Leaders meet, won’t decide fate of 2020 season until late July
GAINESVILLE — The SEC is going to let the clock continue to run before deciding the fate of the 2020 college football season.
The league’s 14 athletic directors met with commissioner Greg Sankey on Monday at the SEC office in Birmingham, Alabama, to discuss the feasibility of holding a fall sports season amid the coronavirus pandemic.
Sankey’s main takeaway: “We believe that late July will provide the best clarity for making the important decisions ahead of us.”
The Ivy League announced last Wednesday it would not play any fall sports in 2020, followed a day later by the Big Ten decision to play a conference-only football schedule. The Pac 12 on Friday announced similar plans to the Big Ten, though neither league shared the particulars of its plans.
The SEC’s timing for athletic directors to meet in person for the first time since the cancellation of the SEC men’s basketball tournament in March comes as time is running out before they must make a decision on fall sports and COVID-19 cases continue to rise in the region.
“It is clear that current circumstances related to COVID-19 must improve and we will continue to closely monitor developments around the virus on a daily basis,”
Sankey said in a statement from the league office. “In the coming weeks we will continue to meet regularly with campus leaders via videoconferences and gather relevant information while guided by medical advisors.”
According to an SEC news release, the league’s athletics directors heard a report from members of the SEC’s Return to Activity and Medical Guidance Task Force and discussed the challenges posed by current on-campus workouts and the looming fall seasons. The topics included testing procedures and game management best practices to ensure a healthy environment at events for athletes, coaches, officials, staff and fans, if allowed at athletic competitions.
Monday’s meeting was staged in the Kramer-Moore Conference Room, the largest conference room in the SEC office, allowing ample social distancing. Several outside groups and individuals participated by videoconference.
“We had a productive meeting and engaged in discussions on a number of important issues that will contribute to critical decisions to be made in the weeks ahead,” Sankey said. “The ability to personally interact over the course of an entire day contributed to the productivity of the meeting.”
On June 4, UF athletics director Scott Stricklin spoke optimistically to the school’s board of trustees about the chances of playing football in front of fans. At the time, the number of cases of COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus, was declining in Florida and around most of the nation.
“A lot has changed in the last three months, and there’s still three months before we consider playing a football game on this campus,” Stricklin said at the time. “Time is on our side for now.”
Since then, cases of the virus have spiked to record levels. On Sunday, 15,300 people in Florida tested positive for the virus, a record for any state since the outbreak began several months ago. Sun Belt states — the footprint of the nation’s top football conference — have been among the hardest hit during the summer surge.
Against this backdrop, SEC decision-makers have to weigh the potential risk to their athletes and coaches along with the financial implications of not playing football in 2020.
“I talk to you today not knowing what will happen in the fall, but I also feel a responsibility not to say, ‘OK, we’re done,‘ “Sankey said when asked Monday during an appearance on the Paul Finebaum Show whether the SEC would drop nonconference football games. “… I’ve been very consistent that to the extent we can use time to make decisions, I’m going to heed that guidance.”
Football players began to return in late
May for voluntary workouts. While an outbreak of the virus has not occurred among players in Gainesville, other schools have not been as fortunate. Last week, Ohio State indefinitely suspended workouts because of positive coronavirus tests.
If college football can’t be played, schools face massive financial challenges.
In UF’s case, the Gators reaped around $27 million from ticket sales and concession sales for football games in 2019. More than $32 million in donor contributions is tied to the football program.
Of the school’s remaining 20 sports program, only men’s basketball does not rely on football for operating expenses.
The financial impact of the virus already has ransacked a number of major athletic departments. On Friday, Florida State announced a 20% athletics-department budget cut that eliminated 25 full-time jobs jobs and led to pay cuts throughout the department. New football coach Mike Norvell took a 25% reduction in salary.
If the SEC, like other Power 5 conferences, moves to a conference-only schedule in 2020, the Gators would cut four games from the schedule, including the annual matchup with FSU.