The University of Michigan will withdraw from hosting a presidential debate in October, two people familiar with the school’s plans said Monday night.
The university is pulling out of hosting the second presidential debate, scheduled for Oct. 15, because of concerns about bringing hordes of national and international media and campaign officials to the Ann Arbor campus amid the coronavirus pandemic, the people said.
Two people directly familiar with the debate planning said the Michigan gathering will be moved to the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts in Miami, which hosted the first debates of the 2020 Democratic primary season last summer.
The move is expected to be formally announced on Tuesday. The Detroit Free Press first reported Michigan would withdraw from hosting the debate.
Rick Fitzgerald, a spokesman for the University of Michigan, declined to comment on the school’s plans.
Presidential general election debates cost their hosts millions of dollars, which universities typically raise from their own large donors in order to bask in the prestige of hosting an event that draws international attention.
But with the coronavirus pandemic stretching budgets and making large gatherings of students and donors on campus not viable, some of the value in hosting a major debate may be lost.
The debate is set to become the second major presidential campaign event to move to Florida after officials elsewhere raised concerns about large gatherings being safe during the coronavirus pandemic.
After officials in North Carolina, including Gov. Roy Cooper, a Democrat, sought assurances that delegates would adhere to social distancing at the Republican National Convention in Charlotte, the Trump campaign announced that Mr. Trump would instead accept the G.O.P. nomination in Jacksonville, Fla.