FHSAA votes to keep Aug. 24 as fall sports starting date

The Florida High School Athletic Association Board of Directors voted Friday to keep Aug. 24 as the starting date for fall sports, with the first games coming as early as Sept. 4.

The vote passed 11-5 with an amendment stating that schools have until Sept. 18 to opt out of the State Series (the playoffs) if they believe they cannot start fall sports with everyone else. Such schools can then work with the FHSAA to create a separate, regional schedule that works for them. All coaches will also have to watch a National Federation of State High School Associations safety video on COVID-19 and provide a certificate as proof of having watched it, like they do with videos for cardiac arrest and other safety concerns. 

Friday's meeting was a result of the board's last meeting, on July 23, when it voted to push the start of fall sports to Aug. 24 pending discussions with its Sports Medicine Advisory Committee and other committees about the best options for moving forward. Ultimately, the board chose to keep Aug. 24 as the date. 

Based on the plan, football games, cross country meets and other regular season contests would have 10 days of preseason practice before the first allowed games or matches. 

For football specifically, according to the plan, the regular season will run through Nov. 6. There will be no district champions crowned in 2020. Instead, every team that wants to be eligible for the State Series will receive a playoff spot, with seeding determined through a blind draw. Teams that withdraw from the State Series can play regular season contests through Dec. 19. No team may play more than 10 regular season games. 

For volleyball specifically, teams that withdraw from the State Series can play regular season contests through Nov. 14. No school can play more than 25 regular season matches whether in the State Series or not. 

The vote came approximately two and a half hours into an in-person meeting held in Gainesville. The option chosen, titled "Option 1," was one of two plans the board seriously debated.  The other plan, titled "Option 3," would have both pushed back the start of fall sports into November and seen sports such as golf seasons completely, moving to the spring.

The current plan goes against the recommendations of the FHSAA's Sports Medicine Advisory Committee, which unanimously rejected Option 1 and said it would only support Option 3 if scientific measures were put in place to determine an exact return to play date that was safe.