Mountain West Looking To Resume Play
Could returning to play come soon?
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Update on Mountain West sports
The Mountain West had put a hold on all fall sports which includes football back on Aug. 10 due to the board of directors making the choice to be cautious due to the COVID-19 global pandemic.
The Mountain West covers multiple states in which the virus is giving the league challenges, which include the three California schools, Hawaii, and New Mexico.
The league said the unknowns was a big reason to not go out and play fall sports and released a statement on what the next steps are in getting sports back at these institutions. Below is parts of that statement.
Nearly a month later many of these same challenges remain, such as virus spread and the status of state and local guidelines, and continue to be beyond the control of the Conference and its member institutions.
Within that environment, however, the Mountain West has been working diligently to identify a viable path forward to resume athletic competition at the appropriate time. The MW Board of Directors, Athletic Directors, Health & Safety Advisory Committee, Conference staff, institutional athletics administrators, coaches and student-athlete representatives have been meeting frequently to consider new scheduling models, enhanced medical protocols and revised management plans that can facilitate a responsible return to play.
These concepts are being adapted to fit within NCAA parameters expected to be acted upon by the NCAA Division I Council during its September 16 meeting, including frameworks for football, men’s and women’s basketball and rescheduled fall sports. Other winter sports and spring sports seasons are currently expected to proceed as originally planned and would be conducted concurrently with the rescheduled sports in what would be a robust spring offering.
On a parallel track, negotiations are ongoing to secure the necessary testing arrangements and put in place appropriate health guidelines. Every effort is being made to overcome the existing multi-state obstacles within this complex issue to enable a data-driven decision that maximizes the opportunity for the Mountain West’s student-athletes to compete.
There is some good news within this statement. First off, it says that winter and spring sports are very likely to go on as planned — with the exception of basketball.
Basketball is still working on getting things in order because a season, as usual, is already off the table with the start date being adjusted and not yet finalized but Thanksgiving week is one target date.
The wording makes it seems like spring will be full of Mountain West sports, and specifically football. So, for those who had hopes of the conference starting play before 2021 will have to wait a bit longer to see football.
There will be more known on that Sept. 16 meeting within the NCAA but it seems that winter and spring sports will go on as planned, basketball adjusted and the rest of the fall sports going to the spring.
This news may not be what fans want to hear but at least the conference has a plan in place and is working to figure out how the seasons will happen this year.
