ACAC Announces Plans for 2020-21

EDMONTON, AB (June 19, 2020) - The ACAC Conference Council voted unanimously in support of the recommendations put forward by a 20-21 Planning Task Force. These decisions related to the 2020-21 ACAC season of play follow months of internal deliberation and discussion, information gathering, and consultation with numerous stakeholders including Presidents and Senior Administrators governing the ACAC's 17 member institutions. The best interests of studentathletes and the health and safety of all involved have remained paramount in the process to arrive at these recommendations.

1. The ACAC Fall 2020 sport season of play is cancelled.
2. All 2-semester and single-semester ACAC winter semester sports will be scheduled for completion in the Winter 2021 semester, commencing January 2021.  This includes Basketball, Volleyball, Badminton, Men's Hockey, Women's Hockey, Curling, Futsal, and Indoor Track.
3. The Fall 2020 semester sports - Golf, Cross Country Running, Soccer - will be rescheduled and conducted in
   Spring 2021, beginning April 2021. 
   
   To participate in these sports, student-athletes will NOT be required to enroll in the Spring 2021 semester,
   but they must meet and maintain academic and other requirements for ACAC eligibility in the Winter 2021
   semester. Start date, format and length of schedule will be determined at a later date.

Important Additional Information:

• The previously approved option for members to apply for Manifest Hardship (penalty free) and suspend participation in any ACAC sport in 2020-21 due to the challenges presented by COVID-19 remains in effect.
• The ACAC acknowledges and accepts the independent authority of each member institution to determine the level and extent of athletics program activity (training and/or non-conference exhibition competition) by each ACAC-member institution during the Fall 2020 semester. This presumes adherence to all restrictions and guidelines related to safe sport participation as imposed by Alberta Health Services, the Governments of Alberta/Saskatchewan/Canada, and each of the relevant Provincial/National Sport Governing Bodies.  Furthermore, all institutional policies will be respected and abided. 
• The CCAA has previously declared that consumption of a year of athletic eligibility will be suspended in any sport for which the CCAA National Championship has been cancelled. This immediately impacts Soccer, Golf and Cross-Country Running student-athletes since the 2020 CCAA Fall season has been cancelled. Further decisions related to the consumption of a year of eligibility in other ACAC/CCAA sports are pending.
• Further decisions about schedules, formats, and related student-athlete eligibility policies will be discussed at an ACAC Special Meeting scheduled for June 25, 2020.

For more information contact:
Mark Kosak, CEO
(403) 875-7329
markk@acac.ab.ca