The push to bring back high school football this fall appears to be over.
The Colorado High School Activities Association Board of Directors voted Tuesday night not to reconsider changes to the revised 2020-21 athletic calendar the moved football and other sports to the spring.
The vote came hours after Gov. Jared Polis expressed a willingness to bring back football this autumn.
“We understand that our school communities would like to return to all levels of normalcy,” said Troy Baker, the President of CHSAA’s Board of Directors, in a news release. “We listened to all parties and the voices of our membership resonated strongly to support the plan as approved in August.
“The plan aligns with the CHSAA mission. All students have an opportunity to play a season during the 2020-21 school year.”
The association’s return-to-play plan, divided into four seasons from August through June, was approved Aug. 4. As part of the revision, high-risk sports like football and volleyball were moved to the spring.
That will not change, despite grassroots efforts from around the state to reverse the decision, including a Change.org petition to “Let Them Play” that had more than 13,800 signatures as of Wednesday morning.
The board discussed the athletic calendar Tuesday night, then unanimously voted to maintain the revised schedule after Gov. Polis declared, “We want to work with (CHSAA).” The governor’s office released a statement Wednesday saying it “respects” CHSAA’s decision.
“Our administration was looking forward to allowing more student-athletes to begin their season this fall, but if the CHSAA board unanimously agrees that they should delay their season until the spring in an effort to ensure that they are better prepared to protect the safety of student-athletes then our administration fully respects that decision,” Polis’ statement read.
“The important thing is that every CHSAA sanctioned athletic team sport will occur this school year giving kids the opportunity to learn important skills by participating in team sports.”
This story will be updated.
