LEXINGTON, KY (WTVQ) – The KHSAA Board of Control has decided to move forward to the fall sports season starting next week.

The final vote was 16-2 to continue with their plan as scheduled. Starting August 24, practice will begin for all fall sports. Competition for cross country, field hockey, soccer and volleyball is set to begin September 7. Competition for football will tentatively kickoff on September 11.

For football, teams they will have now have their playoffs to begin November 13 and 14 (previous date was Nov. 6 & 7).  This would also make the state football finals to be held on December 11 and 12.  As far as practice, athletes will be able to wear helmets only starting August 26, add shoulder pads September 2 and then go full gear on September 5.  This also puts as the official start date to being Week 4 of the original season so teams will now play eight regular season games. Some schools have chosen to add an additional ninth game to be played the Friday before the playoffs begin.  

This isn’t exactly a done deal.

Now the Kentucky Department of Health and The Governor’s office must sign off on this as well. From there, there is also a chance local school districts could try to intervene as well. For now though, practice will begin next Monday. The next question is how many fans will be allowed at games. This is another topic the KHSAA will take advice from the KY Department of Health on and local districts will also be able to decide. KHSAA Commissioner Julian Tackett told the board he will request go the Department of Health the normal allotment as far as attendance.