The University of Delaware has suspended all fall sports for the 2020 season according to a message on the universities’ website:
“NEWARK, Del. – In conjunction with the decision of the Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) Football Conference Board of Directors, the University of Delaware will suspend conference competition for the upcoming 2020 football season.
Keeping health and safety as the top priorities for the UD community, all fall sports, including cross country, field hockey, men’s and women’s soccer and volleyball will be suspended. The sports of rowing, men’s and women’s tennis and men’s and women’s golf will also not participate in fall competition. These decisions come at a time of unprecedented uncertainty in the face of the global pandemic.
Delaware Athletics will diligently explore opportunities to create a competitive season for the fall sports programs during the spring of 2021.
“These are certainly unprecedented and challenging times and this decision was an incredibly difficult one to make. The health and safety of our student-athletes, coaches and entire community has always been, and will continue to be our top priority. We know how hard our student-athletes, coaches and staff work to compete for this great University,” Director of Intercollegiate Athletics and Recreation Chrissi Rawak said. “We also know that we have so many loyal supporters that bleed Blue and Gold, however, to mitigate risk and compete in a safe and healthy environment, ultimately this was a decision that needed to be made. We will do everything we can to give our student-athletes and coaches an opportunity to compete for the University of Delaware as soon as it’s safe to do so.”
If student-athletes choose not to participate in intercollegiate athletics at any time during the summer and/or the 2020-21 academic year due to concerns about COVID-19, their scholarship will still be honored and they will remain in good standing with their team for this academic year.
While the entire CAA conference did not make a collective decision on sports outside of football, we felt it was necessary for us to align our decision for all of our fall sports. We recognize and respect that each full member conference school is in a different part of the country with different campus circumstances, however, we believe that this is the right decision for us.
There were several peer institutions competing in the CAA Conference that have made the same decision to suspend fall sports competition.
In alignment with local and state guidelines, UD will also continue with voluntary workout participation that is currently taking place, as permitted to do so per the NCAA.
Decisions on winter sports and their competitive season will be made at a later date.”