Updated 11:15pm 7/22/20
Tennessee high school football fans got some great news Wednesday as the TSSAA Board of Control voted to proceed with their plans for the 2020 gridiron season, but with some major rule changes.
“The regulations and guidelines the Board passed Wednesday go into effect immediately for all sports,” said Bernard Childress, Executive Director of the TSSAA. “We’re hopeful that the prohibition on contact sports will be lifted before August 29, but if it’s not, the Board of Control has put some policies in place to help keep our kids and communities safe and lay out a roadmap to the start of our football and girls’ soccer seasons.”
What the association does not yet have is an exact start date for competitions. The reasoning there is fairly straightforward: Tennessee high schools and their athletics programs, as well as myriad other entities, cannot begin practices and/or games in contact sports under Gov. Bill Lee’s current State of Emergency Order. Executive Order No. 50 promotes “social distancing and avoidance of large gatherings” and limits activities in contact sports.
“We are working hand-in-hand with the Governor’s Office,” Childress said. “Everything presented today has been vetted by the Governor’s Office, agreed upon by their legal counsel and by our legal counsel.
“The governor’s (executive order) is still in place. We cannot do anything right now other than weightlifting, conditioning, heat acclimation periods with no contact. This is not TSSAA vs. the Governor’s Office. Everything has been a joint effort and we are not in conflict. Our goal is to have an ordinary season as much as possible.”
Member schools will require that all fans wear facial coverings at all times while on- site (except children under age 2) and maintain social distancing (six feet, or the equivalent of two empty seats between themselves and other fans) from anyone other than those living in the same household.
Daily temp checks for athletes. If they have a temperature over 100.4 they will be sent home immediately and not allowed to return until they are cleared of COVID-19 or can prove it did not case the fever.
Everyone who enters the game venue, players, coaches, officials, administrators, fans, will have their temperature checked before entering and they will not be allowed if it exceeds 100.4.
Concession stands are discouraged because they tend to invite gatherings of people in close quarters. If a member school chooses to operate a concession stand at a contest, signage or other appropriate markings must be in place to encourage customers to maintain physical distancing while standing in line. Where possible, schools that choose to operate concession stands are encouraged to arrange for call-in orders in order to reduce the number of people gathering to stand in line and to limit the number of concession workers. All concession stand workers must wear facial coverings and must maintain as much physical distance as possible in the confines of the concession stand.
Teams that are forced to miss games because of COVID-19 outbreaks will not receive a loss, but if it happens in the post season they will be eliminated. Healthy teams will be awarded victories when their opponent can not play because of an outbreak.
If a public address system is in use for a contest, the host school will make public service announcements at various times during the contest to remind those in attendance to use masks and maintain physical distancing.
If the order is not lifted before August 10 the season will be extended by two weeks with the championships being held November 11-14.
Football got a lot more complicated. They were considering four options, but Wednesday a fifth was presented and approved.
The “Option 2-Hybrid” plan. Matthew Gilliespie of the TSSAA described it as a “rolling schedule” that allows for the TSSAA to adjust on the fly if the Governor lifts the order. It would eliminate non-region games and reschedule region games each week the order holds in August. If the order holds until August 30th they would pick up the Option 2 plan which calls for an 8 game season with 16 playoff teams in each bracket:
For football’s “Option 2 Hybrid” plan, the state preserves the potential for an 10-game regular season and full playoff format, but also lays the groundwork for what could become an eight-game season with a reduced playoff field for Division I.
The plan perhaps is most succinctly summarized as thus: Once the state of Tennessee reaches the date of August 4 and the governor’s executive order declaring a State of Emergency still stands, region games originally scheduled for Week 1 of the prep football season will be moved to later, common dates that TSSAA already has modeled. As each week passes where no contact is allowed, the next week’s region games are rescheduled.
For Greg McCullough, Memphis Central principal and TSSAA Board of Control vice president, keeping schools’ schedules nearly intact was a strong positive. The original Plan 2, as conceived, would have gutted all schedules statewide and left coaches scrambling to fill multiple open dates.
“Just my personal opinion, but having lived that scheduling nightmare already, this makes sense to me, but it needs to be explained well to coaches. This allows a better option for all schools and gives a chance for schools to play as many games as they can possibly get.”
Now, with a vote on the Option 2 Hybrid, there is a potential start date in place and a plan for the season to begin as early as Aug. 21 or as late as Sept. 18.
General Rule Considerations for all TSSAA Sports Returning to Competition During the COVID-19 Pandemic
Pre-Game Procedures
- ● While it has always been customary to shake hands as a part of the pre-game conferences and activities, this should not take place during this pandemic.
- ● Pre-game conferences will take place with fewer officials, coaches and staff than in years past. Refer to the sport specific guidelines for details.Team Benches
- ● Social Distancing is encouraged for bench personnel. Schools should carefully consider the role of all bench personnel and eliminate those who are non-essential.
- ● Players and coaches should provide their own water, sports drinks, etc.Officials Table / Press Box
● Should be limited to essential personnel to ensure social distancing. Schools should carefully consider the role of all personnel at the officials’ table and press box and eliminate those who are non-essential.
Post-Game Procedures
● Handshakes, hugs, etc. have always been an integral part of postgame procedures. During this pandemic, these should not take place.
Dressing Facilities
● If available, dressing facilities for game officials and teams should be large enough for them to use social distancing protocols and should be properly cleaned and sanitized prior to their arrival.
Contest Officials
- ● Officials are not responsible for monitoring activities on the sidelines, such as social distancing, hand washing, symptoms of illness, handshakes, or other such issues. The responsibility of monitoring remains with school personnel.
- ● Cloth face coverings are permissible. If worn, they should be solid in color, all alike, and not contain any images or logos.
- ● Electronic whistles are permissible, but not likely to be available
- ● Officials should provide their own water, sports drinks, etc.
You can CLICK HERE for the July 22nd meeting modifications.