AUSTIN, Texas — Texas will delay the start of the public high school football season for its largest schools by a month as the state grapples with a recent surge of new coronavirus cases, hospitalizations and deaths.
Instead of starting practice Aug. 3, those schools can now start Sept. 7. The first games can be played Sept. 24, a month after the originally scheduled opening weekend.
The University Interscholastic League said it focused the delay on larger schools, as many of them are in the state’s largest metropolitan areas, which have been hit hardest by the surge of virus cases.
Some school districts are already changing their calendars to delay the start of the academic year, or to begin the year with several weeks of online classes. The Houston school district, the largest in the state, won’t meet on campus until mid-October.
The UIL’s announcement said it also anticipates that not all schools will start at the same time and could face disruptions during the season.
“These adjustments reflect the public health situation at this time and the varying numbers of COVID-19 cases across different geographic areas of the state,” the UIL said in its announcement.
The California Interscholastic Federation on Monday released a statement saying education-based athletics for the 2020-2021 school year will begin with a modified season, anticipating it won’t begin for most sports until December or January.
The CIF did not specify the start dates for the regular season for each sport, as that will be determined by each CIF section throughout the state. It did, however, release dates specifying the last day for section playoffs in each sport, saying football’s last day for section playoffs is April 10, 2021, and the last day for regional and state championships is April 17, 2021.
