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On Thursday, NCAA president Mark Emmert said there will be no championships for Soccer, Cross Country and Volleyball.
NCAA president Mark Emmert said Thursday there will be no Division I fall championships in 2020 https://t.co/WMqqkKTiJZ
— Sports Illustrated (@SInow) August 13, 2020
These sports fell below the 50 percent participation line that Emmert said was needed to have a truly viable championship. With conferences and schools beginning to bow out of fall sports, the cuts were made.
Sankey Responds
The decision hurts the student-athletes for these sports who have been working so hard for the upcoming season. SEC commissioner Greg Sankey said the conference will do its best to help the athletes.
“Our soccer, volleyball and cross-country student-athletes are working hard to prepare for their seasons, and they have been diligent in taking personal health precautions and following protocols around COVID-19,” Sankey said. “We will support them in every way possible as we evaluate the impact of these cancellations on their fall sports seasons.”
What about Football?
Football programs are the lifeblood of many athletic departments in the United States. The profits earned from ticket sales and television can buoy the financial needs of other sports that don’t draw as well.
With Football programs and conferences around the country opting out of the Fall, it puts the idea of a national championship game into the air.
However, college football is governed by the FBS, not the NCAA. This leaves the question completely unanswered at this time.
Now What?
Many fans and athletes are in the dark with what the future holds because no one really knows what is going to happen this fall. Programs will just have to keep preparing for their seasons and hope that their sport isn’t the next one cut.
One idea that Emmert endorses is a bubble system. We have seen it work with the NBA and the NHL. Since entering their restricted zones, or “bubbles,” they have had no confirmed cases. If the NCAA can figure out a way to do something similar, they have a model to follow.
The idea has been endorsed by John Calipari.
“The thing that’s happened for all of us in basketball is the NBA and the WNBA have shown a path for us to have a season,” Calipari said. “The one thing every [college] campus seems to be doing is saying there’s not going to be people on campus after Thanksgiving, so it probably opens up a door after Thanksgiving that even if we’re not having fans that there’s going to be a safe campus based on your team is going to be there by themselves.”
Emmert did say that schools should focus on Prioritizing Winter And Spring Championships, as these athletes had no championships when the pandemic first took hold.
