In March 2020, WWE began to be impacted by the American onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. In mid-March, three of the four major sports leagues had announced that they would close locker rooms to the media as a precautionary measure. As other sports cancellations and postponements were being announced, WWE officially announced on March 12 that its weekly programs, beginning with the following night's episode of "SmackDown", would be filmed at the Performance Center without spectators and with only essential staff present—the March 11 episode of "NXT" had been recorded at the Performance Center with paying fans, thus being WWE's last event to have ticketed fans in attendance before the pandemic took full effect. WrestleMania 36 was scheduled to take place on April 5 at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa; on March 16, WWE announced that the event would also be held behind closed doors in Orlando. WrestleMania, as well as "Raw" and "SmackDown" for a period before and after WrestleMania, shifted from live broadcasts to a pre-recorded format. "NXT" continued to air from Full Sail University, but under similar restrictions.