KANSAS CITY, Mo. – The National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) announced the new dates for its postponed fall championships on Thursday. Its National Administrative Committee (NAC) convened to approve the new dates, and in some cases, new locations, for the spring of 2021.

In the last week of July, the NAIA Council of Presidents (COP) voted to postpone 2020 fall national championships to the spring. This move also allowed NAIA conferences and institutions the autonomy to schedule games as they see fit, playing entire schedules in the fall, spring, or a hybrid of both seasons. Football, women’s soccer, men’s soccer, women’s volleyball, and men’s and women’s cross-country national championships were all affected by this decision.

“We feel good about resetting these dates after taking a good look at our fall championship events, and being able to find dates that fit for our membership and our most of our host venues,” said Bill Popp, President of the NAIA National Administrative Council and Director of Athletics at Reinhardt (Ga.). “This was a tough task and the group that has been working together both from the national office and NAC have really done an exceptional job. My hat is off to them for the hard work.”

The NAIA Football National Championship has been rescheduled to occur on a Monday for the first time. The championship will remain at Eddie G. Robinson Stadium at Grambling State University and will take place on Monday, May 10, 2021 at 6 p.m. CT.

The NAIA Women’s Soccer National Championship has been relocated from Orange Beach, Ala., just seven miles away to Foley, Ala., at the Ralph Schumacher Soccer Complex as the Orange Beach Sportsplex undergoes construction. The re-scheduled national championship will take place from April 27-May 3, hosted by Foley Sports Tourism. The Orange Beach Convention and Visitor’s Bureau was instrumental in finding a suitable replacement as it continued its longstanding partnership with the NAIA during the rescheduling process. Women’s soccer will return to Orange Beach once again in the fall of 2021.

The NAIA Men’s Soccer National Championship will also make a move and will switch coasts to the east. Due to scheduling conflicts with the Orange County Great Park in Irvine, Calif., the men’s national championship is in final discussions with Columbia County, Ga., to host at Blanchard Woods Park May 4-10, 2021. The county is expected to approve a memorandum of understanding on the terms of this move by September 1.

Women’s Volleyball will be staying put in Sioux City, Iowa for the 13^th consecutive year. The Tyson Events Center will again play host as teams will battle it out for a national title from April 27 through May 1.

In both men’s and women’s cross-country, a new date was established in April as both coaches and student-athletes will navigate the difficulty of having the sports of track & field and cross-country at the same time. The re-scheduled cross-country national championship will take place on April 9, 2021 and will remain in Cedar Rapids at Seminole Valley Park, hosted by Cedar Rapids Tourism.

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KANSAS CITY – The National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics Council of Presidents (COP) voted on Tuesday, July 28 to postpone the national championships in cross country, men’s soccer, women’s soccer, and women’s volleyball to spring 2021. This decision still allows NAIA conferences to compete in the fall and winter, if they so choose. The timing of the football national championship will be determined at a subsequent COP meeting on Friday, July 31. Due to unique challenges surrounding football, COP members decided they needed more time to obtain feedback from their colleagues.

“Given the fast-paced and constantly-changing nature of the current environment, the COP recognized that the likelihood of safely completing the fall sports season has decreased significantly,” said Dr. Arvid Johnson, COP Chair and University of St. Francis President. “This decision allows conferences to consider the regional impact of COVID-19 when determining the appropriate time for regular season competition.”

Prior to the COP’s vote, 51 NAIA individual institutions had already opted to postpone fall competition until spring 2021.

“The NAIA realizes there are a wide range of considerations that come with postponing fall championships,” said NAIA President and CEO Jim Carr. “However, our first priority is making sure our student-athletes are not penalized by this decision. That will likely require temporary rule changes and accommodations as related to eligibility and seasons of competition, which the NAIA governance groups will begin further defining this week.”

In March 2020, the NAIA cancelled the spring 2020 sport season due to gathering restrictions recommended by the Centers for Disease Control. Consequently, no spring 2020 athlete was charged a season of competition.

“This decision exemplifies the COP placing a priority on institutional and conference autonomy while acting in the best interest of the association,” said Carr. “We are fortunate to have dedicated leadership across our shared governance groups who are passionate about supporting our student-athletes’ safety and overall experience.”

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KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) has announced multiple changes to championship formats that have been designed to improve the overall championship experience for its student-athletes. The changes were voted upon by the NAIA National Administrative Council (NAC) virtual meetings held this week and many will go into effect in the 2020 season.

The NAIA set forth to make significant changes, and while some of the below adjustments were originally slated to go into effect beginning in fall of 2021, the association deemed it vital to make these changes a year in advance to help positively impact the financial burden on its institutions immediately.

“We are pleased with the approval of these changes, as they will enhance the experience of the NAIA’s national championship structure,” said Jim Carr, NAIA President and CEO. “These changes will also greatly assist our schools in lowering costs, which was also a focus from a national perspective.”

The NAIA Women’s Volleyball championship format has been a topic of conversation for several years amongst coaches and administrators alike, trying to find a way to avoid multiple games a day for teams in the latter stages of the championship.

The new format will lessen the final site field to 24 teams (down from 32) and will include eight pools of three (down from four) teams. Currently, the top two teams of each pool advance to single elimination play, but in the new format, a team must win its pool to advance to the eight-team, single elimination bracket. The smaller pools also allow for the elimination of early morning and late evening matches and will allow for the semifinal and championship matches to be played on a separate day.

Also included in the format change will be the elimination of a direct berth to the final site. In the new format, 48 teams will compete in a single match opening round. The winners of each will advance to the 24-team final site field.

Changes were also approved for men’s volleyball as the sport continues to see growth. The NAC approved an increase in teams in the national championship field from eight to 12. The approved additions will increase the at-large berths from a possibility of two teams to as many as six.

In swimming and diving, changes made will restrict the overall number of participants to 316 in an effort to make the field more competitive both at the championship and in the regular season to make the qualifying standard. The overall final field will consist of 300 swimmers and 16 divers.

“I echo President Carr in saying these changes to the NAIA championship structure allow for NAIA membership to realize some significant savings but equally important is giving our student-athletes a great championship experience and these plans will allow for just that,” said NAIA NAC President Bill Popp. “I’d like to thank the NAC Championships Competition Committee for all of the work they did to achieve these goals. This group was able to work within a set of guiding principles and deliver these innovative championship plans.”

Men’s & women’s soccer will also make a large stride to improve the championship experience, both in the opening rounds and at the final site. The new format will change the opening round tournaments from a 15-site, three-team event to a four team tournament hosted at 10 sites. The 10 teams that emerge as champions at each site will head to the final site for the single elimination bracket play. The top six seeded teams in both genders will earn a bye to the second round while teams seeded No. 7-10 will play a first round matchup at the final site.

One of the most notable changes as a part of the soccer championship format adjustment will be the inclusion of a rest day for the teams involved at both the opening round and final sites. The NAC took direct input from the NAIA Council of Student-Athletes (CSA), which strongly advocated for a rest day between the opening round and final site games.

“This recommendation was made to significantly reduce the risk of injury for all competitive athletes,” said Michael Nolan, NAIA CSA Co-Chairman. “In most studies, performance levels were not fully re-achieved until at least 72 hours. Student-athletes had a perception of feeling performance ready at 48 hours post-match; however, the physiological studies show deficits from 72-96 hours.”

NAC Approves Hybrid-Regionalized Championship Opening Rounds

In response to its review of opening round placements in the sports of soccer, basketball, softball and baseball, the NAC approved the placement of teams qualifying through its conference (auto-qualifiers) at regional sites to reduce travel costs.

“The council felt strongly that conference matchups will not be repeated in the opening round of each championship and that placement of two teams from a given conference should also be avoided, if possible, at the same geographic site,” said Mike Higgins, NAIA Director of Championships. “The collective championship format changes are expected to save NAIA institutions over $500,000 annually.”

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