Ad Disclosure
NCAA makes decision on number of required contests for fall sports
Published:
The NCAA has made a decision on the number of competitive contests that must be played by all fall sports programs other than football. The association released a statement on Monday.
According to the NCAA’s website, the association has stated that 50 percent of the previous minimum of required contests must be completed by fall sports teams in order to compete for championships. The sports involved include: men’s and women’s cross country, men’s and women’s soccer, field hockey, men’s water polo and women’s volleyball.
In the current environment where some conferences have eliminated nonconference competition for fall sports, the change allows teams that continue to play the opportunity to avoid scheduling additional games near the end of a season that could put student-athletes, coaches and staff in at-risk positions with additional travel and exposure.
The waiver was recommended by the Division I Competition Oversight Committee, which also approved other modifications to parameters surrounding postseason selection requirements for NCAA fall championships.
Oversight committee members agreed to suspend the criterion requiring teams to have at least a .500 record to be considered for at-large selections into a championship field, and a previous Division I Council decision allows conferences to inform sport committees how they will determine their automatic-qualifier representative up to two weeks prior to selections.
Last Friday, the NCAA decided to delay a decision on fall sports for the 2020 season, due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The Board of Governors will meet again in August in hopes of making a final decision regarding the status of athletic programs.
Dustin grew up in the heart of Big Ten country and has been in sports media since 2010. He has been covering Big Ten football since 2014. You can follow him on Twitter: @SchutteCFB