(Sioux City, Iowa) – The Great Plains Athletic Conference (GPAC) and its member institutions have announced the cancellation of all GPAC intercollegiate athletic competition for the remainder of the 2020 spring semester.
The announcement follows a decision by the NAIA to cancel the spring 2020 sports season, effective immediately.
“In the best interest of the health and safety for our student-athletes and member schools we will not have intercollegiate sports for the remainder of the 2020 spring semester,” said GPAC Commissioner, Corey Westra. “With the latest guidelines from the CDC and how rapidly the COVID-19 situation is evolving, this decision needed to be made. I want to thank the Presidents and leadership of our member institutions for their guidance and wisdom during these past few days as tough decisions needed to be made.”
The National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) announced today that it is cancelling the spring 2020 sports season, effective immediately.
“All possible scenarios that would have supported a spring sports season were seriously considered by multiple NAIA governance groups,” said NAIA President and CEO Jim Carr. “However, the growing state of emergency due to COVID-19, as well as the Center for Disease Control’s recommendation yesterday to limit gatherings to fewer than 50 people for eight weeks, meant we could not in good conscience move forward with the spring sports season and championships.”
In an effort to provide relief, no spring sport student-athlete will be charged a season of competition. Any spring sport student-athlete who was enrolled full-time in 2020 will be awarded two additional semester terms of attendance or the equivalent.
The NAIA is continuing to address outstanding questions related to these unprecedented changes and will share new information as it becomes available.
