The Atlantic 10 Conference is postponing its entire fall sports calendar due to the coronavirus pandemic, the league announced Friday.
Men’s and women’s soccer, field hockey, men’s and women’s cross country and volleyball are affected, while fall schedules for men’s golf, men’s and women’s tennis, men’s and women’s swimming and diving, and women’s rowing they will also be postponed.
In addition, non-traditional competition seasons for women’s baseball, softball, and lacrosse are also postponed.
The conference and its leaders agreed on an “observation window” in mid-September, which would allow for a potentially shorter schedule, only for conferences, if the risks of coronavirus have been substantially reduced. If those risk levels don’t improve, all fall sports would change to spring 2021.
“Any decision outside of that time frame will be dictated by the COVID state and how we are doing justice nationally and regionally in relation to the pandemic,” A10 commissioner Bernadette McGlade said in a video call with journalists. . “There should be a significant upward trend in all the impacts that we are seeing right now in terms of ensuring the health and safety not only of our student athletes but also of our campus communities. It is a rare opportunity, but we feel like if we should have it on the table. “
The conference has already put together a regional calendar of pod conferences for fall sports, which eliminated 25 percent of its games. If they can play in the fall, the season will begin on October 4. Otherwise, they will use the same conference schedule they already did for spring. McGlade acknowledged that there is a possibility that conference teams may not compete for the NCAA Fall Championships if those championships remain on schedule, but league leaders felt they first had to ensure the safety of their athletes. and coaches.
Basketball is not affected at the moment, but McGlade added that regional pod programming for the hoops is not taken into account.
Winter sports schedules, other than fall swimming and diving contests, remain unchanged. League leaders agreed it was too early to make decisions about what to do with the basketball season, which begins in November.
The Eastern America Conference also announced on Friday that all fall sports competitions were postponed during the first semester.
The conference said it will develop a plan for fall sports to compete in the second semester.
“This was not an easy conclusion for our membership, but it was done with care and diligence and with health and safety as the top priority,” East American Commissioner Amy Huchthausen said in a statement. “… While there are a number of outstanding issues and questions, we hope that creative ideas and solutions will emerge along with improved measures to reduce the risk associated with COVID-19 as the academic year unfolds.”
The moves are the latest programming change, as conferences across the country in all divisions respond to the pandemic. The Ivy League and Patriot League have announced that sports will not be played in the fall.
At the Power 5 level, the Pac-12 and Big Ten have canceled conference-less games for fall sports, including soccer. The ACC and SEC have announced that they are delaying the start of the fall season for all sports, except soccer, at least until September 1.
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