NOTE: This article originally appeared in The Fordham Ram in September 2020.
With the NCAA’s recent decision to move its fall championships to the spring, the Atlantic 10 has punted on attempting to conduct a fall season starting in early October.
When the A-10 announced that it was postponing the start of its 2020 fall season due to high rates of COVID-19 in several of its member states, the conference left the option open to start a fall season in early October if conditions allowed. Between the NCAA’s decision and sustained coronavirus outbreaks in several states where A-10 schools compete, the decision became simple.
With this window of opportunity closed, most of Fordham’s teams — which compete in the A-10 — will have to wait to find out when they are playing again. As of this writing, there are no Fordham sports in action right now, though some teams are holding practices.
This postponement will affect Fordham’s soccer, volleyball, cross country, golf, tennis, rowing and swimming and diving programs, all of whom play competitively in the fall. Back on July 17, Atlantic 10 commissioner Bernadette McGlade outlined what would need to happen — and ultimately didn’t — for the A-10 to come back.
“There would have to be a significant upward trend in [the lowering of] all of the impacts we’re seeing right now,” she said at the time. “It’s a slim opportunity, but we felt like we should keep it on the table.”