Sun Belt Conference announces plan to begin football season Labor Day weekend

NEW ORLEANS – After extensive discussions and careful deliberation among the Sun Belt Conference Presidents and Chancellors, Athletics Directors, SBC COVID-19 Advisory Panel, medical advisors, and other governance groups, the Sun Belt Conference announced today that its football season will begin over Labor Day weekend.

Sun Belt member institutions have focused since June on a safe return to athletic activities. We believe this timetable will allow for the healthy integration of the entire campus community for each Sun Belt member.

The 2020 Sun Belt Conference football season will be comprised of an 8-conference game schedule with an option for each member to add as many as four non-conference opponents, beginning with Week Zero. The Sun Belt will host a football championship game on December 5 between the East Division and West Division champions. If necessary, the date of the championship game may be adjusted.

“We do intend to play a 12-game football schedule this season,” ULM Athletics Director Scott McDonald said. “It’s important for our community. It’s important for our student-athletes, and it’s important for our students here of campus to have something to look forward to this fall.

“We’ve been aggressively looking for games to fill the scheduling slots that became available after last week’s announcement by the Southeastern Conference. We have a chance to look at some attractive match-ups for our fans and student-athletes.”

The Sun Belt Conference will continue to monitor health trends across our communities. Sun Belt Presidents and Chancellors, Athletics Directors, the COVID-19 Advisory Panel, and medical advisors will continue to review data to ensure a safe return to activities and competition. Our data review will cross seven states and 12 counties and include, among other things, infection rates, hospitalization rates, local health directives, advancements in COVID-19 testing and campus, department and team health trends.

We will continue to provide updates on the league’s activities as the impact of the pandemic continues to evolve.