By Southern Pigskin Staff
SouthernPigskin.com

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The Southern Conference Council of Presidents announced Thursday that the league will not have fall conference competition.

SoConSports.com

SPARTANBURG, S.C. xe2x80x93 The Southern Conference Council of Presidents announced Thursday that the league will not have fall conference competition due to health and safety concerns related to the COVID-19 pandemic, allowing for nonconference contests if desired. It is the intention to move the fall sportsxe2x80x99 regular-season competition and championships to the spring.

The fall sports impacted by this decision are football, menxe2x80x99s and womenxe2x80x99s cross country, menxe2x80x99s and womenxe2x80x99s soccer and volleyball. Practice and competition for some sports that have their championships in the winter/spring but traditionally have fall practice and competitions (menxe2x80x99s and womenxe2x80x99s golf, menxe2x80x99s and womenxe2x80x99s tennis, menxe2x80x99s and womenxe2x80x99s lacrosse, baseball, softball and rifle) will be determined by each institution.

xe2x80x9cThis decision was made with extensive evaluation and conversation,xe2x80x9d Southern Conference Commissioner Jim Schaus said. xe2x80x9cUltimately, we felt it necessary to ensure the health and safety of student-athletes, coaches and staff. This decision was also supported by the conferencexe2x80x99s medical advisory committee.

xe2x80x9cI am greatly saddened to not be able to conduct our fall conference competition. 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.xe2x80x9d