SeC postpones lsuFlorida as Gators deal with outbreak NCAA will vote in January to change NIL, transfer rules.

GAINESVILLE, FLA. » No. 10 Florida and defending national champion LSU are now scheduled to play in December. Unfortunately for coach Dan Mullen, the stadium still won’t be packed.

The Southeastern Conference postponed Saturday’s LSU- Florida game a day after Mullen had 19 players and coaches test positive for COVID- 19. Florida athletic director Scott Stricklin said Wednesday the number is up to 21 positives with more in quarantine because of contract tracing.

Those players likely would have been unavailable against the Tigers, leaving Florida with fewer than 50 scholarship athletes and less than the SEC’s threshold ( 53) for holding games amid the coronavirus pandemic.

The game was tentatively rescheduled for Dec. 12, the league’s built- in bye week before its annual championship. It’s the second SEC game bumped this week, following MissouriVanderbilt.

Florida hosts Missouri next, on October 24, and that game also could be in jeopardy.

A set of proposals to permit NCAA athletes to earn money from endorsements and sponsorships deals will go up for vote in January, the last step for the association to change its rules but not the last word on how name, image and likeness compensation will work.

One year after the NCAA’s Board of Governors directed membership at each of division of the association to come up with plans to allow athletes to cash in on their fame, the Division I Council on Wednesday approved a proposal that took shape in April.

The council also approved a proposal that would permit all NCAA athletes to transfer one time without having to sit out a season of competition. Currently, football, basketball, baseball and hockey players must sit out a year after they transfer as an undergraduate.