The Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference announced Wednesday it will begin winter sports competition on Jan. 29, with league schedules in basketball and hockey starting Feb. 6.
The 13-member conference had postponed fall and winter sports because of the pandemic. Following multiple discussions, its presidents voted to allow all four of the league's winter sports for men and women — basketball, hockey, indoor track and field, and swimming and diving — to be held with reduced schedules. There will be no MIAC playoffs or tournaments in any of the sports, and spectators will not be permitted.
Two MIAC teams, St. Olaf and Carleton, are not included in the winter schedule. Both announced last year they were canceling all sports competitions through mid-March.
Men's and women's basketball and hockey teams will play seven-game conference schedules. Each also can play as many as four nonconference games, beginning Jan. 29. All participating teams will play each conference opponent once; the team that compiles the best winning percentage while completing at least 51% of scheduled games will win the MIAC title and the league's automatic bid to the NCAA tournament.
In a statement, the MIAC said it is continuing to plan for spring sports competition, and for a potential spring schedule for football and other fall sports that were postponed.
As of now, the NCAA tournaments remain on the schedule, with fields limited to 75% of their usual size. The organization said COVID-19 testing and stricter sanitation requirements will add about $9 million to the tournaments' cost, leading the NCAA to reduce the number of participants.
To be eligible for an NCAA tournament, schools must play a minimum
number of games — nine in men's and women's basketball, and eight in men's and women's hockey — and conferences must have at least four core members participating to earn an automatic bid. If COVID-related issues force any changes, the automatic qualifier would still be eligible, but any school in the running for an at-large bid would need to get a waiver.
NCAA tournaments also could be canceled if too few schools participate in a given sport. In D-III basketball, indoor track and field or swimming and diving, 60% of schools with those sports must compete in order to hold an NCAA tournament; in hockey and wrestling, the threshold is 70%. Several D-III leagues already have canceled winter sports.
The NCAA championships committee still is uncertain how many members plan to compete. It has asked schools to respond to a survey by Jan. 25.
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