UNC to resume some athletic activities on Sunday; football returns Monday
Posted August 19, 2020 5:21 p.m. EDT
Updated August 22, 2020 5:27 p.m. EDT
Chapel Hill, N.C. — The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill's athletic department announced Saturday afternoon that some of its sports will resume activities on Sunday. Football will return to activities on Monday.
On the athletic department's Twitter page, UNC said men's and women's basketball, cross country, field hockey, men's and women's soccer and volleyball will resume athletic activities on Sunday "in order to prepare for competition." The university also said "all other sports teams will continue to pause athletic activities for the time being."
On Wednesday, the school announced all classes would be shifted to an online-only model, has announced a second delay of all athletic activities. The suspension was also pushed back on Thursday and Friday.
Campus recreation facilities also will be closed.
"After consulting with our health experts and University leadership, we are taking this action to protect our students, coaches and staff,'' Carolina Director of Athletics Bubba Cunningham said Wednesday, when the initial delay was announced. "We want to make sure we continue to do everything we can to ensure that that our teams, campus and community remain healthy.''
Student-athletes are among those allowed to stay on campus as the university tries to reduce density in student housing after 130 students tested positive for the coronavirus in the first week of the fall semester.
After the school made that shift, head football coach Mack Brown said it wouldn't impact his players, who've been back on campus for about a month and keeping their distance from other students.
"They've had very few distractions," Brown said Tuesday. "And that's what we're trying to do is make sure that our players and our staff understand that we've got three months here where we cannot go outside for social reasons or to eat or anything else if we want to have our football season."
While other major football conferences have postponed the season at least until the spring, the ACC, which includes UNC, Duke and North Carolina State University, plans to play. UNC would host Syracuse in the season opener Sept. 12.
