NCAA Issues Next Set of Return-to-Sport Guidelines
August 9, 10:00
Division I, II, III fall updates from August 5
We’ve been tracking official sources to follow the latest in coronavirus-related college sports news. Here’s what happened on Wednesday, August 5.
- The Big Ten announced Wednesday morning their full slate of games for the 2020-2021 college football season — a 10-game, conference-only schedule.
- The NCAA Board of Directors met Tuesday and Wednesday, ruling Wednesday morning that each division would determine its ability to conduct fall championships.
- Shortly after, the NCAA Division III President’s Council announced the cancelation of DIII fall championships in 2020.
- The Division I Board of Directors set an August 21 deadline for determining the status of 2020 DI fall championships.
- On Wednesday afternoon, the NCAA Division II President’s Council canceled its seven fall championships for the 2020-21 season.
The fall sports affected include men’s and women’s cross country, field hockey, football, men’s soccer, women’s soccer and women’s volleyball.
The NCAA Sport Science Institute has released the Resocialization of Collegiate Sport: Developing Standards for Practice and Competition to extend previous guidance and provide updated recommendations about the protection of athletes and prevention of community spread of COVID-19.
The guidelines are designed to inform schools in responding appropriately based on their specific circumstances and in the best interest of returning college athletes’ health and well-being. Many sports require close, personal contact and require specially crafted guidelines. Among the recommendations put forth:
- Daily self-health checks.
- The appropriate use of face coverings and social distancing during training, competition and outside of athletics.
- Testing strategies for all athletics activities, including pre-season, regular season and post-season.
- Testing and results within 72 hours of competition in high contact risk sports.
- Member schools must adhere to public health standards set by their local communities.
“Any recommendation on a pathway toward a safe return to sport will depend on the national trajectory of COVID-19 spread,” said Brian Hainline, NCAA chief medical officer. “The idea of sport resocialization is predicated on a scenario of reduced or flattened infection rates.”
“When we made the extremely difficult decision to cancel last spring’s championships it was because there was simply no way to conduct them safely,” said NCAA President Mark Emmert. “This document lays out the advice of health care professionals as to how to resume college sports if we can achieve an environment where COVID-19 rates are manageable. Today, sadly, the data point in the wrong direction. If there is to be college sports in the fall, we need to get a much better handle on the pandemic.”
For more information on the NCAA’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic, visit ncaa.org/covid-19.
U.S Sports Scholarships Family
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The U.S SS Team