The SCIAC canceled all fall and winter sports for the 2020-2021 academic year on Tuesday, citing public safety concerns.
“In accordance with public health guidance and safety standards, as well as NCAA Resocialization recommendations, the SCIAC Presidents have unanimously agreed to cancel conference competition, including championships, for all fall and winter sports during the 2020-21 academic year,” the SCIAC said in a news release.
The decision comes one day after Los Angeles County implemented its strongest restrictions in months due to rapidly rising reported cases of COVID-19. The county reached 400,000 cases on Monday, and broke the record for COVID-19 hospitalizations — tripling since Halloween.
The canceled sports are as follows: men’s and women’s soccer, men’s water polo, football, women’s volleyball, men’s and women’s cross-country, men’s and women’s swim and dive and men’s and women’s basketball.
Colleges within the conference may still permit “conditioning, practicing and other forms of competition as it relates to fall and winter sports during this spring semester,” according to the announcement.
The cancellation puts an end to any hope that fall and winter sports could have been played in the spring. Claremont-Mudd-Scripps was tentatively planning to run all 21 sports in the spring if allowed.
However, the fate of spring sports is still up in the air. The SCIAC is still exploring options to run spring sports at a later date in the spring semester, according to the news release.
“As the pandemic evolves, the SCIAC will continue to monitor changing federal, state and local guidance, and will continue to consult with each other as well as public health authorities,” the news release said.
Meghan Bobrowsky SC ’21 is a politics major from Davis, California. She previously served as TSL’s editor-in-chief, managing editor, life & style editor and video editor.