NCAA announces cancellation of spring sports championships

The 2020 men’s and women’s college lacrosse seasons have been all but cancelled, as part of the cancellation of all spring sport championships by the NCAA, due to the evolving public threat of COVID-19.

This hit the entire sports world over the last couple of days, and many lacrosse schools announced that sporting events would be held without spectators. That was merely a precursor to the inevitable, as yesterday the Ivy League announced that they were cancelling the remainder of their spring sports seasons. That was followed by the Patriot League this morning, and then the CAA and NEC announcing that their seasons were being indefinitely postponed. The ACC was rumored to be discussing it and soon after they announced their suspension until further notice, the NCAA decided to shutter all their championships for winter and spring.

Conferences could technically still continue the season and award their own conference championships, but with all national championships cancelled and conferences announcing their own suspensions and postponements before the season, the 2020 season for men’s and women’s lacrosse is for all intents and purposes, over.

A truly unprecedented event and decision like this brings up many questions, such as eligibility for seniors (and others) who have had their seasons canceled, graduate transfers signing NLIs, what to do about potential massive roster sizes if every succeeding senior class seeks an extra year of eligibility due to having their season canceled, and others. These will all have to be answered over the next few months, and there is no obvious answer of how to handle it, albeit you’d certainly hope this is not the end of many players careers.