Sun Belt pushes fall sports start date to Sept. 3

The Sun Belt Conference announced in a statement released Thursday that the start of fall sports will be delayed until Sept. 3.

The new date does not affect Texas State Football, which is scheduled to kick off the 2020 season inside Bobcat Stadium on Sep. 5 against SMU. The change does affect Texas State Soccer, though, which had two exhibitions and four regular season matches scheduled before Sept. 3, including three against Big 12 schools. The team has updated its schedule online to reflect the changes.

The Bobcat volleyball and cross country teams will likely need to make alterations as well, though neither has released its schedule for the fall yet. The teams typically begin the season during late August.

The Sun Belt said in their statement that the rescheduling of contests due to the new start date will need to be handled by its member institutions and that the change will allow further planning for a safe return to competition, with protocols and guidelines being implemented by its COVID-19 Advisory Panel.