Sankey hopes football for SEC proceeds as scheduled this fall

Southeastern Conference sports are shut down, as is much of the country. The novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has taken hold and sent everything into a state of limbo.

Right now, that doesn't impact the upcoming college football season. However, it might get to that point soon. On Tuesday, SEC commissioner Greg Sankey addressed the possibility that the 2020 SEC football season could be adjusted and said, as of now, he's gearing towards everything being back to normal this fall.

“That's my focus,” Sankey said on a media teleconference. “I'm a halffull-perspective person, so I have optimism.”

Sankey of course didn't commit to anything as pertains to this fall. At this point he, nor anyone else, knows what the days ahead hold. In the midst of the uncertainty, Sankey says he's simply doing what he can and trying to make sure he's prepared for anything.

“We have taken measures, as have our colleague conferences at this time,” Sankey said. “As I read (what) health leaders (have said), they say we're going to have a period of time to see what happens with the growth of these (coronavirus) cases and we'll make decisions down the road. For me, our responsibility is to continue to support the public health decision making, but also be prepared to do our work as assigned to us. We've categorized things. One is to be focused on the work we have. The second is to make sure we're prepared for next year, as planned. The third is to engage in big-picture thinking, which is contingency planning, but also strategic planning.”

For now, the next highprofile SEC event is the annual football Media Days,