The Division II Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association and Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference have suspended fall sports and championship events because of the coronavirus pandemic.
The leagues announced the move Thursday and issued a joint statement, saying that "the welfare of our student-athletes is sacrosanct and must preempt all other considerations when evaluating any return to competition efforts."
In its release, the CIAA said it would explore a possible modified competition schedule for football, volleyball and cross country for the spring. There is no time frame for making that decision. The league, based in Charlotte, North Carolina, said it would discuss plans for winter and spring sports.
Atlanta-based SIAC said it would also look at moving some fall sports such as football into the spring.
Also on Thursday, the California Community College Athletic Association announced it will contest all 24 of its sports, including football, starting in the spring season. Many sports will begin practicing in mid-January with competition beginning in February. The remaining sports will start practices in late March with events starting on April 10.
All sports will see a 30% reduction in the maximum number of contests or competition dates and postseason competition will be regionalized with no CCCAA state champions for the 2020-21 season. The CCCAA consists of 110 member colleges with approximately 24,000 student-athletes.
Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.