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Just In: NCAA Cancels Fall Sports Championships, Football Remains Intact

The President of the NCAA, Mark Emmert, announced on Thursday afternoon that fall NCAA Championships — with the exception of FBS College Football — are not possible to hold given the current state of the Coronavirus Pandemic in the United States. President Emmert cited the increased number of FCS programs cancelling their seasons as justification for the likely cancelation.

“We cannot now — at this point — have fall NCAA Championships because there’s not enough schools participating,” said President Mark Emmert. “The board (of governors) also (said) if you don’t have half of the schools playing a sport then you can’t have a legitimate championship… We can't in any Division I NCAA sport have a championship, other than FBS football.”

"There are ways to do this,” claimed President Emmert. “I'm confident we can figure this out. If schools and conferences want to move forward and try to have… more than half want to do it — (then) let's do it.” Emmert continued: “We can use the fall to keep kids healthy, keep them engaged with their coaches and athletic departments, focus on their academic success, work with them, let them practice and stay ready to play.”

President Emmert’s comments come after the southern and southland conferences announced that they would not hold fall sports this season; joining the Ivy League, NEC, Patriot League, SWAC, MEAC, Pioneer Football League, Big South, Big Sky, the CAA, and Missouri Valley Conferences in cancelling their season. In addition to the FCS Conferences, the Big 10 and Pac-12 have also both decided to not hold their season due to the coronavirus.

The SEC, ACC, and Big-12 are the only major conferences remaining that plan to compete for the 2020 season; however, some programs — such as Nebraska — have threatened to leave their conference temporarily in order to participate in the season. As things stand right now, the SEC’s season will begin in late September, with the SEC Championship being played in late December. Tennessee will play all of the teams they traditionally do, in addition to Arkansas in Fayetteville, Auburn at Jordan-Hare, and Texas A&M in Knoxville, as the Vols look to take a major step forward in Jeremy Pruitt’s third year on Rocky Top.