The Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference is expected release plans on Friday to play an abbreviated fall high school sports season, according to sources.

The Day, which was first to report a plan for the shortened, regionalized schedule on Wednesday, has also learned the CIAC plans to stick with that format.

Multiple sources said full team practices will begin on Friday, Sept. 11, the regular season will start on Thursday, Sept. 24, and end on Saturday, Oct. 30.

Football, according to sources, will be limited to five or six games during the regular season with a maximum of eight — should there be a postseason — while other fall sports will be allowed to schedule up to 14 games, also including postseason events.

The sources also said no state tournaments will be played, but the CIAC will allow for the possibility for regional tournaments to be played between Nov. 2-15.

Regional formats, schedules and the possibility of playing conference tournaments are expected to be discussed between conferences next week, the sources said.

Glenn Lungarini, executive director of the CIAC, told Dave Ruden of therudenreport.com in Fairfield that the CIAC originally planned to release its decision on Thursday, but opted to wait a day in order to give the state's school superintendents "a chance to see the final version."

The COVID-19 pandemic forced the CIAC to halt play right in the middle of its winter state tournaments and resulted in the cancellation of its entire spring sports season.

m.dimauro@theday.com