ACC confident it can proceed safely
The ACC has studied COVID-19-related heart complications among a small group of athletes, but Florida State President John Thrasher says league leaders still feel confident in their safety protocols and are planning to play college football in the fall.
Power Five conference commissioners met during the weekend to discuss whether to postpone the 2020 football season and reviewed a report from an NCAA doctor about a potential correlation between healthy athletes who were infected with COVID-19 and later developed myocarditis, which is inflammation of the heart muscle.
Concerns about potential heart complications among athletes reportedly helped convince Big Ten and Pac-12 presidents to postpone football until the spring.
Thrasher, however, does not see the still developing research of the issue as a reason to call off college football games this fall.
“Our presidents met two days ago, and we went through all of that,” Thrasher said during a press conference Tuesday with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and FSU coach Mike Norvell during which they all endorsed playing football as scheduled.
“And the issues presented, frankly, none of them we had not considered before. We did agree that we ought to go look at the medial aspects again just one more time to make sure our protocols and the other teams’ protocols were in place, and we’ve been doing that.
“I feel relatively certain that the ACC is aligned with us and they want to play for the same reasons that have been outlined.”
The Southeastern Conference and ACC reiterated Tuesday night they are aligned with Florida State in statements responding to the Big Ten and Pac-12 decisions.
“The ACC will continue to make decisions based on medical advice, inclusive of our Medical Advisory Group, local and state health guidelines, and do so in a way that appropriately coincides with our universities’ academic missions,” the league said in a statement. “The safety of our students, staff and overall campus communities will always be our top priority, and we are pleased with the protocols being administrated on our 15 campuses.
“We will continue to follow our process that has been in place for months and has served us well. We understand the need to stay flexible and be prepared to adjust as medical information and the landscape evolves.”