NCAA Approves Changes For FCS Championship In Spring 2021

SALT LAKE CITY, Utah – The NCAA announced that the Division I Council approved changes to the FCS Championship to be held in the spring of 2021.

The announcement came on Wednesday, September 16.

In the spring of 2021, the FCS Championship will now take place from April 18-May 15, and will feature 16 teams instead of typical 24 team format used in the Championship.

DI Council approves changes to @NCAA_FCS championship: https://t.co/QZOkSwypky pic.twitter.com/gXUdDfonJr

— Inside the NCAA (@InsidetheNCAA) September 16, 2020

The Big Sky Conference, which Weber State and Southern Utah are members of, previously decided to not play college football in the fall of 2020 amid the coronavirus pandemic.

In addition to the framework for the FCS Championship, the Council approved a “playing and practice season model for schools that plan to participate in football in the spring.”

“The playing and practice season model for 2020-21 provides flexibility for practice time periods and permits up to eight regular-season games to occur during a period of not more than 13 weeks in the spring, with the last regular-season game occurring not later than April 17,” the NCAA said in a statement. “The model ensures that legislative requirements mandating specific days/time off (for example, discretionary weeks) for student-athletes during a traditional season will apply in a comparable manner to a spring season. The intent of the model is to allow maximum flexibility for conferences and schools, with an overarching goal of returning to the normal calendar for the 2021-22 academic year.”

Teams will be allowed to have on-field practice beginning on September 21. Schools are also allowed to hold fall camp or spring football but not both.

The NCAA said that if practices are impacted by the effects of COVID-19 “missed days may be used later in the window.”