The MIAA CEO Council met on Thursday to discuss a number of items in regard to fall sports to be conducted in the spring of 2021 and the start of the 2020-2021 winter sports season.

With regards to the men’s and women’s basketball season, the group had discussions about the recently released NCAA Sports Science Institute’s Core Principles of Resocialization of Collegiate Basketball. The CEO Council noted concerns about the document’s new testing recommendations and travel considerations for men’s and women’s basketball and it agreed to continue to monitor NCAA, CDC, and local government guidance on testing protocols and resources.

At the present time, MIAA schools are planning to begin the college basketball season as scheduled on October 15 with games scheduled to tip-off on November 18 and 19. Emporia State is scheduled to open the season on November 19 at Neb.-Kearney with the first games in White Auditorium set for December 2 against Newman.

The sports of men’s and women’s indoor track and field and wrestling were also discussed and the CEO Council agreed to provide institutional discretion with the start of each sport. The group noted that with no formal MIAA indoor track and field and wrestling schedules, each institution can determine the start date for those sports within NCAA guidelines.

The MIAA will not develop a formal football schedule or conduct a cross country championship this academic year, and it will not crown a champion in either sport. MIAA football programs will be permitted to set up no more than four joint practices, scrimmages, or games with outside competition or other MIAA members this spring as each member institution deems appropriate for its program.

The CEO Council was also updated on the Association’s Athletics Administrators Committee (AAC) review of possible formal 2021 spring seasons for volleyball and women’s soccer. Issues concerning the season structure, team schedules, awards, statistics, spring tournaments, and other sport issues will continue to be discussed by each sport’s MIAA Monitoring Group.