There will be no fall sports at many universities this year, including UNB Saint John.
The Atlantic Collegiate Athletic Association (ACAA) and Atlantic University Sport (AUS) scrapped all first-semester sports earlier this week.
David Munro, athletics director at UNB Saint John, said physical distancing was the biggest factor.
“Early on, you’re looking for ways to modify the sport, can we really make this happen, can we make some changes, but the answer was no, we can’t,” said Munro.
The decision impacts soccer, track and field, cross country and women’s rugby, as well as exhibition and early season competitions for basketball, volleyball and badminton. A further decision on basketball, volleyball and badminton will be made at a later date.
Munro said many are still in denial about the loss of fall sports, but he said they knew a decision had to be made.
He said it is too soon to say whether sports will be able to return to the university for the winter term.
“From my perspective, as far as the physical distancing, as long as that’s in place, I think it would be really difficult to come back, I’m not sure we could,” he said.
The @ACAA_AASC has cancelled all first-semester sports scheduled for the 2020-21 season.
“The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted the entire world, and the health and safety must be the number one priority for all involved…”
More ➡️ https://t.co/KngLAYcHU0 @UNBSJSeawolves pic.twitter.com/v5dmmQSz6u
— UNB Saint John (@UNBSaintJohn) June 9, 2020
In the meantime, Munro said they are looking at ways to continue training and supporting varsity athletes under the current circumstances.
The ACAA has said student-athletes in first semester sports may be able to participate in some forms of athletic programming at their respective institutions provided they adhere to public health requirements. These requirements include physical distancing measures, screening and controlled facility access.
“We’re moving forward with our coaches to figure out what the fall season might look like in terms of training and the academic piece and everything, minus the games themselves,” he said.
As many national sports leagues make plans to resume, Munro said many varsity athletes are left wondering why the cannot do the same.
Munro believes the answer comes down to the television revenue those teams would receive.
“NHL has a half-a-billion-dollar TV revenue contract, baseball and football are even higher, so they’re going to be able to afford all of the testing and all of the self-quarantining and communities, things like that,” said Munro.
“At the university level, obviously those resources do not exist and we would not be able to self-quarantine the students and the athletes.”
Decisions on winter semester competition are expected to come this fall.
