EVANSVILLE — While the Indiana High School Athletic Association still intends to start fall sports as scheduled, it’s leaving the decision-making on whether to kick off to local districts.

The IHSAA launched a virtual COVID-19 resource center Thursday to guide those making decisions because it believes sports are essential to the physical and mental well-being of student-athletes. That means it still plans for football to be played on Friday nights while 10 other states already have canceled or moved seasons to the spring.

Locally, the Evansville Vanderburgh School Corp. will continue to proceed as planned, according to EVSC athletics director Andy Owen. Although the local health department hasn’t yet given the all-clear to hold games.

Opening night of the football regular season is Aug. 21, two weeks away.

And even if games are played, it remains to be determined who will be allowed to watch in person — from football to soccer and volleyball. Crowds will be limited.

“We’re going to work with our local health department to get the guidelines,” Owen said. “We just processed information today on the 250 (per bleacher capacity) number and how we can go about that. We’re trying to get some more clarification on that. Before we get any, I need to turn in some site plans for all of our stadiums for them to look over and review before they tell us what we can have in a facility.”

Spectators will be permitted at the discretion of the host school in accordance with guidance from local health officials. For large events, they must have the health department’s approval and all crowds must comply with the following recommendations:

» Families may sit together but use six feet of social distancing between another family.

» A set of bleachers should be no more than 50 percent capacity with a maximum of 250 people, even if the bleachers can fit more with social distancing. (Basically, this will allow for up to 250 people on each sideline.)

» Schools must avoid having people congregate in lines by setting up separate entrances and restroom facilities not to exceed a total of 250 people. This might lead to having staggered arrival times if multiple entrances are not available.

“Due to the nature of the outbreak,” the IHSAA stated, “there may be inequities due to geography within the state of Indiana as some areas will have higher COVID-19 rates that may not warrant full athletic participation while another area has lower COVID-19 rates that allow full participation.”

If a school wants to sell concessions, pre-packaged materials are recommended, such as bags of chips and bottled drinks. Items such as popcorn or hot dogs are allowed, but they still must be packaged after being safely cooked.

Everyone who is not on the field actively participating must wear a mask, too.

Owen said limiting crowds could be an issue because it will hurt schools financially. He added that decisions will be made for what is best for “all the players, families, students, fans and everything that consists of a high school football game.”

The Evansville Catholic Diocese has not yet determined whether it will allow fans or how it would disperse tickets. A Diocese spokesman suspected Mater Dei and Memorial high schools would likely come to a joint decision on those matters.

A Boonville High School official said the Warrick County School Corp. and Health Department will be meeting soon to finalize their plan, which will affect Boonville, Castle and Tecumseh.

If certain games must be canceled along the way because of a coronavirus outbreak, no school will be required to pay cancellation fees. Those games will simply be recorded as “no contest” instead of a forfeit or loss.

Almost every school is scheduled to play scrimmages next weekend. They have been practicing since early July and contact has been allowed since July 20. 

Jennifer McCormick, the Indiana State Superintendent of Public Instruction, touched on athletics during a webinar on Thursday morning, calling it “a tough situation.”

“If the medical folks would have said, ‘Shut it down, no contact sports,’ we would have shut it down,” she said. “At this point, we are relying on the medical experts to give us the best advice they can. What we’re doing right now reflects that advice. There are some schools that have said, “You know what, we hear you but we don’t agree with you. We’re shutting down. Or we’re shutting down parts of it. Or shutting down temporarily …’ That’s OK, too. Schools can be tighter in their operations, but can’t be looser.”

For practices and competitions to continue, social distancing and other measures such as wearing masks will remain in place until a cure, vaccine or effective treatment for the coronavirus is readily available.

“Every school is different, and every athletics activity is different,” the IHSAA stated in a  release. “Certain mitigation strategies may be feasible in one school or for one activity, but not another.”

Of course, plans can always change. The IHSAA resource center doesn’t cover all scenarios that may need guidance, such as the protocols for teams to follow when traveling to road games.

The EVSC is processing the risk and working to mitigate the spread so sports seasons can happen safely.

“Masks will be worn and we’ll social distance on the bus the entire time we possibly can,” Owen said. “There might be instances where there might not be social distancing on the bus. That’s something we need to look at and communicate to our families.

“Obviously, contact sports are not social distancing the whole time. Families are already aware of that risk. When it becomes time to play and travel in which we can’t (socially distance), we just need to make those involved aware of it.”