NCAA President Mark Emmert said on Thursday that there will be no NCAA championships because there are not enough schools participating due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic – a decision that will affect 22 championships, including FCS football.
“The Board of Governors has also determined that if you do not have half of the schools that play a sport, you can not have a legitimate championship,” Emmert said in a video posted on Twitter ‘ and the NCAA. “We can now in no Division I NCAA championship sport – that’s anything but FBS football going on in the fall. Sadly, tragically, that will be the case this fall, complete stop.”
The number of schools fell below 50% on Wednesday when the Great East announced that its fall sport would not be played.
“I’m not sure right now that it’s influencing what we do in football that we continue to move forward,” said West Virginia athletic director Shane Lyons, chairman of the NCAA’s Football Oversight Committee. “Just because there is no championship at the end, does not mean that the whole fall is ruined for those student-athletes.”
Lyons said some FCS schools still plan to play non-conference football games, but unlike in FBS, where the national champion is determined through the College Football Playoff, FCS football will be its NCAA sponsor championship not have. When asked about the optics of that deviation, Lyons noted the Big 12’s plans to test their athletes three times each week – on Wednesday, Friday and Sunday.
“There will always be the optics of that, but from our conference, as we went through this, we added a few extra layers of testing as part of our requirement,” he said. “And that will not only apply to football, that will apply to all our fall sports … … will we still participate in those other sports in the fall? I do not have that answer yet. As a conference we have it not discussed. “
Emmert said the fall sports still need to run after winter and spring and try to create a legitimate championship for all those students.
“My staff has worked hard at it, and talking to a lot of commissioners – all, all 32 in DI, and there are ways to do that,” he said. “I am fully confident that we can figure this out. If schools and conferences want to move forward, and try to have it and more than half of them want to do it – and that is now certainly the indication – let’s do it. We can “use the fall and keep kids healthy, keep them busy with their coaches and their athletic departments. Focus on their academic success. Work with them and let them practice and stay ready to play, then let’s be on time.”
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