No NCAA Championships This Fall
NCAA president Mark Emmert said Thursday there won't be any fall NCAA championships because there are not enough schools participating due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic -- a decision that affects 22 championships, including FCS football.
"The board of governors also established if you don't have half of the schools playing a sport, you can't have a legitimate championship," Emmert said in a video posted on the NCAA's Twitter feed. "We can't in any Division I NCAA championship sport now -- which is everything other than FBS football that goes on in the fall. Sadly, tragically, that's going to be the case this fall, full stop."
The number of schools fell below 50% on Wednesday when the Big East announced its fall sports wouldn't be played.
"I'm not sure now that it impacts what we're doing in football that we've continued to move forward," said West Virginia athletic director Shane Lyons, chair of the NCAA's Football Oversight Committee. "Just because there's no championship at the end doesn't mean the whole fall is ruined for those student-athletes."
Lyons said some FCS schools still plan on playing nonconference football games, but unlike in the FBS, where the national champion is determined through the College Football Playoff, FCS football won't have its NCAA-sponsored championship.
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