Championships

A: The NAIA staff worked together with each fall sport coaches association Executive Committee to determine a set of dates that would be widely supported by the coaches in each respective sport. Additionally, the NAIA staff worked with existing hosts on potential dates to ensure their interest and availability to continue to host the championship on the suggested dates in the spring of 2021. The National Administrative Council (NAC) Executive Committee approved the coaches’ recommendations of the proposed dates and the full body of the NAC voted to approve each set of championship dates in a meeting on August 20, 2020.

A: Yes. Both the Men’s Soccer and Women’s Soccer National Championships are being relocated. The Men’s Soccer National Championship will be hosted by Columbia County at Blanchard Woods Park in Columbia Country, Georgia. The Women’s Soccer National Championship will be hosted by Foley Sports Tourism at the Foley Sports Tourism Complex in Foley, Alabama.

A: Yes. As approved by the full body of the National Administrative Council on August 20, the following calendars were put in place for the fall sport National Championships:

Cross Country
Conference Deadline: March 28, 2021
Selection: March 29, 2021
Release of Qualifiers: March 30, 2021
National Championship: April 9, 2021

Women’s Volleyball – Sioux City, Iowa
Conference Deadline: April 10, 2021
Selection: April 11, 2021
Release of Qualifiers: April 12, 2021
Opening Rounds: April 17, 2021
Final Site: April 27 – May 1, 2021

Men’s Soccer – Columbus, Ga.
Conference Deadline: April 17, 2021
Selection: April 18, 2021
Release of Qualifiers: April 19, 2021
Opening Rounds: April 22 & 24, 2021
Final Site: May 4-10, 2021

Women’s Soccer – Foley, Ala.
Conference Deadline: April 10, 2021
Selection: April 11, 2021
Release of Qualifiers: April 12, 2021
Opening Rounds: April 15 & 17, 2021
Final Site: April 27 – May 3, 2021

Football – Grambling, La.
Conference Deadline: April 10, 2021
Selection/Release of Qualifiers: April 11, 2021
FCS First Round: April 17, 2021
FCS Quarterfinals: April 24, 2021
FCS Semifinals: May 1, 2021
National Championship: May 10, 2021

A: The Men’s Soccer and Women’s Soccer National Championships were relocated due to scheduling complications with the original contracted hosts (Irvine, California and Orange Beach, Alabama).

A: Yes. The Men’s and Women’s Swim & Dive National Championships, Indoor Track & Field National Championships and Competitive Cheer & Dance National Championships were all relocated due to COVID-19.

The Men’s & Women’s Swimming & Diving National Championships will be hosted by the Columbus, GA Sports Council at the Columbus Aquatic Center. The Men’s & Women’s Swimming & Diving National Championships will be split into two separate events for 2021 due to capacity restrictions at the Columbus Aquatic Center. The Women’s Swimming & Diving National Championship will take place March 3-6. 2021 and the Men’s Swimming & Diving National Championship will take place March 10-13, 2021.

The Indoor Track & Field National Championships have been relocated to Yankton, S.D. and will take place March 3-6, 2021. One additional day was added to the Indoor Track and Field National Championship to help mitigate the number of events taking place at one time, and limit the number of individuals inside the Ruth Donohoe First Dakota Fieldhouse.

The Competitive Cheer & Dance National Championships were relocated to Davenport, Iowa and will be hosted by St. Ambrose University and Visit Quad Cities. The Competitive Cheer & Dance National Championships will take place March 12-13, 2021.

A: The NAC has reduced the field size for M/W Basketball from 64 teams to 48 teams, which changed the overall format from 16 Opening Round sites (with four teams per site) to eight Opening Round sites (with two separate three-team pods per site). The dates of the Opening Rounds will be March 12-13, 2021. In each Opening Round three-team pod, the No. 2 seed will play the No. 3 seed on Friday, March 12. The No. 1 seed will then play the winner of the Friday game (No. 2 seed vs. No. 3 seed) on Saturday, March 13. The winner of each of Opening Round three-team pod (which includes two pods per Opening Round site) will advance to the NAIA National Championship Final Site, in either Kansas City, Mo. (MBB) or Sioux City, Iowa (WBB). The National Championship Final Site will remain a 16-team, single-elimination tournament in both M/W Basketball.

A: Even with the reduction in field size, conference automatic berths will still be maintained for M/W Basketball under the automatic qualifier parameters (see below). 
 

A: Yes, in order to safely host the Indoor Track and Field Championships, the following adjustments were made:

• A reduction in Qualifiers – Limited to the top 16 declared athletes in each event will qualify for the National Championship
• The schedule has extended from 3 to 4 days and will include morning, afternoon and evening sessions each day.
• No spectators will be permitted.
   

A: Yes. If conference sport participation numbers drop throughout the season due to COVID-related circumstances, the following automatic qualification thresholds have been adopted:

A: For all sports that feature a Hybrid Regional Opening Round format (M/W Soccer, M/W Basketball, Baseball, Softball), the NAC approved the elimination of the #1 and #2 designations on the conference automatic qualifier placements in the initial Hybrid Regional Opening Round formats that were previously approved this summer, giving the Selection Committees the autonomy to place teams where they feel competitive balance is best represented.

For example, in Women’s Basketball, the GPAC receives two automatic bids to the National Championship (GPAC #1 and GPAC #2) – If GPAC #1 was slated to be at an Opening Round site in Omaha and GPAC #2 was slated to be at an Opening Round site in Wichita, the Women’s Basketball Selection Committee would have the ability to swap the bracket placement of the two GPAC automatic qualifiers (move GPAC #1 to Wichita and GPAC #2 to Omaha) to allow for a more balanced overall bracket to be achieved.

A: Pursuant to current policy, a school can undeclare from a sport without penalty, as long as they undeclare at least four weeks before the conference’s postseason play begins. If a school undeclares after the four week deadline, it is referred to the National Administrative Council for review. Use this form to undeclare.

A: Current sport qualification plans are available via this link. Please keep in mind that qualification plans are consistently being updated due to members undeclaring athletics teams.

A: The National Administrative Council is currently monitoring current postseason access ratios for all sports based on the number of institutions declared for postseason. Our hope is that we will be able to proceed with current postseason formats, but may need to be adjusted in the coming months as more information becomes available or as circumstances change.

A: Yes. For institutions that completed all or part of their fall sport regular-season schedules in the Fall of 2020, several NAIA schools participated in the NCCAA postseason championships in Men’s Soccer, Women’s Soccer, Women’s Volleyball and M/W Cross Country. In non-COVID years, the NCCAA postseason events would normally take place after NAIA National Championship events, or would only include NAIA teams that did not qualify for the NAIA National Championship, so the win-loss records had never been “counted” towards meeting minimum contest levels. For those institutions that competed in 2020 fall sport NCCAA postseason championship.s, the NAC approved the inclusion of those NCCAA postseason contests in the overall win-loss records of the competing teams to count towards the requirement for minimum contests for NAIA postseason play.

A: Yes, it is permissible, but it is important to note a Rule Change that went into effect on January 11, 2021 - All Qualifying marks that take place at an outdoor venue will require the proper use of a Wind Gauge in the 60 Meters, 200 Meters, 60-Meter Hurdles, Long/Triple Jump, and combined events submission for open events. Wind gauge readings must be submitted with official results. Any wind readings that exceed 4.0 meters per second will not be accepted as qualifying marks for the 2021 Indoor Track & Field National Championship. Qualifying marks that occurred prior to January 11, 2021 will be grandfathered in.

A: The decision to reduce the rights fee for basketball opening rounds was made to reduce the financial burden on NAIA member institution. Due to the COVID-19 restrictions there is a likelihood that opening rounds hosts will see reduced revenue in ticket sales due to fan capacity reductions. At this time, no other changes have been made to opening round rights fees in any other sports. Rights fees for all other sports will continue to be closely monitored and evaluated to determine if similar factors apply.

A: The NAC approved an alternate plan for allocations for the 2021 NAIA Wrestling National Championships. The change was made due to the difficulty many member institutions are having traveling to open and invitational event because of the COVID-19 pandemic. You can view the detailed description of allocation adjustments per conference here.

A: Yes, conferences will have the opportunity to replace a team that qualifies for a national championship and must withdraw due to COVID-19. However, the process and timeline will differ for each national championship.

 

Team Sports:

Men’s and Women’s Basketball

Replacement teams must be determined by noon (CST), March 4, 2021.

If a conference declares the regular-season champion as an automatic qualifier and that team must withdraw, the regular-season runner-up will replace that regular-season champion as that conference’s automatic qualifier. In the scenario where the regular-season champion must withdraw and the conference-regular season runner-up earns the conference tournament championship automatic qualifier, a conference’s regular-season third place team will replace the regular-season champion as the conference’s automatic qualifier. If none of the teams listed previously are able to compete in the national championship this bid will convert to an at-large and determined by Basketball National Selection Committee.

If a conference declares the conference tournament champion as an automatic qualifier and that team must withdraw, the conference tournament runner-up will replace the conference tournament champion as the automatic qualifier. If the conference tournament runner-up has already received an automatic berth to the national tournament, the bid will convert to an at-large and determined by the Basketball National Selection Committee.

Bowling

Replacement teams must be determined by noon (CST), March 11, 2021.

If a conference declares the regular-season champion as an automatic qualifier and that team must withdraw, the regular-season runner-up will replace that regular-season champion as that conference’s automatic qualifier. In the scenario where the regular-season champion must withdraw and the conference-regular season runner-up earns the conference tournament championship automatic qualifier, a conference’s regular-season third place team will replace the regular-season champion as the conference’s automatic qualifier. If none of the teams listed previously are able to compete in the national championship this bid will convert to an at-large and determined by Bowling National Selection Committee.

If a conference declares the conference tournament champion as an automatic qualifier and that team must withdraw, the conference tournament runner-up will replace the conference tournament champion as the automatic qualifier. If the conference tournament runner-up has already received an automatic berth to the national tournament, the bid will convert to an at-large and determined by the Basketball National Selection Committee.
 

Competitive Cheer & Competitive Dance

Replacement teams must be determined by noon (CST), March 1, 2021.

If a conference or regional grouping champions must withdraw due to COVID-19 a conference/regional grouping may replace that team with the team that received the next highest points. If the conference or regional grouping second place team has already received an at-large berth, the conference/regional grouping may follow the final qualifying event standings to fill identify the replacement team.

 

Individual Sports: 

Indoor Track & Field

If a declared athlete is unable to compete, it is the coach’s responsibility to contact NAIA Championship Sport Manager, Courtney Fegter at 308-991-1039 to report this instance. Any fields that are open will be backfilled through 12:00 pm CST on Sunday, February 28th with the next available declared athlete (will work through a maximum of the next 5 declared athletes per event). Logistics of this process will be shared closer to the declaration period.
 

Men’s Wrestling

Should an individual need to withdraw, replacement individuals must be determined by 5 p.m. (CST), March 2, 2021. A conference will submit a list alternates when submitting their official entry form for the National Championships. If an individual withdraws, the next alternate will be entered into the National Championships.
 

Women’s Wrestling

Should an individual need to withdraw, replacement individuals must be determined by 5 p.m. (CST), March 9, 2021. A team will list alternates (2) when submitting their official entry form for the National Invitational. If an individual withdraws, the next alternate will be entered into the National Invitational.
 

Swimming & Diving 

Replacements must be determined no later than noon (CST) February 26, 2021.

An alternate list of 10 swimmers is compiled in case a student-athlete is scratched prior to the meet.