Fall HS Football Canceled

There will be no high school football this fall in Michigan.

The Michigan High School Athletic Association today announced plans to move football to spring, in hopes the COVID-19 pandemic will be under control enough by then to allow it.

“At the end of the day, we did everything we could to find a path forward for football this fall,” MHSAA Executive Director Mark Uyl said. “But while continuing to connect with the Governor’s office, state health department officials, our member schools’ personnel and the Council, there is just too much uncertainty and too many unknowns to play football this fall.

“No one is willing to take the risk of COVID being passed on because of a high-risk sport. Decisions have to be made on our other sports as well, but none of those carry the same close, consistent, and face-to-face contact as football.”

Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer has assigned the task of determining the fate of high school sports to the MHSAA.

Football is considered a high-risk sport, because of its close player-to-player contact. Of the fall sports in which Copper Country teams compete, volleyball is considered moderate-risk, and golf and cross country are considered low risk. Practices for those athletes may continue, for now. No decision has been made as to whether competition will be allowed.

No specific schedule or or plan for spring football has been developed. Officials said they would attempt to limit overlap between the football campaign and other traditional spring sports.