UPDATE: Monmouth has also canceled its 2020 football season. The Hawks are an affiliate member of the Big South in that sport.
**
We are getting closer to a fall without Division-1 athletics in New Jersey, and maybe anywhere.
The Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference is expected to cancel fall sports amid the coronavirus pandemic, according to CBS Sports’ Jon Rothstein. Monmouth, Rider and Saint Peter’s are all members of the tri-state league, which also has six members in New York and two in Connecticut.
Introducing Rutgers Sports Insider: Sign up for exclusive news, behind-the-scenes observations and the ability to text message directly with beat writers
The anticipated announcement begs the question: If the MAAC, a mid-major conference that does not sponsor football and is based in the three states having arguably the most current success battling COVID-19, does not think its safe to play, is it inevitable the rest of the nation will decide the same at some point?
CORONAVIRUS RESOURCES: Live map tracker | Newsletter | Homepage
Princeton and NJIT were previously impacted when the Ivy League and America East Conference, respectively, canceled fall sports. Only three of the Garden State’s eight Division-1 schools remain scheduled to compete this fall: Rutgers in the Big Ten Conference, Seton Hall in the Big East Conference and Fairleigh Dickinson in the Northeast Conference.
Get Rutgers Sports Insider text messages from reporters: Cut through the clutter of social media and communicate directly with the Rutgers beat writers. Plus, exclusive news and analysis every day. Sign up now.
Please subscribe now and support the local journalism YOU rely on and trust.
James Kratch may be reached at jkratch@njadvancemedia.com.
