The University of Massachusetts has canceled its 2020 football season due to the COVID-19 pandemic. UMass is the latest program in the NCAA’s top-tiered Football Bowl Subdivision to cancel football, joining UConn, Old Dominion, and likely all of the schools from the Pac-12, Big Ten, Mountain West and Mid-American Conference.
Like UConn, UMass planned to compete as an independent football program this upcoming season. Most of the Minutemen’s other sports teams play in the Atlantic 10 conference, which already postponed all fall sports until next spring. UMass and UConn were scheduled to play each other on Sept. 3 during the first week of the college football season.
UMass football team members began returning to campus in late June with health and safety protocols in place. Over the past seven weeks, the program recorded just one positive COVID-19 test out of more than 600 tests administered. UMass plans to move its fall sports to the 2021 spring semester.
