UIL will allow live broadcasts of Friday night football games amid COVID-19 pandemic
The University Interscholastic League lifted its broadcasting limitations of Friday night high school football games for one year during its Legislative Committee meeting on Wednesday via teleconference.
Normal rules prohibit live broadcasts of football games.
However, the UIL will allow it for just the 2020 football season in light of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
According to Gov. Abbott’s latest announcement in early June, stadiums can be open to 50% capacity.
“We think it’s important and you know how I have always stood for protecting Friday nights. It has been a passion for all our schools,” said UIL executive director Charles Breithaupt. “The Friday night lights element still exists in Texas and we don’t believe COVID-19 is going to do away with that.”
The one-year change allows for spectators, who are “fearful especially the elderly and senior citizens,” to stay at home and watch games “based on what the local district allows in agreement between the two schools.”
The broadcast will either come digitally or by a linear product and will “give local districts the chance to go out there and negotiate on their own and give back to their local community.”
The rule will end following the conclusion of the 2020 Texas high school football season.
“The UIL has no interest in getting involved in those conversations unless schools need our assistance,” Breithaupt said. “We’re not going to gain one thing from this. It just gives people a chance to see the game that wouldn’t ordinarily come because of COVID-19.”
The rule only applies to football in 2020 as other broadcasts are “eligible for showing in any place and anytime other than the UIL state championships.”
Also on Wednesday, Breithaupt announced that athletic calendars for the 2020-21 year on the UIL website, that are normally posted on June 1, will be finalized on July 1 and officially posted soon after.
This story was originally published June 17, 2020 at 3:49 PM.
