Athletics Veritas is a weekly series aimed at helping higher education executives, faculty, and other stakeholders stay tuned in on trending national issues impacting college athletics, especially NCAA Division I. Athletics Veritas is created by senior DI athletic administrators around the nation.
Term-In-Ology: Segments of the Playing Season
NCAA Bylaw 17 playing and practice seasons regulations indicate that for all sports other than football, basketball, cross country, and track and field, an institution may divide the playing season into not more than two distinct segments. In other words, most Division I sports have a championship segment that concludes with the NCAA championship and non-championship segment in the opposite part of the academic year.
Generally speaking, most Division I sports are allocated a set number of days to utilize toward their playing season segments. For example, a Division I women’s soccer team’s playing season may not run longer than 132 days. Since women’s soccer may divide its playing season into no more than two segments, each women’s soccer program must determine in a normal year how many days it will use in the fall championship segment and the spring non-championship segment.
Obviously, this is not a normal year. This fall is particularly tricky for purposes of playing season declarations as some Division I conferences are still attempting to play fall Olympic sports (like women’s soccer) this fall. There is educated guesswork necessary to decide how many playing season segment days of the 132 in a sport like women’s soccer to use this fall and how many to save for the spring given the possibility of Division I fall sports conducting their championships in Spring 2021 due to the pandemic.
It is possible that NCAA blanket or school-specific waivers may be necessary to iron out playing season segment irregularities in 2020-21 due to some Division I schools’ fall Olympic sports competing in the fall while others hold off until spring.
Athletics Veritas is presented for information purposes only and should not be considered advice or counsel on NCAA compliance matters. For guidance on NCAA rules and processes, always consult your university’s athletics compliance office, conference office, and/or the NCAA.
