SPARTANBURG, South Carolina (41NBC/WMGT) – The Southern Conference is delaying its fall league sports with the intention of playing them in the spring.
That’s according to a news release sent by Mercer athletics Thursday afternoon, which says football, men’s and women’s cross country, men’s and women’s soccer and volleyball are the impacted sports.
A SoCon news release said member schools can still play non-conference games this fall.
“Today’s decision by the SoCon was not one that was taken lightly,” Mercer Director of Athletics Jim Cole said. “Although disappointed by the move to the spring, I look forward to meeting with our student-athletes as soon as possible and charting a new path forward. The actions by the conference leave flexibility for a partial schedule this coming semester. I look forward to pursuing all options related to games in the fall.”
SoCon Commissioner Jim Schaus said the council felt the decision was necessary to “ensure the health and safety of student-athletes.”
“I am greatly saddened to not be able to conduct our fall conference competition,” Schaus said. “We know what this means to our student-athletes, coaches, staff and loyal fans, but safety must come first. We are still hopeful that we can have these sports successfully compete in the spring. We will continue to daily monitor the COVID-19 situation in order to make prudent and necessary decisions regarding athletic practice and competition in the future.”
Follow Tucker Sargent on Facebook and Twitter.
The post Southern Conference delays fall league sports with intention to play in spring appeared first on 41NBC News | WMGT-DT.