A majority of the Florida High School Athletic Association’s Athletic Directors Advisory Committee voted to push the start of the fall sports season back to November due to the coronavirus pandemic, according to North Broward Prep athletic director and committee member Mike Ostrowski.
The committee, which met Wednesday morning, voted to recommend a policy that would delay fall sports practices until the end of November to the FHSAA Board of Directors, which will meet later this month to decide when fall sports will start. The meeting and vote were first reported by FloridaHSFootball.com.
The FHSAA’s Football Advisory Committee met last week and recommended a different proposal, which would allow high school sports to begin practices on Aug. 24 — the date the Board of Directors set at their previous meeting on July 23. Another option would delay the start of the fall practices at least until September but does not have a set date.
The members of the ADAC were asked to rank the three proposed athletic schedules.
Eight of the 15 members ranked “Option 3,” with the Nov. 30 start date as their top choice. Seven ranked “Option 1,” with an Aug. 24 start date as their top choice. Thirteen members ranked Option 3 as their first or second choice, Ostrowski said.
The FHSAA Board of Directors will take the recommendation from the ADAC, the sports advisory committees, the Sports Medicine Advisory Committee and other committees when it meets to decide the fate of fall sports on Aug. 14, Ostrowski said.
Option 3 would reshape high school sports in Florida for the 2020-21 school year.
Fall practices would begin on Nov. 30, with the season beginning on Dec. 14. The regular season would conclude on Jan. 23, and then the state series would go on with its current format or with adjustments.
Option 3 would also delay the start of winter and spring sports and shorten their seasons. Winter sports practices would be delayed until Feb. 15, with a season start date of March 1 and end date of April 3. Spring sports would begin practices on April 26, begin their regular seasons on May 10 and conclude their regular seasons on June 12. The sports calendar would conclude on June 26.
In Option 3, tennis would move to the winter season, while golf and swimming would move to the spring season.
The ADAC’s second choice, Option 1, would allow teams to begin practices on Aug. 24, with the football season beginning on Sept. 11. The regular season would last nine weeks, followed by an altered playoff schedule.
Teams would have to commit to playing in the state series by Oct. 12. After teams commit to the state series or decline to play for a state championship, Class 8A-2A would be redrawn (Class 1A would remain the same). The smallest third of schools by population would go to Class 4A-2A, while the remaining two-thirds would go to Class 8A-5A.
The playoff structure would be significantly changed under Option 1. There would be no district champions for the season, and all teams that declare for the state series would earn a playoff spot. Seeding would be determined by a blind draw on Oct. 26. If there are more than eight teams in a Class 4A-1A region, Week 11 will be a play-in game. If there are more than 16 teams in a Class 8A-5A region, that region would also have play-in games on Week 11.
The Class 4A-1A state championship games would be played Dec. 10-12. The Class 8A-5A state championship games would be played Dec. 17-19.
Option 1 was recommended by a unanimous vote of the Football Advisory Committee.
