Gov. Cuomo gives OK to New York to start some HS sports, but football games are on hold

SYRACUSE, NY – Gov. Andrew Newomo of New York on Monday gave the green light for starting high school sports school for lower-risk beginners to begin with, but football will be limited to practice only.

Cuomo said sports such as tennis, football, cross country, field hockey and swimming can begin to be practiced and then played in all regions of the state. The New York State Public High School Athletic Association has set the start of fall sports as Sept. 21.

Cuomo said these sports are prohibited from practicing or playing outside their regions until at least October 19 due to concerns about coronavirus.

As a higher risk sport, Cuomo said he can practice football but not play it yet. Winter sports wrestling and ice hockey also fall into this category.

“We are doing this in phases. We want to see what the effect is. We want to see how it works, ”Cuomo said.

The NYSPHAA will now take the guidelines set by Cuomo and formulate specific plans for a fraud scheme. NYSPHAA executive director Robert Zayas tweeted that his coronavirus task force would meet Tuesday to address the issue further.

According to the National Federation of High Schools, 17 states have canceled fall football.

They are:

• California
• Colorado
• Delaware
• District of Columbia
• Hawaii
• Illinois
• Maryland
• Massachusetts
• Michigan
• Minnesota
• Nevada
• New Mexico
• North Carolina
• Oregon
• Vermont
• Virginia
• Washington

Lindsay Kramer is a reporter for the Syracuse Post-Standard and syracuse.com. Do you have a comment or idea for a story? He can be reached via email at [email protected].