◆ Governor seeks to delay fall season of college sports.
Lujan Grisham urges state’s schools to follow contactless sports requirements; Northern New Mexico suspends schedule
The dominoes are starting to fall and, by all accounts, next in line is college athletics.
In her latest public address about the coronavirus pandemic, New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham said she will direct the state Higher Education Department to approach the regents of New Mexico’s colleges and universities and ask them to adhere to her office’s contactless sports requirements and delay the fall sports season.
Those requirements are what shut down the high school football and soccer seasons Thursday, as well as threatened the other fall sports like volleyball, cross-country and golf, all of which are governed by the New Mexico Activities Association.
Lujan Grisham said she will
“strongly advise” colleges to follow her directives. New Mexico has five universities under the
NCAA umbrella; the University of New Mexico and New
Mexico State in Division I, and
New Mexico Highlands, Eastern
New Mexico and Western New
Mexico in Division II.
There are also smaller NAIA and junior colleges, such as
Northern New Mexico College,
New Mexico Junior College and
Luna Community College.
Northern New Mexico College announced Thursday night that it suspended its fall sports schedule effective immediately.
“The health and safety of our students, faculty, staff and community are priority at
Northern,” said Ryan Cordova,
NNMC’s athletic director and men’s basketball coach, adding that all scholarships will be honored for the upcoming school year. “The risk and uncertainty of COVID-19 have led to this decision.”
UNM athletic director Eddie Nuñez said this week that neither the school nor the Mountain West Conference, of which it is a member, was prepared to make a decision on whether to delay or cancel fall sports. The college football season is set to begin in late August, and on Thursday the Big Ten announced it was canceling all nonconference games, a move many believe will be followed by other major leagues around the country.
Canceling nonconference football games would deliver a significant financial blow to both UNM and New Mexico State, each of which relies heavily on seven-figure game guarantees to help balance their budgets. UNM is set to rake in more than $11 million over the next decade for games against some of the country’s premier power programs such as LSU, Oklahoma and Auburn.
The Lobo football team has September road games at Mississippi State and USC. Nuñez said both games, which come with contracts worth $2.05 million to UNM if they are played, are still on. UNM received $100,000 from USC in 2014 when the contract was signed and was set to receive an additional $950,000 by Nov. 1 for visiting Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum on Sept. 12.
“What we’re doing right now is we’re actively looking at all the different variables that we have to look at for football, for all the sports,” Nuñez said.
That means testing on a regular basis for student-athletes, coaches and staff members, as well as prohibiting fans from attending games and events until further notice. Student-athletes began voluntary workouts at UNM and NMSU last week, and Nuñez said there are approximately 100 athletes in several sports on campus.
“I know that most New Mexicans are aware that there is aggressive testing as college sports have been practicing and we’re seeing COVID-positive cases, and we’re seeing an increase in those cases,” Lujan Grisham said.
UNM announced Wednesday it had conducted 119 tests since June 27, with two positive results.
The school’s board of regents is scheduled to meet Tuesday to discuss the university’s adjusted annual budget. Nuñez said the athletics department is anticipating a significant cut to its budget, saying the school will implement an eight percent cut to athletics on top of the nearly $300,000 cut already made to state allocations.
Potential shutdowns go beyond amateur sports. On Thursday, New Mexico United soccer coach Troy Lesesne said no one associated with the Albuquerque-based professional soccer franchise has tested positive. The team is set to resume its United Soccer League season Saturday at Colorado Springs.
“We were as prepared as possible to go through something that, honestly, none of us were really prepared for,” Lesesne said, adding that keeping the United players safe for the last four months is a testimony to public awareness. “You have to give a ton of credit to our governor and all her policies and, beyond that, a lot of credit to all our players, our front office and our coaching staff for adhering not only to the policies that are in place by the state but the ones that are more vigilant from the USL. We’re tested weekly.”
Lujan Grisham acknowledged she has limited authority over the NCAA and professional sports leagues.
“Whatever we might do would have to apply to any professional soccer team,” Lujan Grisham said, adding that “all bets are off.”
The United responded Thursday evening with a statement that said the team is confident in the strict health protocols it and the USL have implemented, and it is discouraging fans from traveling to road games.
The United play 15 matches between Saturday’s game and the regular-season finale in late September. Eight of those would be played without fans at the UNM Track and Soccer Complex, while the other seven would be spread between Oklahoma City, Colorado Springs, El Paso and Salt Lake City.