NCAA cancels championships

INDIANAPOLIS — The NCAA Division II Presidents Council on Thursday officially canceled all seven of its fall sports championships, “due to the operational, logistical and financial challenges represented by the COVID-19 pandemic.”

The council was directed by the NCAA Board of Governors to make a decision on fall sports championships and create directives regarding resocialization principles and lowered sponsorship thresholds.

In the council’s judgment it was not feasible to either hold the championships as planned or postpone them to the spring while keeping student-athletes’ health and well-being at the forefront.

“This decision was discussed very thoroughly, and I assure you, it was not made lightly,” said Sandra Jordan, the council chair and chancellor at South Carolina Aiken. “It is important to note that fall student-athletes will be given eligibility-related flexibility to allow them championship opportunities in the future. As we move forward, we will continue to focus on providing the best championships experience for our winter and spring student-athletes who were not afforded those opportunities at the beginning of this pandemic.”

Schools and conferences are permitted to still play fall sports, provided they follow requirements created by the board of governors.

Conferences had already forced the council’s hand to some degree. As of Wednesday, 11 of Division II’s 23 conferences had announced they would not compete during the fall season.

Eastern New Mexico University, which competes in the Lone Star Conference, announced in July it would not participate in fall sports in line with its decision to have online-only classes for the semester.

The LSC on Friday postponed football, soccer, volleyball and basketball until the spring. The conference said in its Friday release cross country and the non-championship fall portions of golf and tennis would be permitted in the fall, and reiterated a previous decision that no competition could begin until Sept. 21.

In July, a waiver process was approved for Division II students to retain a season of eligibility provided their team completes 50% or less of the sport’s maximum allowable contests or dates of competition for the season.