Amid uncertainty, college football trying to plan for season

‘On the financial side, losing football would be a devastating blow’

COLUMBUS, Ohio, April 12, (AP): Spring football was shelved because of the coronavirus. There is still plenty of work going on in college football.

With the pandemic casting uncertainty on the 2020 season, programs are starting to wrestle with two weighty issues: Getting ready to play some kind of season if it is safe to do so and trying to manage what for many would be a substantial financial blow if the season is shortened or canceled.

The NCAA this week formed a working group to look at issues such as how much preseason practice and conditioning would be required once play is green-lighted again. The NCAA said “it is premature to establish a timeline for when these scenarios may be put into place.”

Ohio State athletic director Gene Smith said the discussion is just beginning on prepare-to-play issues after most programs had spring football practice shortened or wiped out and had to deal with their spring sports being called to a halt.

“Do we feel we need a longer period of time to help them physically get back into the grind?” Smith said Friday. “Maybe you need two weeks straight without pads. I don’t know that. That’s where the collaborative of the medical people and the strength coaches and everybody across the country has to occur. A hard date will come in relation to what we figure out there, and we haven’t figured it out yet.”

Buckeyes coach Ryan Day, in an interview on ESPN, said six weeks would be a reasonable “starting point” for getting ready to play. Last week, Alabama coach Nick Saban suggested “teaching sessions on the field” over

Day