The NCAA on Wednesday unveiled the preliminary framework for spring competition in volleyball and the other fall college sports that were postponed because of COVID-19.

There will be fall sports champions crowned next spring.

The sport-specific plans — which most notably call for a 25% reduction of postseason participants — still have to be approved by the NCAA’s Board of Directors. And they’re designed with flexibility in mind.

But the decisions, at the very least, would create a revised scheduling structure for the fall sports teams (not including football) whose seasons have been in limbo for several weeks.

The Big Ten, Big East and the Summit League all announced last month that they would be postponing fall sports, sidelining squads at Nebraska, Creighton and UNO. Volleyball, soccer and cross country were among the local teams affected.

They all may soon have a new official start date — and a new postseason format.

For example, in volleyball, the proposed postseason tournament would consist of 48 teams (instead of the normal 64). That’s 32 automatic qualifiers and 16 at-large picks.

The proposed regular season calendar for volleyball would extend from Jan. 22 to April 10 — although the NCAA indicated in a news release that if fall sports teams do resume play before that date, those game results could be considered by the selection committees.