AURORA | The possibility of playing football in the fall in Colorado existed for a day after Colorado Gov. Jared Polis said he would be “thrilled” to work with the Colorado High School Activities Association if it came up with a new plan for safe play.
CHSAA’s Board of Directors, however, dashed those dreams of coaches and players around the state when it chose not to make any changes to the calendar it previously announced that moved football and four other traditional fall sports to the spring.
Just two days after CHSAA Commissioner Rhonda Blanford-Green communicated with member schools that the organization was reconsidering the possibilities, the CHSAA board voted Tuesday night unanimously to keep the calendar approved Aug. 4 in place.
According to a statement issued by CHSAA Wednesday, the fact that several school districts in the state are still working on returning to in-person school played a factor in the decision according to a statement from CHSAA, as well as Title IX implications and the fact that many plans had been put in place in the last month to adjust to the new timetable.
According to MaxPreps,com, 33 states currently have started or soon will start seasons. Louisiana was the most recent to approve a start to the season, targeting Oct. 8.
Barring any other changes, Colorado is scheduled to begin football practice on Feb. 22, 2021. The announcement of that decision and the length of time it took to make prompted several football players from Aurora and elsewhere to move out of state — including quite a few to Arizona, which is scheduled to begin Sept. 30 — and caused some seniors to plan to graduate early and head to college programs instead of playing in the spring.