Big Ten, Pac-12, SEC Extend Athletic Activities Bans Through May

3 of the Power 5 Conferences of NCAA athletics have extended their bans on all team activities until at least May 31st.

Over the last week, the Pac-12, Big Ten, and SEC have each extended their blockade on in-person activities, be those voluntary, mandatory, workouts, or team meetings, until May 31st, 2020 to battle the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

The ACC has not announced any extensions, but its previous cancellation “through the end of the 2019-20 academic year” remains in place. A similar restriction, “through the end of the academic year,” remains in place in the Big 12 as well.

All conferences have continued to allow in-person non-athletically-related support to student-athletes, including academic support, mental health and wellness support, sports medicine treatment, physical therapy, and rehab.

Within this ban of in-person activities, the conferences have extended different policies on ‘virtual’ meetings:

• Pac-12: Coaches can recommend written, self-directed workout plans for athletes. Recorded demonstration videos are allowed to demonstrate technique. Personnel may not supervise, conduct, or monitor workouts. Virtual or on-line group meetings (not workouts or skill instruction) are allowed with limits: 2 hours per week in football, or 4 hours per week in other sports.
• SEC: All in-person activities are suspended, including team and individual practices, meetings, and other organized gatherings. After previously not allowing them, the SEC for the last 2 weeks have allowed virtual team meetings, but similarly to the Pac-12, this cannot include any instruction on skills or physical activities.
• Big Ten: The Big Ten has extended all organized team activities through June 1st, 2020 and will re-evaluate at that time. This extends the previous ban that was to expire on May 4th. Unlike other conferences, the Big Ten has not announced any leeway for virtual team meetings to watch film or go through playbooks.
• Big 12: The Big 12 has allowed virtual activities, including film study, to extend to 8 hours per week in all sports. The conference has barred in-person workouts or meetings of all kinds or virtual or on-line supervised physical workouts or skill instruction.
• ACC: The ACC has not publicly release guidelines for its member institutions as other conferences have, but ACC schools are allowing teams to have virtual meetings and have allowed those throughout the suspension of activity.

The NCAA has previously extended its recruiting dead period for all sports through May 31st. While this eliminates on-and-off campus recruiting, coaches are allowed to recruit remotely during that period, however.

These extensions come as some states are beginning to reopen and the first major swim team, the Mission Viejo Nadadores, have announced that they’ve begun holding limited in-water workouts.