The Lone Star Conference announced that the league will push back fall sport activities approximately three weeks. The league previously announced plans to make a decision on the season by July 27. 

The new guidelines mean that practices for all fall sports – including football – will not start any earlier than Aug. 24. That pushes the first games to Sept. 21 at the earliest. 

While the league has set those dates as early targets for a return to football, the league’s presidents must get together and vote to confirm a return to sports. 

Regardless, even if the league goes to a conference-only slate, major scheduling decisions will have to be made. Several Lone Star Conference games are slated for the first three weekends of the original season.

The decision comes as cases of COVID-19 in the state of Texas have spiraled out of control. Adjusted for population, Texas is one of the worst hotspots in the world. If Texas was a country, it would trail only the U.S., Brazil, India, Russia and South Africa in total cases. The state of Texas has a higher rate of infection than all five countries. 

The SWAC was the first Division-I league in Texas to push football to the spring, while the SAA has canceled the sport. Others are still in the decision-making phase. 

Additionally, New Mexico governor Michelle Lujan Grisham recently wrote a letter to in-state institutions asking them to postpone fall sports, per ESPN. Lone Star Conference member institutions Eastern New Mexico and Western New Mexico both take part in the LSC.