For Immediate Release

Media Contact: Taylor Novotny

Assistant Director of Marketing and Media Relations
tnovotny@ncaa.org

A Statement from NCAA President on Kent State Field Hockey Game

Indianapolis, IN Sep 19, 2019 A field hockey game, hosted by Kent State, between Division 1
teams Temple University and University of Maine was declared a no contest on September 7,
2019. Fire marshals entered the field at 10:30 a.m. and ended game play due to a pregame
firework show that would be occurring for the football game.
On behalf of the NCAA, I would like to formally apologize to Kent State’s field hockey
program, Temple’s, and University of Maine’s. No athlete should ever be in a position where
they feel inferior to another athlete. The mission of the NCAA is to govern competitions in a fair,
safe, equitable, and sportsmanlike manner. In all areas, we believe Kent State has failed.
Administration has been working hard to review the incident that took place at Kent State this
past weekend. A field hockey game between Temple University and University of Maine hosted
at the neutral site of Kent State was declared a no contest in double overtime due to a pregame
firework show for Kent State’s football team. Players were denied a timely and fair end to their
match. Kent State officials later offered to host the end of the match at 5:30 p.m. and pay for
accommodations for Temple’s team to stay the extra night instead of leaving after the match, as
they had planned to do.
The field hockey field was to be used for a firework show for Kent State footballs family
weekend pregame show. All three teams were made aware of this in May when the contract was
signed. Further investigation and review of the contract shows a gray area, where there was no
specification on protocol in the event of a game going into overtime play, nor was it clear that
the game would be entirely stopped.
“The optics and the messaging to every field hockey program and to every field
hockey player are that while they matter, they don't matter more than pre-game
football festivities.  We see this as a terrible message being communicated to
female student-athletes in this year of 2019. This decision was extremely
damaging not only for the participating athletes, their coaches, and their families
but for all female student-athletes” (NFHCA).
We would like to take this time to reiterate the necessity for equality and fair treatment of our
student athletes. This unfortunate situation shows the need for change within our society, but
change is something that can start with us.
About the Company: The National Collegiate Athletic Association is the governing body
overseeing the fair, safe, equitable, and sportsmanlike play of intercollegiate athletics. Founded
in 1906, we have a history of prioritizing the safety and academic growth of our nearly half a
million student athletes and strive to improve every day.

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