On Monday, Jan. 11, the NCAA announced its health and safety protocols for winter championships.
Following the recent announcement of health and safety protocols for the Division I Men’s Basketball Championships, the NCAA has announced protocols for most other winter championships.
“This is the next step in being able to have our student-athletes compete for national championships in the safest manner possible,” said Dr. Brian Hainline, the NCAA’s chief medical officer. “These protocols have been put in place after extensive discussion with some of the leading members of the medical and scientific community who have the utmost expertise in public health and COVID-19.”
The first portion of the plan calls for all rounds of the winter championships to be held at predetermined sites, rather than at traditional sites that are not predetermined. Bids for predetermined preliminary rounds will be accepted now through Jan. 25, with the host sites to be announced the week of Feb. 8. For championships that typically have predetermined sites that have previously been announced, those sites will continue to host as long as local public health authorities determine it is safe to do so.
Protocols for the Division I Women’s Basketball Championship are still being finalized.
Previously, Division I announced its fall championships will be held in the spring, while Divisions II and III canceled all fall championships. The process to assign predetermined sites for all rounds of Division I and National Collegiate fall sport championships will be held in early February.
