High School Football in 2020? These States Began Laying Down Their Laws

The largest school district in Texas this week said it will delay in-person classes for the first six weeks of the fall semester, and that extracurricular activities would also be postponed while classes are held online. That means no football, probably, for the giant Houston Independent School District—the seventh-largest school district in the country.

The recent surge in COVID-19 cases has states across the country voicing their own varying opinions on how to handle the upcoming school year, while also dealing with the fact of whether or not high school football will be played, delayed or canceled altogether.

It's a decision already made by some states, like New Mexico and Virginia, that have already declared there will be no sports this fall. Pennsylvania has suspended sports through the fall. But for states like Florida, Texas, California and others across the Sun Belt that are rich in preps football tradition, the decision may come down to a last-second Hail Mary.

High school football coaches and athletic directors now grapple with a decision they've never seen in a playbook, nor while breaking down game film. As for now, it's a coin toss as whether to kick or receive—receive the bad news and cancel the season, or kick the naysayers to the curb and try to play it anyway.

Alabama's largest school district, the Mobile County Public School System, announced Thursday it will only hold virtual classes that start Sept. 1 because of the state's rising number of COVID-19 cases. The state's athletic governing body has yet to make a decision on whether fall sports will be played. Meanwhile, next door in Mississippi, the Magnolia State has said it will delay all high school activities for two weeks.

In Louisiana, football activities can't be done until the state moves into Phase Four of reopening, according to Gov. John Bel Edwards. Currently, Louisiana is only in Phase Two, and there are no signs of a blitz into Phase Four.

The Virginia High School League (VHSL) announced Wednesday there would be no high school football this fall. That means the football-fertile Hampton Roads area of Norfolk and Virginia Beach, and towns all across the Commonwealth, won't get to see their next rising stars.

In football-frenzied Florida, there have been no alterations to the fall schedule, and Gov. Ron DeSantis want open schools on time. In Texas, the individual school districts have begun making their own decisions while its state's governing body, the University Interscholastic League, weighs its decisions on whether or not they should play. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has made it clear he wants in-person classes to happen this fall.

The two largest school districts in California—Los Angeles Unified and San Diego Unified—have both declared they will start the fall with online classes. They are joining the lead of schools in other countries that also delayed person-to-person contact.

"Those countries that have managed to safely reopen schools have done so with declining infection rates and on-demand testing available. California has neither. The skyrocketing infection rates of the past few weeks make it clear the pandemic is not under control," the two California districts declared in a joint statement.

That likely means no football in California as other counties could soon follow.

This report will be updated with information across all states as it comes available