It has been bantered about for a while, pushed down the road and delayed, but now the NCAA has officially communicated the postponement of all top-level fall championships for 2020.
This comes after many FBS conferences have made the difficult decision to postpone fall sports across the country. So far, the Mountain West, Big Ten, Pac-12, and Mid-American conferences have all either canceled or postponed their fall sports, including football.
“We cannot, at this point, have fall NCAA championships,” said NCAA President Mark Emmert in a video interview posted Thursday evening, adding it is hoped championships can be moved to the 2021 calendar year.
Emmert went on to explain that there will not be the necessary 50 percent of teams available to hold the championships per the Board of Governers requirement.
“Sadly, tragically, that’s going to be the case this fall,” Emmert said. “That doesn’t mean we shouldn’t and can’t turn toward winter and spring and say ‘OK, how can we create a legitimate championship for all those students.’ … I’m completely confident that we can figure this out.”
"We cannot, at this point, have fall NCAA championships."
NCAA President Mark Emmert discusses the latest developments in fall sports and looks ahead to winter and spring championships.
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— Inside the NCAA (@InsidetheNCAA) August 13, 2020
It should be noted that this decision does not impact the College Football Playoff as it is not organized and run by the NCAA. Despite two of the Power Five conferences announcing the postponement of fall sports (Big Ten, Pac-12), there are still six FBS conference planning to move ahead with play so far including the SEC, Big 12, and ACC.
This is just one more COVID-19 casualty to add to the ever-growing list that we’ll be talking about for a long time after it all passes.