NCAA DII and DIII Cancel Fall Championships

The athletes in Division II and Division III college athletics had been waiting to see if there would be an announcement this week from the NCAA on their Fall championships and on Wednesday they got that answer.

The DII and DII presidents council voted to cancel the Fall championships in all sports citing finances, logistics, and health as contributing factors to the decision.

The DIII Chair of the President's Council Tori Murden McClure issues the following statement.

“Looking at the health and safety challenges we face this fall during this unprecedented time, we had to make this tough decision to cancel championships for fall sports this academic year in the best interest of our student-athlete and member institutions. Our Championships Committee reviewed the financial and logistical ramifications if Division III fall sports championships were conducted in the spring and found it was logistically untenable and financially prohibitive. Our Management Council reached the same conclusion. Moving forward, we will try to maximize the championships experience for our winter and spring sport student-athletes, who unfortunately were short-changed last academic year.”

For perspective, currently, 12 conferences in DII have opted to move forward with the current schedule and 11 opting for a non-traditional fall schedule or postponement.

We have long been told over the last few months that the Coronavirus pandemic would have an economic toll on college sports and the latest example is the cancellation of these championship events.

The local impact in Sioux Falls means that both the University of Sioux Falls and Augustana University will have their fall championships canceled, but still may have games.

There still has been no mention of the DI decision and the FCS and FBS schools across the country await what could be a delay until August 21 to make a final decision.