March 11: Athletics Update

Dear Merrimack College Community,

Merrimack College recently announced a series of precautions it has enacted to mitigate the risks associated with COVID-19 across our campus. Consistent with the goal of protecting the health and well-being of all members of our community, the Department of Athletics will be implementing a series of policies and procedures effective immediately and until further notice.

1. Student-athletes who are currently on campus may remain on campus and those in their competitive season who are away from campus may return as originally scheduled; all other student-athletes will return to campus at such time that Merrimack’s extended spring break period ends and the remainder of the student body return to campus.
2. Team travel will be limited to ground transportation, and overnight trips will be avoided whenever feasible; best practices for social distancing will be incorporated for traveling teams.
3. Spectators will not be permitted at any contests hosted on Merrimack’s campus. Our streaming of games will continue to provide our families and fans the opportunity to view our contests.
4. All non-traditional season competitions and exhibitions will be canceled.
5. All conference-wide standards related to COVID-19 will be enacted, including the elimination of all post-game handshakes.

We appreciate your collective understanding that this situation is fluid. As such, we will continue to monitor all available information and will evolve our policies if and when necessary.