The National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) unveiled some new guidelines for the upcoming 2020 football season as a result of the current COVID-19 pandemic. Included are guidelines that have new dates, which impact current games featuring FCS opponents.
The NAIA has set a date of August 15 for the start of practice for all sports. Teams can return to competition starting on September 5, except for football. The NAIA football games can return starting September 12 as they ruled the sport needs four weeks of practice before practice can begin.
As we detailed yesterday in a full list of FCS games versus non Division I opponents, this means the four Labor Day weekend of games featuring NAIA teams cannot be played.
The NAIA also announced a maximum of 9 regular season games can be played, which may further impact some schedules. There were 8 total games scheduled for the 2020 season featuring FCS and NAIA opponents.
Given the recency of the news, there has been no update from the four FCS schools. They are now left to quickly find a replacement for games taking place in less than 3 months.
Check back for updates as more news is released from the schools on a new opponent.
Photo courtesy of NAIA.
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