INDIANAPOLIS – As a result of the current state of the concerns of Coronavirus, the Big Ten announced on Wednesday night that all sessions of the Big Ten Men's Basketball Tournament will not be open to fans starting on Thursday. Ohio State is slated to play on Thursday night at 6:30pm (EDT) against Purdue.

Players, coaches, event staff, essential team and conference staff, credentialed media and immediate family members of the participating staff will still be allowed to be inside of Bankers Life Fieldhouse.

In addition to the Big Ten Men's Basketball Tournament, it was also announced that all winter and spring sports competitions, including championship/tournament events will also fall to the same restrictions.

"The main priority of the Big Ten Conference is to ensure the safety of our student-athletes, coaches, administrators, fans and media as we continue to monitor all relevant information on the COVID-19 virus on a daily basis," was stated in the distributed press release.

There was an in-arena announcement made during Wednesday action stating that refunds will be made for those who have tickets and are not permitted to attend. Further details on those refunds have not been released at time of publication.

Earlier on Wednesday it was announced that the NCAA Men's and Women's Basketball Tournaments would close their doors to fans as well as the NIT.

For the latest information on COVID-19, be sure to visit coronavirus.gov.