IRVINE, Calif. – The Pacific West Conference Executive Board voted unanimously this week to grant permission for the conference to announce return to competition dates and scheduling concepts for the upcoming semester, with competition to resume as allowed by local and state guidelines.
 
The PacWest plans to restart conference competition after a ten-month hiatus during the week of January 18 with the men's and women's basketball seasons tipping off around the conference.  The schedules for each of the PacWest sports will include in-pod games, dividing the conference into three pods – Hawai'i, Northern California, and Southern California. Hawai'i Pacific, Chaminade, and Hawai'i Hilo make up the Hawai'i pod. The Northern California pod will be composed of Academy of Art, Dominican, Fresno Pacific and Holy Names. The Southern California pod is Azusa Pacific, Biola, Concordia and Point Loma.
 
"This is a big step forward for our conference in our continuing efforts to safely return to competition during these challenging times," Commissioner Bob Hogue said. "We've been working hard to create the right conditions for student-athletes to have meaningful seasons of competition in a way that minimizes risk and is in accordance with local, state and federal guidelines. We are looking forward to seeing student-athletes back to competing in the sports they love."
 
The conference basketball season will run for seven weeks from mid-January through the first week of March.  Fall sports soccer and volleyball will also compete in-pod during the spring semester; the conference soccer schedule is expected to run from the beginning of February thru early March, with the conference volleyball schedule immediately following soccer, from mid-March to late April.
 
In early October, the Executive Board granted institutions the ability to schedule non-conference contests prior to the start of conference play as allowed by local, state and federal conditions.
 
Specific schedules in all of these sports, as well as in the spring sports of baseball and softball, which are set to begin in March, will be announced at a later date.  Details for the spring championship sports of golf, tennis, and track and field, as well as details for the cross country season will also be announced at a later date.