MIAA suspends fall sports over COVID concerns. Soonest competition resumes is January
Emporia State linebacker Jace McDown looked to find the silver lining in his conference’s decision to not have fall sports this year because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“I’d honestly rather have a last normal fall with fans than have seven games worth nothing,” McDown said. “I’d rather come back and do it another year the right way.”
So it will be for all fall sports athletes in 14-team MIAA. The news became official Friday with a statement from the Kansas City-based league, but MIAA schools had viewed the opt-out as a likely conclusion once the NCAA removed fall sports championships from its calendar last week.
Individual conferences were left to determine whether to play a regular season and/or perhaps move some fall sports to the spring. But a season without the ability to contend for a championship is incomplete, and the cost of NCAA-required testing 72 hours before each game, with reduced or no income from ticket sales or sponsorships, weighed heavily on the MIAA’s member schools.
“That was the biggest hurdle,” Emporia State football coach Garin Higgins said of the testing. “Financially, at our level, schools can’t afford that.”
There was no easy way to break the news to the team, Higgins said. But he reminded the players about the general college sports landscape — most Division II conferences had already shut down fall sports, and over the past week four Division I conferences, including the Big Ten and Pac-12, opted out of playing this fall.
“’Look across the country, guys,’” Garin told his team. “’Everybody is going through this.’”
Fall sports teams will be allowed practice, weigh- train and hold team meetings based on an NCAA guidelines. The MIAA said it will explore limited competitions for fall sports in the the spring. Officially, the fall sports of football, volleyball and soccer are suspended until Jan. 1, 2021, and a decision on winter sports, such as men’s and women’s basketball, will be made by Oct. 1.
“The MIAA is taking these important actions today to help our athletic departments comply with these new NCAA membership requirements, and to assist our campuses as we continue this public health crisis,” said Pittsburg State president Steve Scott, chairman of the MIAA CEO Council.
The MIAA, established in 1912, includes schools in Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska and Oklahoma and is among the most tradition-rich in college football. Pittsburg State tops the list of all-time victories (711). Northwest Missouri State has won five NCAA championships since 1998 and the Washburn-Emporia State rivalry is the second most played (116 games) in Division II history.
This story was originally published August 14, 2020 at 12:30 PM.