Citing the lack of crowds at games due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Supporters’ Shield Foundation Saturday announced that it has decided not to award the Supporters’ Shield for the 2020 Major League Soccer season.

“This is not an easy decision to make,” the organization said on several social media platforms. “With the inability for supporters to be in attend and fill their stadiums with passion, however, we feel as thought the current climate goes against the spirit of the Shield.”

The Supporters’ Shield is awarded annually to the MLS team that accrues the most points during the regular season.

Entertaining Sunday’s games, Toronto FC (11-2-5, 38 points) leads all 26 teams, followed by the Philadelphia Union (10-3-5, 35) in the Eastern Conference.

Image may contain: text

Front Row Soccer editor Michael Lewis has covered 13 World Cups (eight men, five women), seven Olympics and 25 MLS Cups. He has written about New York City FC, New York Cosmos, the New York Red Bulls and both U.S. national teams for Newsday and has penned a soccer history column for the Guardian.com. Lewis, who has been honored by the Press Club of Long Island and National Soccer Coaches Association of America, is the former editor of BigAppleSoccer.com. He has written seven books about the beautiful game and has published ALIVE AND KICKING The incredible but true story of the Rochester Lancers. It is available at Amazon.com.