Coronavirus: Here's what happened in the sports world on Friday

The latest on how the coronavirus outbreak is affecting sports around the globe:

• Honda Indy won't be held July 10-12, exploring new dates
• Rugby Canada cancels 'training support payments' to players
• ATP, WTA suspension extended
• Bundesliga set for season restart on world stage
• NFL training facilities can begin to reopen on Tuesday
• World Rugby postpones July test matches
• MLB commissioner confident 2020 season will be played
• LPGA Tour postpones restart after cancelling tournament
• Aussie rules football set to return in June

Toronto's Honda Indy pushed off scheduled dates

The Honda Indy Toronto will not be held on its scheduled dates of July 10-12.

The event says it is exploring other dates in 2020 for the annual IndyCar race.

Rugby Canada cuts player payments

Citing financial pressures due to the global pandemic, Rugby Canada has cancelled "training support payments" for its centralized men's and women's players as of May 1.

The players get a monthly stipend from Sport Canada. The Rugby Canada money served as a top-up, to help pay for expenses and other costs.

The reduction in player support was not unexpected.

Rugby Canada staff have accepted a temporary wage reduction of between 10 to 15 per cent.

Rugby Canada said a combination of cutting expenses plus government support in the form of the Canada emergency wage subsidy and revenue from the HSBC Canada Sevens, which took place before the COVID-19 lockdown, had lessened the immediate financial impact of the pandemic.

As such Rugby Canada is ineligible for World Rugby's Stage 1 emergency funding for the period of mid-April through May 31. But the Canadian governing body said additional funding from World Rugby will be required later in the fiscal year.

Pro tennis tours extend suspensions

The ATP Tour and International Tennis Federation (ITF) have extended their suspensions of professional tennis until July 31 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, they said on Friday.

The ATP and WTA had announced in April that they were suspending all tournaments until July 13, with the WTA saying on Friday that it will next month provide an update on events scheduled for the latter half of July.

ATP events in Hamburg, Bastad, Newport, Los Cabos, Gstaad, Umag, Atlanta and Kitzbuhel will not go ahead as scheduled while WTA events in Bastad, Lausanne, Bucharest and Jurmala scheduled for July will not be held.

The ITF said all events — including ITF Juniors, Seniors, UNIQLO Wheelchair Tennis Tour, Beach Tennis Tour and the men's and women's ITF World Tennis Tour — would be suspended.

World watches as German soccer set to restart

When the German Bundesliga lockdown ends on Saturday, a sense of normality will be restored with a very unusual feel. The sporting world and national leaders will be watching with as much trepidation as hope.

"The Bundesliga is going to be important," Colombia President Ivan Duque said. "It'll be the benchmark."

The first major European league to resume is about so much more than filling the void for social distancing soccer obsessives stuck on their sofas. If German clubs can safely play on during the pandemic, it would rouse competitions worldwide planning their own restarts following an unprecedented peacetime hiatus.

"The whole world is watching Germany to see how we do it," Bayern Munich coach Hansi Flick said. "It can act as an example for all leagues. Then sport in general might be able to get going again. At the moment, it's important to implement things exactly as required. We have a big role model function."

The French league already abandoned its season prematurely on government orders, but England, Spain and Italy have the backing of authorities to plan on resuming in June.

"We can share solutions," said Brighton manager Graham Potter, whose team is fighting for English Premier League survival, "because whether you're in the Bundesliga or the Premier League, no one's been through this before."

Playing during a pandemic is a costly and rigorous business that requires a medical protective shield being placed around teams. Players, coaches and support staff will require regular coronavirus testing to swiftly detect infections. Stadiums and equipment will require disinfecting to ensure sport is not spreading a virus lacking a vaccine.

While players won't be wearing face masks on the field, everyone else in the stadium will apart from when coaches relay instructions from the bench area while maintaining distance of 1.5 metres.

NFL training facilities can reopen Tuesday

NFL teams can begin reopening their facilities on Tuesday if state and local governments will allow it.

In a memo sent to the 32 teams Friday by Commissioner Roger Goodell and obtained by The Associated Press, he stressed that the clubs must be "in compliance with any additional public health requirements in their jurisdiction, and have implemented the protocols that were developed by (league medical officer) Dr. (Allen) Sills and distributed to all clubs on May 6."

Facilities have been closed since late March due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Each team was required to submit a plan to the league for reopening its training/practice facility this week.

"Clubs unable to meet these criteria on May 19 may reopen their facilities on the earliest date thereafter on which they are able to meet the criteria," Goodell added.

Sills will conduct a training program for club infection control officers (ICO) on Monday night that is required.

World Rugby to reschedule mid-year test window

World Rugby has postponed July test matches involving southern and northern hemisphere nations because of ongoing restrictions on international travel during the coronavirus pandemic.

The sport's international governing body issued a statement Friday saying the mid-year test window will be rescheduled when cross-border travel and quarantine regulations are relaxed.

The decision means Canada will not host Italy in Winnipeg on July 11. A July 4 match against the French Barbarians in Montreal was called off in April.

World Rugby said the decision to shutter the July international window was made because of "ongoing government and health agency COVID-19 directives."

The Super Rugby season was suspended in March, but participating countries are planning domestic tournaments to off-set the lost provincial games. New Zealand's Super Rugby teams will play a 10-week competition starting next month, and Australia's Super Rugby clubs are aiming for a July re-start.

Canada is due to start play in the Americas Rugby Championship in August.

MLB commissioner confident agreement will be reached

Major League Baseball commissioner Rob Manfred is confident owners and players will agree to return to work and play an 82-game regular-season schedule.

But the commissioner cautioned any and all plans are dependent upon the coronavirus pandemic and global health crisis still rocking the United States.

Manfred said it's still not clear that it's safe for players and employees to return to work.

Manfred made the comments as part of a townhall meeting on CNN discussing COVID-19 and the domestic efforts to contain the spread of the virus while rebuilding a shattered economy.

Gymnastics body creates relief fund

The International Gymnastics Federation is creating a fund to financially assist athletes and national federations struggling amid the pandemic.

The fund will give about $400,000 to various groups in hopes of easing what FIG President Morinari Watanabe calls a "grave crisis."

This fund will be managed by the FIG's Foundation for Solidarity. The foundation supported hundreds of athletes and federations in need through scholarships, financial aid following an accident and equipment donations since its inception in 2002. The criteria for applying for a grant will be released soon.

The federation also said member organizations will not be required to pay 2020 dues. The FIG takes in about $120,000 from dues.

LPGA cancels tournament in Michigan

The Michigan tournament where the LPGA Tour hoped to resume has been cancelled.

The LPGA says the Dow Great Lakes Bay Invitational will not be played July 15-18 because of the coronavirus pandemic. The tour did not offer any other specifics except for Commissioner Mike Whan emphasizing the long-term health of the tour is paramount.

This is the only team event on the LPGA schedule. Whan says Dow has extended its title sponsor contract and the LPGA will return to the Great Lakes Bay region next year and beyond.

The cancellation means the LPGA now hopes to return July 23-26 with the Marathon LPGA Classic in Ohio.

AFL kicking off again in June

Aussie rules football will kick off again on June 11, with the second round of the Australian Football League to be played almost three months after the competition was suspended because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Australian Football League chief executive Gillon McLachlan on Friday announced the matches for the next four rounds of the condensed season would be released within 10 days. The AFL, Australia's most-watched sports league in terms of attendance and TV audience, was suspended on March 22 after one round.

Belgian Grand Prix to be held without fans

The Belgian Grand Prix can go ahead at its original August date, but with no fans, local authorities in the Walloon region said Friday.

After Belgium last month banned all mass events in the country until August 31 because of the coronavirus pandemic, the Formula One race scheduled for Aug. 28-30 at the Spa-Francorchamps track was under threat and organizers suspended ticket sales.

The announcement came two days after the Belgian government allowed outdoor training at sporting facilities to resume under a coach's supervision from next week. Di Rupo said the track will reopen for professional practice on May 18.