The Basketball Tournament plans to still hold games at UD Arena

The Basketball Tournament, which announced in February its plans to play its final three rounds at UD Arena this summer, is still planning to go on as scheduled despite the many cancellations in the sports world in recent weeks.

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Jon Mugar, the founder and CEO of the $2 million winner-takes-all event, released a statement Wednesday confirming the team application process will continue and he plans to start the tournament in July.

“There have been a series of jarring cancellations in the sports world over the past week, and our hearts go out to all the competitors, coaches, fans, support staff and organizers whose seasons were lost,” Mugar said. “We recognize their enormous sacrifice. Once again, sports used its powerful leadership voice to impact society for the good. Suspending seasons, and in some cases cancelling events, underlined to us (their fans), the importance of immediate action to combat the virus. People are now aware of the threat and are being educated on best practices to impede its spread. We at TBT are committed to doing whatever we can to play our part and will continue to pay close attention to CDC recommendations as they evolve.

“For now, we look forward 4-5 months to summertime, where we hope we will be able to host a collection of teams, all across the country, for competitive, meaningful, championship basketball once again. Therefore, this week, we opened our online team application process as planned. We hope you find some fun and respite in participating in the process or following along. Stay safe, and we can’t wait to play basketball this July!”

The Basketball Tournament will play seven games in all at UD Arena. Two quarterfinal games will be played at 7 and 9 p.m. on Aug. 6. The next two quarterfinals take place at the same times Aug. 7. The semifinals will be played at noon and 2 p.m. Aug. 8. The championship game will take place at 9 p.m. Aug. 11.