The state of California reached a settlement in court Thursday that will will remove the state’s additional restrictions on sports such as basketball, volleyball and wrestling.

A press conference this morning announced the news.

The news comes as season 1 of sports begin to get underway with football games kicking off next week. Cross country, golf and tennis are already playing competitive matches with baseball, softball, lacrosse, soccer, etc all set to begin over the coming weeks. The announcement today allows all sports to be played in counties with adjusted case rates below 14 per 100,000 once it is finalized, possibly as early as Friday.

(Brittany Boitano/Jim Rael Photography)

New guidelines will come from the California Department of Public Health tomorrow. It is still expected to ultimately be up to local counties, school districts and leagues to get the ball rolling on athletic competition.

California is now administeringĀ  2 million vaccine doses per day and with the newly approved Johnson & Johnson vaccine hitting the market this week, it should only speed up the process, help underserved and help society get back to normal life sooner rather than later.