BOSTON – The America East Conference has taken a series of steps towards a return to competition as key actions were endorsed by the conference's Board of Presidents last week. The league made the official announcement on Monday morning.

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The Board approved several recommendations related to winter sports made by the conference's Administration Group, which consists of athletics directors, senior woman administrators and select committee chairs, including basketball testing protocols and schedule
formats as well as the season structures for indoor track & field and swimming & diving. Additionally, the conference finalized its scheduling framework for fall sports competing in the spring.
 
Basketball
For basketball, the Board approved the conference's COVID-19 testing pathways recommendations, which outline testing options available to schools to comply with the NCAA's Core Principles of Resocialization of Collegiate Basketball guidance and agreed that any non-conference opponents must also satisfy the NCAA's testing guidance for at least one week prior to competing against an America East team. The testing pathways were developed in consultation with the conference's Health and Safety Committee and Campus Health Advisory Group and informed by health and travel guidance from the conference's eight states. Both groups will continue to establish other health and safety measures over the next several weeks to ensure adherence to campus and state guidance. In addition to the testing protocols, the Board approved basketball scheduling formats proposed by the Basketball Sport Scenario Group for the 2020-21 season. The official men's and women's basketball schedules will be
announced in early November. The approved formats include:

• A full double round-robin schedule of 18 conference games.
• A schedule format that consists of weekend series (Saturday and Sunday) where a team hosts the same opponent on back-to-back days for two games.
• Conference play will start the weekend of December 19-20 with open weekends later in the season to accommodate any postponed games.
• Preserving institutional discretion on playing non-conference games the first three weeks of the season.

Indoor Track & Field and Swimming & Diving
In addition to the actions taken for basketball, the Board approved recommendations related to the other winter sports sponsored by the conference, including:

• Cancellation of the 2021 Indoor Track & Field Championship while allowing institutional discretion on regular-season competition.
• Shifting the swimming & diving regular season and championship to the spring semester with the specific championship dates and site(s) to be determined over the next several weeks.

Fall Sports
Finally, the Board of Presidents endorsed the conference's plan for shifting its fall sports competition season to the spring. The recommendations were put forward by various Sport Scenario Groups (SSGs), in consultation with head coaches' groups, and approved by the Administration Group. The models provide fall sport student-athletes a meaningful experience while preserving conference championship opportunities and access to NCAA Championships while also balancing the complexities of moving fall sports to the spring season and continuing to emphasize health & safety. The approved recommendations include:

• Cross Country: The Cross Country Championship will be held Friday, March 5 at a site to be determined.
• Field Hockey: A full round-robin schedule (8 games) starting on March 19 and ending on April 17 with the top four teams qualifying for the America East Championship on April 22 & 24.
• Men's Soccer: A six-game schedule starting February 26 and commencing on April 9 with a four-team, single-site America East Championship set for April 15 and 17.
• Women's Soccer: A six-game schedule starting March 7 and commencing on April 11 with a four-team, single-site America East Championship set for April 16 and 18.