(WWJ) Another Michigan pastime has been turned upside down by the COVID-19 pandemic: high school football.
The Representative Council of the Michigan High School Athletic Association (MHSAA) announced Friday it will move the 2020 fall football season to spring 2021.
The MHSAA said this decision was made after consulting with state health experts about the likelihood that the contact-sport could spread COVID-19.
“At the end of the day, we did everything we could to find a path forward for football this fall,” MHSAA Executive Director Mark Uyl said in the press release. “…No one is willing to take the risk of COVID being passed on because of a high-risk sport.”
The rest of the fall sports are slated to continue as scheduled.
Volleyball and soccer are deemed “moderate-risk” for spreading the virus. Swimming/diving, golf, tennis and cross country are deemed “low-risk.”
Schools in regions under Phase 4 of Governor Whitmer’s MI Safe Start Plan (including Metro Detroit) are not allowed to swim and dive or play volleyball indoors because of restrictions on facilities. MHSAA officials say further guidance is expected to come from the Governor’s office regarding the issue in the “near future.”
The MHSAA says they will strive to make sure the spring football season does not interfere with other spring sports.
“While this is tremendously disappointing, we will do everything possible to provide the best possible experience in the spring while adding football into the calendar,” Uyl said in the release.
More than 34,000 student-athletes played football at MHSAA member schools in 2019.
This news comes as Michigan announces 748 new cases of the virus and 11 deaths. 3.5% of the nearly 38,000 tests conducted statewide in the past 24 hours came back positive.