The Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association, or MIAA, has decided to postpone fall conference competition and conference tournaments for cross country, football, men’s and women’s golf, men’s and women’s soccer, and volleyball in light of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The conference said it will aim to schedule these sports for later in the academic year. It will decide later on winter sports that begin in the fall.
“We recognize the deep disappointment this decision is for our student-athletes, coaches, and parents at schools that will not be competing,” said MIAA commissioner Penny Allen-Cook in a statement. “While this decision is very disappointing, our first priority is fostering safe and productive learning environments on our campuses.”
The conference said it plans to develop athletics-related activities like conference-wide virtual competitions, fundraising, social justice initiatives and educational programming for the fall.
“We understand these activities will not replace conference competition in the fall, we are hopeful we can compete in the spring when less expensive and more accurate testing, better contact tracing and a possible vaccine for COVID-19 are available,” said Allen-Cook.
