The Daily Orange is a nonprofit newsroom that receives no funding from Syracuse University. Consider donating today to support our mission.

The Atlantic Coast Conference expects to make a decision on fall sports by the end of July, commissioner John Swofford said in a release. 

Swofford’s statement comes one day after the Big Ten announced a conference-only scheduling format this fall and Stadium’s Brett McMurphy reported soon after that the ACC would follow suit.

But ESPN and The Athletic recently reported that a decision hadn’t been made yet, and Swofford reiterated Friday that the ACC is continuing “to work on the best possible path forward.”

“Over the last few months, our conference has prepared numerous scenarios related to the fall athletics season,” Swofford said in the release. “The league membership and advisory will make every effort to be as prepared as possible during these unprecedented times.”

In addition to the Big Ten’s announcement, the ACC also delayed all competitions for Olympic sports this fall until Sept. 1 and the Ivy League’s canceled fall sports altogether — a move that Syracuse Director of Athletics John Wildhack said was “anticipated.” 

The Orange have already lost their Sept. 12 nonconference football game at Rutgers, and it’s unclear how many SU teams will be affected by the other conferences’ decisions. Football’s schedule is the only one that SU Athletics has released.

Wildhack said during a Zoom conference Thursday that conference-only scheduling is a possibility for the ACC, but multiple options are still being explored.

“Obviously the goal would be to play a full schedule, we’ll see if events dictate that we’re allowed to do that or not,” Wildhack said. 

Published on July 10, 2020 at 4:59 pm

Contact Andrew: arcrane@syr.edu | @CraneAndrew