The NCAA called off events for fall championships – a move Thursday that does not affect major college football – because not enough schools will compete in sports such as men’s and women’s football and women’s volleyball in the first semester.
NCAA President Mark Emmert made the announcement in a video posted on Twitter, but it has been clear that this came as conferences canceled autumn sports seasons due to the coronvirus pandemic.
“That does not mean we should not and cannot turn to winter and spring and say, ‘How can we create a legitimate championship for those students?'” Emmert said. “There are ways to do this. I’m sure we can figure this out. If schools and conferences want to move forward … then let’s do it. ”
Emmert also said NCAA officials have begun working on events for the NCAA basketball tournaments, possibly moving dates and investigating to create bubbles in which teams can compete.
He said the NCAA would prioritize championships in winter and spring sports because those – including the lucrative men’s basketball tournament – were canceled when COVID-19 first spiked across the United States in March.
Relocation of fall sports to the spring must still go through the Board of Division I, which consists of representatives from all 32 conferences, and is approved by the DI Board of Director.
Championship events in all sports could be adjusted ahead to deal with COVID-19, Emmert said. This is likely to involve fewer teams participating in smaller and pre-determined sites.
The spring calendar already has more sports than the fall, so adding even more, including FCS football, will create logistical challenges.
‘Will it be normal? Of course not. We will play waterfalls in the spring, ‘he said. ‘Will it create other conflicts and challenges? Of course. But is it feasible? Yes. ”
Last week, the NCAA Board of Governors said that championship events in a sport would be canceled if less than 50% of the teams participating in those sports play a normal season.
Divisions II and III follow almost immediately by canceling their fall championships. Division I – which consists of 357 schools – is being held, but when conference after conference canceled its fall seasons, the tipping point came.
Falls sports also include field hockey, cross country skiing and water polo. Schools in conferences that have not yet canceled their fall seasons could conceivably try to step up the league in the regular season over the coming months.
The highest tier of Division I football, the Bowl Subdivision, is unaffected. The College Football Playoff is run through the conferences and six of those leagues are still moving after having a season, including the Southeastern Conference, Atlantic Coast Conference and Big 12.
Except for those six conferences, the rest of Division I is mostly closed. Whether they can play football like any other sport during the pandemic is yet to be determined.
Earlier in the day, the NCAA’s chief medical officer and two of her advisers for infectious disease experts warned that the uncontrolled spread of COVID-19 in the United States remains an enormous obstacle for college sports to overcome.
‘I feel like the Titanic. We’ve hit the iceberg, and we’re trying to decide what time we should play the band, “said Dr. Carlos Del Rio, executive associate dean at Emory University.
Del Rio, a member of the NCAA’s COVID-19 advisory panel, appeared with NCAA Chief Medical Officer Dr. Brian Hainline at a webinar hosted by the Infectious Diseases Society of America.
“We need to concentrate on what’s important,” Del Rio said. “What is important at the moment is that we must control this virus. Not having fall sports this year, while managing this virus, would be for me the priority no. 1 be. ”
The United States has handled more than 5 million COVID-19 cases.
Earlier this week, the Big Ten and Pac-12 became the first Power Five conferences to decide this fall not to play football, or any sport. Emmert called it a devastating blow.
College administrators and coaches have made the case that schools provide structured environments with frequent testing and strict protocols that make athletes safer than the general population.
“We had some positive tests when our student-athletes first came back,” said Alabama athletic director Greg Byrne. “We have had a dramatic decline since they came under our umbrella and that is good. Basically, we have our student-athlete under our umbrella. On a college campus where students go to class, it is difficult to create a bubble. ”
Hainline said about 1% -2% of college athletes tested by schools have been positive for COVID-19.
Del Rio said conferences come to different decisions not because they have different information, but because they assess risks differently.
“Some conferences will say, ‘We are moving forward. It’s a very narrow path, hopefully they will not be infections and if there are infections, we will be able to detect them, and we will be able to stop them and we will not have an outbreak, “said Del Rio. “Our tolerance is zero risk and that’s why we will not have it. It’s exactly the same data that is simply viewed in different ways.”
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