(Bloomington, MN) — The Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference made the announcement this week that it is pushing the football, cross country, soccer, and volleyball seasons from the fall of 2020 to the spring of 2021 due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The MIAC is working to develop spring schedules for those sports, which are considered medium or high risk for coronavirus transmission by the N-C-A-A. Conference commissioner Dan McKane says the decision came down to the safety of the student-athletes and the many travel and testing issues that were likely to crop up in the fall. McKane also says the conference wanted to leave testing kits for the general public and not use so many kits in testing student-athletes, including those without symptoms, under N-C-A-A guidelines this fall. He says the conference wanted to be “good citizens” by leaving tests for those who really needed them. He says it made sense to push the seasons to the spring where it is likely testing kits will be more readily available and more information in general will be known about COVID-19. Men’s and women’s golf and tennis – categorized as low-risk sports – will be permitted to compete against conference opponents only this fall.
MIAC commissioner Dan McKane spoke with MNN sports director Mike Grimm:
