"Low-risk" school sports like tennis, soccer, cross country, field hockey, and swimming can play on Sept. 21, Gov. Andrew Cuomo on Monday said. 

But "higher-risk" contact sports like football, ice hockey, wrestling, and rugby will not be able to begin until Oct. 19. Those teams will be able to still practice, but not compete.

Cuomo said this will be implemented in phases amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Schools be asked to compete within their regions or neighboring counties.

"We're doing this in phases, we want to see how this works," Cuomo said during a news conference on Long Island. "The fall is a big question mark. Phasing it will allow us to watch it."

The announcement removes a signficant level of uncertainty for schools as the academic year is beginning in the coming weeks and questions had remained over the fall sports schedule. 

Originally, the fall sports season was to begin in New York on Aug. 24, but NYSPHSAA President Paul Harrica, in a July press release, said it was "unrealistic" to believe that could have happened, given precautions being taken to fight the spread of COVID-19 in New York.

All regional and state championship competitions have already been suspended.