Bowlsby `bullish' on Big 12 football in September
Bob Bowlsby is not an effervescent personality. The Big 12 commissioner is neither bubbly nor vivacious. He's one of the sharpest minds in the American sports cutlery, but Bowlsby mostly is a realist. He doesn't say things to make people feel better.
So your spirits should soar in knowing that Bowlsby on Friday was downright buoyant on college football returning on time.
“I'm optimistic we'll start the season somewhere around Labor Day,” Bowlsby told Big 12 writers on a Zoom call Friday, “I'm bullish about the opportunity, moreso than I was 30 days ago, and I hope I'm even more bullish 30 days from now.”
That's the feeling most of us have, the idea that the coronavirus pandemic could soften enough in three months for Oregon State to be in Stillwater for a Sept. 3 season opener and Missouri State to be in Norman two nights later. From the re-opening of football facilities across the nation in the next couple of weeks to even stated plans for fans to be in the stands, momentum is rising for a season that might look a little bit like normal.
That seemed unlikely on March 12 in Kansas City, when Bowlsby announced the cancellation of the Big 12 basketball tournament. Before sundown, the NCAA had canceled the NCAA Tournament and all spring championships. That's the day the sporting world stopped, with all due respect to Rudy
Gobert and Donnie Strack.
“I really think as the time since the basketball tournament has gone by until now, we have really learned a lot,” Bowlsby said. “We've learned a lot about the virus. How to co-exist with the virus.”
Bowlsby is no doctor, but he has good access to information from the public-health and political sector.
“We're a long ways from out of the woods,” Bowlsby said. “Everyone from the White House task force to our own medical consultants, they all are the same thing. The virus is going to be around like chicken pox and the flu and HIV and other viruses. We have to learn how to co-exist with it.”
Bowlsby was joined on the Zoom call by TCU chancellor Victor Boschini, chairman of the Big 12 board. Joined on the call and joined in confidence.
“I'm very optimistic,” Boschini said of an on-time Big 12 football start. “I think it's going to happen.”
Boschini said TCU will “err on the side of overtesting” and he believes the Horned Frogs will have ample access to rests. Boschini said the Fort Worth school even has purchased two machines that quickly read the tests.
Bowlsby said he's been told the availability of testing will continue to rise. The cases are flattening across the nation, particularly in Big 12 country. There have been positive signs.
So positive, that fans in the stands, which a month ago seemed impossible, now seems quite possible. Iowa State announced this week that it would sell tickets to half of Jack Trice Stadium. Iowa announced plans to sell all of its tickets at Kinnick Stadium.
OSU associate athletic director Chad Weiberg told me Friday that while he and his colleagues are talking about “reduced capacity scenarios,” they also are “optimistically planning for being able to operate as close to normal as possible should the health guidelines, at that time, allow for it.”
That's a long way from a Rose Bowl in May.
Bowlsby said fans in the stands will not be a Big 12 headquarters issue. Individual schools will make those determinations in conjunction with local health officials.
Bowlsby did bring up some of the issues to be considered, like halftime lines for concessions and bathrooms, and the realization that not all fans want to return.
“Every situation is not the same,” Bowlsby said. “Our athletic directors are working hard on it.”
Bowlsby had no answers for the myriad questions that will come with football games in September. What happens if an outbreak occurs within a team or a university? Would a game be delayed or canceled or forfeited? What are the precautions for referees and sideline personnel? Will bands be allowed on the field?
A hundred other questions must be considered. The answers are not now apparent, but the preparation to answer those questions in the future can be worked on now. And they can be worked on with optimism, as we all get more bullish about football in September.
Berry Tramel: Berry can be reached at 405-7608080 or at btramel@oklahoman.com. He can be heard Monday through Friday from 4:40-5:20 p.m. on The Sports Animal radio network, including FM-98.1. You can also view his personality page at oklahoman.com/berrytramel.