Oregon pushes back date of first high school contests by four weeks

Executive committee keeps practice start the same, but games would now start Sept. 23.

Thumbnail image of this articles writer: Aaron Williams
The Oregon School Activities Association executive board on Wednesday agreed to keep in place the first date for fall high school sports practices, but bumped back the date of the first contests by four weeks.

Aug. 17 remains the first date for fall practice, but the board pushed the first contests from Aug. 27 to Sept. 23.

"That allows for some time to make those decisions and have those conversations," executive director Peter Weber told OSAA Today. "And it allows schools to get reopened in whatever format that looks like. We need to allow schools to focus on that as much as they can."

The executive board plans to meet again Aug. 3 to re-examine the issue.

The OSAA "isn't taking anything off the table, at this point," he said.

On Monday, California postponed its entire fall season to 2021, while Texas pushed back the start of the football season five weeks in its two largest classifications (6A and 5A) on Tuesday. The same day Washington reshuffled its sports calendar, including moving football back to March.

Four states plus Washington D.C. have now delayed their 2020 football season to 2021, while Alabama joins at least nine states in a commitment to start on time, including Florida which Monday voted 10-5 to begin games on Aug. 20.

Other states that announced this month to on-time starts are Arkansas, Idaho, Iowa, Michigan, Nebraska, North Dakota, Pennsylvania and Utah.
Teams in Oregon won't be taking the field until at least Sept. 23.
Photo by Brian Bodine
Teams in Oregon won't be taking the field until at least Sept. 23.