By a vote of 10-5, the Florida High School Athletic Association's Board of Directors approved a proposal Monday that will start the fall sports season, including football, on time. Practices for all sports will begin July 27 as long as district, school and local and county government rules allow.
According to the
Miami Herald, the plan keeps the full fall calendar intact, including the postseason.
But with the state's metropolitan areas, including Miami, Tampa Bay, Orlando and Jacksonville, spiking in coronavirus cases and many of those school districts shut down, a start date will almost certainly be delayed in many of those regions.
The FHSAA currently requires football teams to play eight regular season games to be eligible for the postseason. The FHSAA board said it plans to alter that requirement for the 2020 season.
The announcement came as that more than 10,000 positive cases of COVID-19 were confirmed in the state Monday.
Two other major high school football states made moves to delay their seasons yesterday.
The
California Interscholastic Federation moved back both its fall and winter seasons and split all sports between January and July.
Georgia moved back its football season two weeks but still plans to play a full season, including playoffs.
During the five-hour meeting, the FHSAA board voted against earlier proposals offered by a Sports Medicine Advisory Committee and a FHSAA Fall Sports Task Force.
Preseason football play in Florida is scheduled to begin Aug. 12-15 with regular season openers slated as early as Aug. 20.
Perennial national power St. Thomas Aquinas hopes to start its 2020 season on time.
Photo by Daniel Galarza
