the Coronavirus, sports organizations such as the NBA, NHL, MLB and others are postponing and/or cancelling their seasons and some continue to play in venues with no fans present. Businesses, both small and large and either closing or forcing their employees to work from home. And today there is talk over the cancellation of some big events such as Coachella and even the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo. This is just a small glimpse into how our world is being altered today due to the Coronavirus.
How has the Coronavirus affected the cornhole world?
Well, days after the cancellation of National #2, we were all urged to not gather in groups of what started as 100 people and soon became smaller than groups of 10 people. With that came the cancellations of cornhole leagues and tournaments everywhere. And the constant reminder of social distancing, staying 6 feet away from everyone. Now some of us are even being forced to stay home and either work from home, if you are able to or not work at all.
Thankfully we can still throw bags in our backyard, maybe invite a friend or 2 over and have a couple beers and there are even a couple of online options to consider such as Ghost Cornhole, Scoreholio Live and a new one ACL Virtual but nothing compares to getting together with your cornhole family at your local league, blind draw or tournaments and playing some great games while talking, laughing and loving.
If you listen to the media, they make it seem like this will never happen again, well not at least for months maybe longer, but we need to keep praying, stay positive, do our part to stop the spread of the Coronavirus and keep praying (yup said that 2 times because it’s important) so that we can all get past this as soon as possible.
What does this look like for the 2019/20 ACL Season?
The ACL announced that starting March 16th, all points-earning events are suspended through, at least, April 15th. Since we do not know how all this stuff will play out, they can not give an exact date but 4/15 is a good place to start. They mentioned that It would be unfair to allow some areas to host events while others can not so the most fair way is to suspend for all. Besides, we are all supposed to be practicing social distancing anyway….
As of March 15th, the Big Brawl, National #3, scheduled for Utah for May has been officially postponed. The Salt Lake City government has placed a ban on all convention center events up to the week before the National event, leaving the ACL only a few days at a maximum to know whether or not hosting National #3 will even be possible.They state “There is a high probability that this third National also gets completely cancelled.”
As of now, the 2020 Final Chase, scheduled for July 4th weekend in Philadelphia, PA and World Championships in the beginning of August in SC are not in jeopardy. In addition, ACL National staff remains intact and dedicated to making the best of the rapidly changing situation.
As we all experience this temporary inconvenience in our lives, as cornhole addicts, we need to stay focused on the game and continue to work. Now is the time to try out a new throwing style or a new stance and perfect it. So when life gets back, closer to normal, and we start attending leagues, blind draws and tournaments, we can be that much of a better player.
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Keep on throwing and Feed Your Addiction!
