MHSAA Could Reconsider Fall Football If This Happens…

The Michigan High School Athletic Association (MHSAA) has previously announced that its football season has been postponed until the spring of 2021, but there is one more last-ditch effort to fit the sport into its normal fall season.

According to a report from MLive.com, the MHSAA is asking Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer to consider changing or amending Executive Order 160, which would allow for the potential to move the gridiron game back to its rightful fall season.

While a change to the order will not automatically move football back to the fall, but would open the door to a conversation for the sport to return to the fall.

“We currently cannot play football under Executive Order 160,” MHSAA media and content developer Geoff Kimmerly said in a statement to MLive.com. “If 160 is changed or amended, we would have to evaluate things at that time. That decision is not ours but is in the hands of the governor.

“However, we know that many of our districts all over the state would play football this fall if it is available, and we would look to revisit giving them that choice. We have seen possibilities cropping up of students playing football in an out-of-school setting, and we still believe they are the safest playing in a school-based environment.”

According to the Executive Order 160, the biggest obstacle for football to return is clearing the social distancing guidelines.

“Without an adjustment to 160 allowing reduced distancing for competition, it would be impossible to play football,” Kimmerly told MLive.com. “We have been discussing 160 with the Governor’s office since it was announced because it also deals with our ability to play the other three sports [boys’ soccer, girls’ swimming, and volleyball] statewide. Football has rejoined the discussion.

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“We hope to have more guidance on all of this sometime this week, and definitely before we get too far into September.”

To read the full report from MLive.com on the possibility of high school football being played this fall, click here.