NJSIAA Announces Spectator Restrictions, Update on Transfers
The NJSIAA has been rolling out a plan for a scholastic sports season this fall that it hopes will be as close to what N.J. student athletes are used to as usual. On Friday, it announced it will try to do the same for would-be spectators at those games.
According to an update of revised guidelines released Friday, the NJSIAA will allow as many spectators at a given sporting event as are allowed by executive order of the governor's office.
By those guidelines, 500 spectators would be allowed at a high-school sporting event today, as 500 people is the maximum number of people allowed at an outdoor gathering, according to an executive order signed by Governor Phil Murphy in an effort to limit the potential spread of the COVID-19 virus.
In the case of high-school sports, the 500-person limit will not include participants on the field, which includes players, coaches officials, trainers scoreboard operators and other gameday personnel, the release indicated.
Friday's release of revised guidelines also included further clarification on transfers in 2020-21. Initially, the NJSIAA announced it would allow all transfers without recourse, provided the transfer is official by Sept. 1.
In the updated guidelines, transfers that are deemed to be for "athletic advantage" will again carry a required ineligibility period of 30 days to start the season, or one half of the team's scheduled games - whichever is the shorter period of time. The NJSIAA is loosening what it normally considers to be "athletic advantage" and students who transfer from a school whose athletic program or programs have been cancelled or altered due to COVID-19 will not be required to sit out to start the season, provided they have completed the transfer by Sept. 1.
Any student who transfers after Sept. 1, regardless of the reason, will have to sit 30 days or half the team's games.