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NAIA officially postpones fall sports championships to the spring
The NAIA became the second major college athletic association to postpone fall sports championships to the spring after the NJCAA made a similar announcement earlier this month. (Photo: @NAIA/Twitter)

NAIA officially postpones fall sports championships to the spring

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (BVM) Changes to the fall sports landscape in college sports are becoming commonplace as we move deeper into the summer. On Tuesday, the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) made a significant announcement by saying that they will be postponing their fall sports championships to the spring. 

The NAIA is an athletic association of over 250 smaller colleges and universities across the U.S. Before the decision to postpone fall championships was made by the NAIA Council of Presidents (COP), a total of 51 NAIA schools had already decided to postpone athletic competition until the spring.

The sports currently affected by this decision are cross country, men’s and women’s soccer and women’s volleyball. A decision has not yet been made on what to do with football, but a meeting is scheduled for Friday to decide its fate.

“Given the fast-paced and constantly-changing nature of the current environment, the COP recognized that the likelihood of safely completing the fall sports season has decreased significantly,” said Dr. Arvid Johnson, COP chairman and University of St. Francis president. “This decision allows conferences to consider the regional impact of COVID-19 when determining the appropriate time for regular season competition.”

With the decision postponing just fall sports championships, it does allow conferences to still compete in the fall and winter if they choose to. However, with one-fifth of NAIA schools already postponing athletics themselves, and surely more to follow, this seems unlikely to happen for most conferences — at least right away.

The decision follows that of many NCAA Division II and Division III athletic conferences postponing or canceling their fall sports schedule. The growing list even includes some Division I conferences including the Ivy League, MEAC, Patriot League, CAA and SWAC.

The NAIA’s decision is the second such move by a major college athletic association as the NJCAA made a similar announcement about fall sports earlier in the month. Both associations making this call now paves the way for the NCAA to follow in the same path if or when they ultimately see it necessary. While Power 5 conferences such as the Big Ten or Pac-12 have switched to conference-only competition, playing sports at all come fall is still very much up for debate.

In March, the NAIA also canceled all spring sport competitions, meaning it could be well over half a year that we see no sports played in the league. The lack of competition has wreaked havoc on college athletic departments around the country, leading to several athletic cuts to help cope with the financial losses. The loss of football — one of the biggest money makers in college sports — will only further this issue.

The cancellation and postponement of seasons also creates murky waters when it comes to scheduling, recruiting, and remaining eligibility for athletes. However, the NAIA seems prepared to adjust on the fly by whatever means necessary.

“The NAIA realizes there are a wide range of considerations that come with postponing fall championships,” said NAIA president and CEO Jim Carr. “However, our first priority is making sure our student-athletes are not penalized by this decision. That will likely require temporary rule changes and accommodations as related to eligibility and seasons of competition, which the NAIA governance groups will begin further defining this week.”

The benefit which does come with making this decision sooner rather than later is that the NAIA now has time to not only define their temporary rule changes, but also put a schedule in place for the spring. It will undoubtedly be a busy time, as championships in baseball, men’s and women’s golf, women’s lacrosse, track and field, softball, men’s and women’s tennis, and men’s volleyball are already scheduled to take place.

It is a tough decision for a major college sports association like the NAIA to make. But with the continued surge in cases of COVID-19, and the difficulties we are seeing of containing the spread of the virus already just within practices and games of both college and pro sports, it is hard to argue against it being the right one.

It will be interesting to see what kind of decision is made on football in the NAIA, and if any further restrictions are placed on competing in sports during the fall. Might the NCAA soon follow their lead as well? For now, all we can do is play the waiting game as more tough decisions are made in the coming weeks.