NCAA approves plan to hold Division I fall 2020 championships in spring 2021
Analis BaileyDivision I college athletes who play sports normally conducted in the fall will get to compete for a championship this season — they will just have until after the calendar flips to 2021.
The NCAA Division 1 Board of Directors approved a plan Tuesday to move fall sports championships — including the FCS championship — to spring 2021.
The plan for men's and women's cross country, men's and women's soccer, field hockey, women's volleyball and men's water polo was created by the Division 1 Competition Oversight Committee with the sports committees, while the plan for the Football Championship Subdivision was created by the Division 1 Football Oversight Committee in conjunction with the FCS committee.
“The plan sent to us by the Division I Council provides the maximum number of opportunities to fall student-athletes to participate in NCAA championships while still being fiscally responsible,” said acting board chair Denise Trauth, who is president at Texas State. “We look forward to the spring, understanding things will look a little different but knowing the competitions will be just as meaningful as in normal circumstances.”
The changes include reduced bracket sizes with preserved automatic qualification for conferences. The tournament brackets for the team sports championships will only be filled at 75% of the normal capacity. In football, the FCS championship bracket will have 16 teams instead of 24.
Games played in fall of 2020 will count toward selection into the sport's respective tournament held in the spring.
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At the direction of the NCAA Board of Governors, all sites of each championship would be predetermined, and the number of preliminary-round sites would be reduced to support health and safety.
The NCAA stated that the oversight committee may need to revise the plan if conditions warrant closer to spring competitions.
Contact Analis Bailey at aabailey@usatoday.com or on Twitter @analisbailey.
