Division III management council recommends canceling fall championships
If they weren't already, the Division III football playoffs are officially on life support.
The Division III management council has officially recommended canceling all D3 fall championships, the group announced Tuesday.
As of now, the recommendation is just that, a recommendation. A formal move would have to be approved by the NCAA Board of Governors, which is scheduled to meet Friday.
"Council members committed to continue monitoring and assessing the evolving conditions and making recommendations in the best interest of Division III student-athletes, coaches and staff," the NCAA's release said.
“As Division III institutions and conferences continue to contemplate what it will take to safely resume intercollegiate athletics, one consistency amidst a lot of uncertainty is that flexibility will be imperative,” said Heather Benning, chair of the Management Council and executive director of the Midwest Conference. “These are unprecedented times, and they are challenging us to think ‘out of the box’ and encouraging us to think about how our business can be conducted in ways we haven’t historically done.”
The D3 management committee's hands may be tied, as a number of Division III conferences have canceled fall sports on their own volition. The website D3Football has counted at least 352 canceled games at the Division III level thus far.
The management council did approve a proposal that will grant schools and conferences flexibility in conducting fall sports practices and competition into the spring, for those who wish to do so.
As always, stay tuned to The Scoop for the latest.
