The MIAA’s Tournament Management Committee (TMC) held a live, remote meeting on Friday to discuss the structure of the spring 2020 season in response to the Board of Directors’ decision to move the start of spring sports back to April 27. The discussions, which mainly focused on the amount of preseason practice that will be required and the structure of the postseason, led to a number of votes being held by the TMC.
All votes are based on the current understanding that the season is scheduled to begin on April 27, which was approved in a vote by the Board of Directors earlier this week.
With that in mind, the TMC voted 16-0 to allow teams to begin playing games seven calendar days after the first day of practice as opposed to the normal 11-day waiting period required by the MIAA. In a similar vote, the TMC voted 11-5 to allow golf teams to begin matches just three days after the first practice day. With these votes in place, teams can begin playing regular season games as early as May 4.
The TMC also voted 13-1 to make the cutoff date for regular season games June 10. In a 14-0 vote, the TMC decided that the maximum number of regular season games that a team can play will be 12, and the minimum number of games required to be tournament eligible will be eight. The Board of Directors still will need to ratify the maximum number of games per Rule 34 of the MIAA Handbook.
Similarly, the Committee voted 12-1-1 to have no endowment or exclusion games during the Spring 2020 season.
With the new cutoff date for the regular season at June 10 and the final day of the spring season at June 20 (June 21 rain date), the MIAA is planning to run a postseason tournament. With a limited time availability, the TMC voted 13-3 that if the season begins on April 27 then there will be a postseason tournament. But if the start of the season is delayed until after April 27, there won’t be a postseason tournament.
The next TMC meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, March 24. Due to the ever-evolving nature of the coronavirus situation, the discussions surrounding the Spring 2020 season are expected to remain fluid.