On Thursday evening, Champions Indoor Football board of directors announced that the league will be delaying the 2020 season due to COVID-19 concerns. The decision was derived after multiple facilities and municipalities throughout the league, issued mandates to teams restricting them from playing games for the next several weeks.

CIF Commissioner Ricky Bertz said that the intent of the league was to proceed with the original schedule, but the league had no choice, based on current proactive restrictions being implemented throughout the country, regarding the COVID-19 virus.

“Obviously, the majority of sports leagues and events have decided, at this time, to at least suspend current operations,” Bertz said. “Our league wanted to attempt to maintain as normal of a season as possible, but teams have begun being notified that arenas in the league are suspending all events, and many other elements, including travel and such are also being restricted.”

The CIF will implement a delay to the beginning of the season that is anticipated to last no longer than approximately 30 days. During that time, the league will continue to evaluate all options on how to proceed.

“It is the league’s intent, and the intent of all our teams’ to play this season,” Bertz said. “Our fans want games, our players and coaches want that opportunity, everybody wants these games to be played. But we realize that this issue is bigger than sports and entertainment. The CIF and its member teams are working closely with local and state entities to ensure that we are exploring all options. As this issue evolves, we will be making decisions, and passing information along, in as timely of a manner as possible.”