In a move that’s been widely expected for the last two weeks, the CIF State office announced that it’s pushing back the start of the high school sports season in California to January. The CIF State schedule was released at 9 a.m. on Monday, and still includes a full Fall/Winter/Spring plan with all sports scheduled to compete after the start of the New Year–the three seasons will be combined into a “Fall” and “Spring” grouping.
Now that the statewide calendars have been set, the individual section offices will release their plans throughout the rest of the day. All Long Beach high schools fall under the purview of the CIF Southern Section office, which will host a press conference at 1 p.m. with significant details to be released including championship schedules, exact dates, and playoff qualification procedures.
Here’s the full text of the CIF State release:
The California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) has determined, in collaboration with our 10 Sections, that education-based athletics for the 2020-2021 school year will begin with a modified season of sport schedule (see below for 2020-21 sports calendar). Our calendar reflects the season for each CIF sport and the last date for Section Championships and Regional/State Championships in those sports where a Regional/State Championship is currently offered. Following this announcement, each CIF Section Office will release their own calendar to reflect regular season starting and ending dates and Section playoffs. It is anticipated that most Section start dates will commence in December 2020 or January 2021.
We are continuously monitoring the directives and guidelines released from the Governor’s Office, the California Department of Education, the California Department of Public Health, and local county health departments and agencies as these directives and guidelines are followed by our member schools/school districts with student health and safety at the forefront. As these guidelines change, CIF Sections may allow for athletic activity to potentially resume under the summer period rules of the local Section. Also, given this calendar change, the CIF has temporarily suspended Bylaws 600-605 (Outside Competition) in all sports for the 2020-21 school year (see below for more specific information related to these changes).
Ahead of its early afternoon press conference the CIF-SS has posted its sports calendars, which will largely begin in January–high school football will see a full 10-game schedule under the calendar.
