The CAA announced on Friday that the Conference's Board of Directors has voted to suspend conference competition originally scheduled for this fall due to continuing concerns associated with the COVID-19 pandemic.

The conference has concurrently expressed "a strong commitment" to exploring a spring football season as a contingency.

Beyond that, the CAA affirmed that league policies will permit member institutions to pursue playing as independents this fall — an option that has reportedly been met with some level of interest at both James Madison and Elon.

“I commend the Board of Directors for their forward thinking and open-mindedness when dealing with the uncertain and complex moment that we find ourselves in,” said CAA Commissioner Joe D’Antonio. “Each of our institutions is making the best decisions for its campus community, based on a totality of the circumstances analysis.” 

For the 2020-21 academic year, institutions will have the ability to manage practice activities for its football student-athletes in a manner that best meets institutional, federal, state and local guidelines, as well as NCAA Rules.

In addition to the announcement of suspension, the board offered up the following statement:

“The institutions of the Colonial Athletic Association recognize that we compete in a conference made up of ten distinctive institutions that are located in eight states. As one Conference, we share a commitment to the health, safety, and well-being of our student-athletes, campuses, and communities. 

As we each navigate this pandemic, we recognize that each of our ten members must rely on local and state guidance, as well as medical expertise that may result in different decisions and different timelines for each institution. Therefore, we support each other and the unique circumstances of each of our campuses and communities to make decisions that are best for them. We do so as ten institutions aligned as one conference.”

We will provide updates on the plans of specific CAA member institutions as those are made available.