CHICAGO (CBS)– The Illinois High School Association on Wednesday announced scheduling changes that will keep high school sports in action for the 2020-2021 school year, but in many instances with shifts to new seasons.

Football and two other sports will be moved from fall to spring.

The decision follows a special meeting by the IHSA Board of Directors on Wednesday. It must be approved by the Illinois Department of Public Health.

“This plan, like nearly every aspect of our current lives, remains fluid,” IHSA Executive Director Craig Anderson said in a news release. “Changes may come, and if they do, we will be agile while putting safety and students first. It was important that we provide a framework today for our student-athletes, coaches, administrators, and officials to begin preparing for the 2020-21 school year.”

The coronavirus pandemic has prompted the scheduling changes – including playing all sports over the course of truncated fall, winter, spring, and summer sessions and several team sports shifting to new seasons – including football, boys’ soccer, and girls’ volleyball, which will move to the spring.

IHSA boys’ and girls’ golf, girls’ tennis, cross-country, and girls’ swimming and diving will still be held during the fall and can start on Aug. 10 as scheduled. Competition will be limited to conference opponents and other schools in the same geographical area.

The announcement Wednesday came after Gov. JB Pritkzer announced restrictions on youth sports amid rising COVID-19 cases in Illinois.

Under the state’s Restore Illinois Phase 4 plan, youth and recreational sports venues can operate at maximum of 50% of facility capacity. At the max, 20% seating capacity for spectators, with groups of up to 50. According to the state “capacity restrictions and group sizes will be reassessed based on the latest science and public health data on an ongoing basis throughout Phase 4.”

“As much as I’d like to, this virus isn’t something that we can wish away. So we have to act responsibly and collectively to protect the people that we love,” the governor said. “There are certain sports, whose seasons can move forward with more limited restrictions tennis and baseball as examples simply don’t carry the higher risk inherent in contact sports like wrestling and football.”

Pritzker said there are three levels of risk that helped to determine which sports have what restrictions. They are categorized into lower, medium and higher.

“Think of these guidelines like a grid. Three risk levels of sports and four tiers of levels of play, based on current public health conditions at each of the four tiers, different aspects of play are permitted from no contact practices that includes conditioning and training at level one to full scale tournaments in level four effective, August 15,” Pritzker said. “Lower risk sports like tennis, and baseball and golf can be played at levels one two and three, with activities like no contact practices teams scrimmages and certain competitive games allowed with DPH safety guidance.”

The governor said “at risk” sports including basketball, soccer and volleyball can take place as levels one and two with no contact practices and team scrimmages allowed and higher risk sports like football. Hockey and lacrosse can be played at level one with no-contact practices, trainings, and conditioning.

The IHSA said the condensed sports seasons will be as follows:

Fall: August 10 to October 24
Winter: November 16 to February 13
Spring: February 15 to May 1
Summer: May 3 to June 26

Decisions on state series tournaments will be made on a sport-by-sport basis through the season. This could mean culminating state series tournaments after regional or sectional rounds or seeking other “non-traditional” ways of moving forward.

The IHSA Board said it has verified schools that are on remote learning can still participate in IHSA sports and activities, pursuant to decisions by local schools and districts.

This is the breakdown for all high school sports: