Update >> The PIAA has released the following statement
Update #2 >> The PIAA has voted to delay the start of fall sports by two weeks to allow time to continue discussions with the office of the Governor about allowing sports this Fall.
The Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association had previously given the green light to coaches to resume athletics back on July 15th when they announced that the plan was to proceed with fall sports for now, so programs across Pennsylvania had been doing exactly that while following all of the new protocols that come along with practicing in the COVID era.
However, today Governor Tom Wolf stated that he is recommending that they cancel all sporting events until January 1st.
When asked about guidance about high school sports and the PIAA today during a press conference today, Wolf shared, "“The guidance is that we ought to avoid any congregate settings, and that means anything that brings people together is going to help that virus get us and we ought to do everything we can to defeat that virus. So any time we get together for any reason, that’s a problem because it makes it easier for that virus to spread.”
"So, the recommendation is that we don't do any sports until January 1st."
The Governor's recommendation caught the PIAA off guard, and they met after Wolf's comments but haven't released anything yet officially. Multiple reports share that PIAA administrators asked Wolf to reconsider those comments, but that was ultimately unsuccessful.
I haven't seen any official word on if that recommendation includes college athletics as well, but it's definitely not good news for high school programs. These are programs full of coaches and kids that have spent the past six weeks preparing for their season, and taking all the right precautions only to have the carpet pulled out from under them at the last minute.
Unfortunately, even in states where the official word has been to press forward with fall sports, situations exactly like this one are what coaches are fearful of as the official start to fall practices is set to begin in many states (if they haven't already).