The NCAA has reduced the minimum number of contests required of Division I fall sports teams, excluding football, by 50% this season.
The decision by the Division I Council coordination committee to grant a blanket waiver for any school that needs it affects men’s and women’s cross country, men’s and women’s soccer, field hockey, men’s water polo and women’s volleyball teams.
Some conferences, like the Big Ten and Pac-12, have already announced they will play nothing but conference schedules in their fall sports.
The oversight committee also agreed to suspend the criterion requiring teams to have at least a .500 record to be considered for at-large selections into a championship field. A previous decision by the Division I Council allows conferences to determine how their automatic qualifiers are chosen for NCAA championship events up to two weeks prior to selections.
*Courtesy Associated Press
