As momentum builds for college football, officials foresee empty stadiums, disruptions
In the midst of a national health crisis, recent public momentum has been building for a fall college football season, with Miami Hurricanes coach Manny Diaz joining the president of West Virginia, the Big 12 commissioner, Notre Dame coach Brian Kelly and others now saying they expect the sport to be played this calendar year.
But don’t expect to pack the stadium, at least for UM games.
UM president Julio Frenk, who’s the former Minister of Health for Mexico and considered an authority on global health issues, told CNN on Wednesday that “we certainly hope” there will be a Hurricanes football season but “they will probably play in empty stadiums.”
UM athletic director Blake James told the Miami Herald on Wednesday that “at this point, I believe we will play all scheduled games for the 2020 season” and that there have been no attempts to reschedule non-conference games against Temple, UAB, Wagner and at Michigan State.
Frenk also said he expects Miami to have on-campus classes and that flu shots and masks will be required for UM students. NCAA president Mark Emmert said at least some students must be on campus this fall for college football to be played; most schools haven’t yet announced if students will be on campus this fall.
The NCAA Division I Council voted on Wednesday to approve voluntary on-campus athletic activities in football and men’s and women’s basketball to begin June 1. UM will begin bringing some student athletes back to campus in June.
Meanwhile, Southeastern Conference university presidents will vote Friday on whether their student-athletes will be permitted back on campus on June 1 or June 15.
Even if the football season starts on time, Big 12 commissioner Bob Bowlsby warned this week of potential interruptions.
Bowlsby said he expects college football this fall but cautioned that games might need to be canceled or postponed, on short notice, if players test positive during the week.
“The reality of it is more likely [that] we will have disruptions during the course of the season,” Bowlsby told Joel Klatt on FS-1’s Football Now. “This virus is going to be around with us for a while. We are going to have to learn to co-exist with it; that’s what every scientist, every doctor is telling us.”
He said applying “hospital-quality diagnostics” will be necessary and “even doing all that, we’re going to have a Tuesday afternoon where somebody tests positive in a locker room and we’re going to have to quarantine. And the game on Saturday is going to be delayed or it’s going to be postponed or canceled and we’re just going to have to live with those things.”
But one of the presidents in Bowlsby’s conference apparently doesn’t believe that type of disruption to the season is necessary.
West Virginia president Gordon Gee — who says there will be college football this fall — told ESPN’s Paul Finebaum: “We need to get over the panic. If one of our athletes gets coronavirus, we can’t just shut the whole thing down. We have to learn how to control that part of it.”
Some in the sport remain hopeful that canceling or postponing a game won’t be necessary if only one or a few players test positive for COVID-19.
Bowslby said he discussed the situation with Fox and ESPN executives and “we’re just going to have to be flexible. We may even have to do match-making of games during the season, because if somebody has to quarantine for two weeks, there are two teams coming up on the schedule that aren’t going to have anybody to play.
“We have to go into this with the assumption we’re going to have some of those disruptions and we’re going to have a new normal. And that new normal may be no fans for a while.”
But Bowlsby said “we will see college football [this fall]. We’ve gotten some good news in the last couple weeks. I’ve been on calls with the White House task force. They’ve indicated the availability of testing will go way up and probably double each month from here on out. That’s a good thing. We are going to have to be able to test with regularity and that means probably every couple days or every third day. That takes a lot of tests, a lot of time and a lot of money.”
Bowlsby suggested that canceling September non-conference games isn’t in the current plans, but said schools will need to determine whether the opposing school has been vigilant in safety measures and testing.
“It’s reasonable to ask your opponent: ‘Have you been testing?’” Bowlsby said.
EMMERT WEIGHS IN
Emmert made clear that the NCAA will not determine when and whether there’s college football. That will be a decision left to university presidents in consultation with local governments, with league commissioners also having input.
As ESPN’s Jay Bilas noted: “You have to remember, the NCAA office in Indianapolis has no say over football. And the SEC or the Big 10, if they feel like they are safe enough to play football, they’re playing football and the NCAA is not going to be able to stop it.”
But Emmert made this clear: “All of the commissioners and every president that I’ve talked to is in clear agreement: If you don’t have students on campus, you don’t have student-athletes on campus. That doesn’t mean [the school] has to be up and running in the full normal model, but you have to treat the health and well-being of the athletes at least as much as the regular students. … If a school doesn’t reopen, then they’re not going to be playing sports. It’s really that simple.”
So far, no Power 5 school has said it will have on-line only classes this fall. The California State University system — which includes FBS programs San Jose State, San Diego State and Fresno State — have said classes this fall will be primarily on-line, but San Diego State subsequently has said that wouldn’t preclude them from playing college football this fall.
▪ Regarding the SEC presidents’ vote on Friday about whether to bring college football players back to campus on June 1 or June 15, Oklahoma coach Lincoln Riley said: “All the talk about these schools wanting to bring players back on June 1 is one of the most ridiculous things I’ve ever heard. We’ve got to be patient. We have one good shot at it. … It would be completely irresponsible to bring these guys in too early.”
▪ Atlantic Coast Conference commissioner John Swofford said his schools likely would move ahead with playing a college football season even if some member schools cannot participate.
Coming Thursday: More details on what a college football season might look like.
This story was originally published May 20, 2020 at 12:17 PM.
