A firestorm of criticism on social media yesterday in response to the Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association’s decision to bar visiting marching bands from playing during halftime of regular season games has prompted a change from the nation’s oldest historically black athletic conference.
Officials today announced that schools would have ultimate oversight of marching band performances and that the CIAA would not issue punishment to schools which exceed the NCAA-mandated 20-minute buffer between the first and second half of football games.
http://theciaa.com/general/2017-18/releases/20170907kz06w8
HBCU Gameday reported yesterday on the internal memo describing the new rules for home marching band performances, with sourced information and internal memos.
Re #CIAABands: HBCU Gameday stands by our report, citing multiple sources, published reports and a copy of an email. https://t.co/94MpZSJImF pic.twitter.com/ZnsalfwU3H
— HBCU Gameday (@HBCUGameday) September 7, 2017
CIAA Commissioner Jacqie McWilliams tweeted that the report was “very much” false, but countered the details of the internal memo, writing that allowances for performances and accepted in-game penalties would be a matter for consideration by each hosting school.
Very much so! #Disappointing #keepitmoving #Justask https://t.co/hzPEu8MupI
— CIAA Commissioner (@CIAACommish) September 7, 2017
“The decision whether to allow both bands to play during halftime is at the discretion of individual hosting universities,” wrote Commissioner Jacqie McWilliams in an early correspondence to the CIAA Board of Directors. “There will not be any fines associated with the time over runs. Institutions can agree to manage the respective times of participating bands and on-field presentations to meet the required halftime timeline.”
