AURORA | The saga of the potential expansion of the fall prep sports season in Colorado could take another turn Monday.
Gov. Jared Polis said Friday that the weekend would be “informative” about the possibility of adding at least football and possibly other sports to the four currently in competition (softball, cross country, boys tennis and boys golf) in the state during the coronavirus pandemic.
The Colorado High School Activities Association tweeted that it was submitting new potential plans to Polis’ COVID-19 Response Team for a slew of fall sports, plus spirit, with modified variance requests that would allow for larger rosters and possibly some kind of attendance at events.
Polis subsequently tweeted that his office was working to approve variances for “football and field hockey” and would work on other sports at a later date, singling out indoors sports for “when they can be safely played.”
Over the weekend, a survey was sent out to districts around Colorado asking for their interest in holding a fall sports season. Those surveys were due Monday morning and the results could yield movement one way or another. Also over the weekend, CHSAA Commissioner Rhonda Blanford-Green responded on Twitter to the criticism of the process and released a submission to Polis’ office.
Of course given what occurred last week, nothing is certain at this point.
On Labor Day, Blanford-Green sent communication to member schools saying the organization was looking into new plans that might make the fall season possible.
Polis responded at his press conference a day later and said he would be “thrilled” to work with CHSAA if the Board of Directors chose to submit a new proposal. The Board of Directors, however, voted unanimously not to make any changes to the calendar it had approved on Aug. 4, which moved football and other fall sports to the spring.
Courtney Oakes is Sentinel Colorado Sports Editor. Reach him at 303-750-7555 or sports@sentinelcolorado.com. Twitter: @aurorasports. IG: Sentinel Prep Sports
