Cal Poly won’t have football this fall. Here’s when the season will start
Cal Poly’s fall football season has been postponed as part of a coronavirus-related decision affecting all 13 teams in the Big Sky Conference.
The Big Sky Conference announced Friday morning that it’s moving the start of football season to spring 2021, affecting all teams that play eight-game conference schedules, Cal Poly said in a news release.
Cal Poly’s non-conference games against UC Berkeley, University of San Diego and University of Louisiana, Monroe, were previously canceled. The season opener at ULM was originally planned for Sept. 5.
Cal Poly officials said it’s still not clear whether the university and fellow Big Sky teams will be allowed to schedule non-conference games in the spring.
Collegiate conferences around the country are wrestling with plans aimed at preventing the spread of COVID-19.
“The health and safety of our students is our top priority, and ultimately that concern guided our decision-making process over the past few months as we explored every option regarding the 2020 football season,” said Andy Feinstein, president of the University of Northern Colorado and chair of the Big Sky Conference’s Presidents’ Council.
Several other sports in the Big West Conference, in which Cal Poly also participates, also have been pushed to the new year, officials announced in late July.
The Big West decision affects men’s and women’s cross country, men’s and women’s soccer and women’s volleyball. Fall activities for spring sports including baseball, softball, men’s and women’s golf and men’s and women’s tennis have also been canceled.
Big Sky Conference suspends football until spring
The Presidents’ Council voted Thursday to suspend football until the spring following a recommendation from university athletics directors earlier in the day.
“We recognize just how meaningful these opportunities are to the student-athletes, coaches, and staff throughout our conference, and empathize that they won’t be able to compete this fall for a Big Sky championship,” Feinstein added. “We are eager to provide our football programs with that opportunity in the spring when it’s hopefully safer to be able to do so.”
Playoffs could move to the spring as well with fewer than 50% of Division I Football Championship Subdivision schools in the National Collegiate Athletic Association still planning to play in the fall.
Fall athletic activities such as practices are permissible while abiding by NCAA legislation, campus policies, and local and state regulations.
This isn’t the first time Cal Poly has canceled sporting events due to a nationwide crisis.
A 1918 influenza epidemic led to cancellations of Cal Poly football games that year, and a polio epidemic canceled games in 1930.
The Mustangs did not play any games in 1943 and 1944 due to World War II.
Cal Poly’s game at Saint Mary’s was postponed because of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, but the game was made up at the end of the season.
%20Cropped.jpg)