NEAC Presidents Council issues update regarding winter sports

MORRISVILLE, N.Y. – The North Eastern Athletic Conference (NEAC) Presidents Council issued a statement Friday, unanimously reaching the decision to postpone all conference competition for the remainder of 2020.

SUNY Morrisville competes in men’s and women’s basketball during the winter season in the NEAC.

“We recognize the difficult sacrifices so many students, staff and fans are making during this time,” said SUNY Morrisville President David Rogers, who serves on the NEAC Presidents’ Council. “We are grateful for their commitment to health and safety at all times, especially during this pandemic. To support these efforts, SUNY Morrisville commits to holding off on any intercollegiate events until Jan. 1, 2021.”

With the anticipated update to the NCAA Core Principles of Resocialization to be released in the near future, the Presidents’ Council and Board of Athletic Directors will continue to review the recommendations and requirements presented for winter sports, for facilitation of the safe return to play.

“We are continuing to navigate a number of challenges in relation to the pandemic, but we are all eager for the day we can resume competition,” said NEAC Commissioner Stephanie Dutton. “We need our student-athletes and campus communities to be leaders in mitigating the spread of COVID-19 in our communities by ensuring individual hygiene practices, avoiding large social gatherings and wearing a mask at all times when in the presence of others. We are all truly in this together and any deviation from such recommendations will increase the chance of campus outbreaks and hinder our abilities to bring competition back to our campuses.”

SUNY Morrisville continues to place the health and safety of the campus community at the forefront of all its decisions. The college offers weekly COVID-10 pooled testing to its students, while also testing each staff member every four weeks. SUNY Morrisville also has increased its wastewater testing to twice a week through the use of five collection sites throughout campus, which provides the ability to test for the presence of COVID-19 in wastewater samples from facilities and residential halls.

Here is the full statement from the NEAC:

Following a unanimous decision by the North Eastern Athletic Conference (NEAC) Presidents’ Council, all conference competition will be postponed for the remainder of 2020. With fall competition already suspended, this decision will delay the potential start of the league’s basketball schedule until January 2021 at the earliest.

The NEAC will allow its member institutions to individually determine their engagement level in athletic activities through Dec. 31, 2020 while also requesting that institutions continue to adhere to local, state, and federal health guidelines as well as NCAA regulations.

With updated NCAA Core Principles of Resocialization anticipated in the near future, the NEAC Presidents’ Council and Board of Athletic Directors will continue to review the recommendations and requirements presented for winter sports to determine when a safe return to play can be facilitated.

As additional updates are available regarding NCAA rules and regulations, the NEAC will continue to share that information with our member institutions.