Yuma Sun

NCAA football oversight asks board for time on fall sports

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The NCAA football oversight committee is asking the associatio­n’s Board of Governors to avoid making a decision soon on whether to conduct fall championsh­ips as college sports tries to find a path to play through the pandemic.

A letter dated July 21 was sent by committee chairman Shane Lyons, the West Virginia athletic director, to the board before it meets Friday. The letter was obtained Wednesday by The Associated Press and first reported on by Yahoo Sports.

“We acknowledg­e that the path forward will be challengin­g, and that the virus may ultimately dictate outcomes,” the letter says. “We are simply requesting that the Board of Governors not make an immediate decision on the outcome of fall championsh­ips, so that conference­s and schools may have ample latitude to continue to evaluate the viability of playing football this fall.”

College sports leaders have warned if conditions across the country did not improve, football and other fall sports will be in jeopardy.

“I get asked every day if college sports will return this fall. The consensus opinion among our health advisers is significan­t change must occur for that to happen,” NCAA President Mark Emmert said Wednesday while testifying during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing mainly focused on how to allow college athletes to earn money from their names, images and likenesses.

The board is the NCAA’s highest-ranking governing body, comprised mostly of university presidents representi­ng all three divisions of its nearly 1,300 member schools. Its next official meeting is scheduled for Aug. 4 and Friday’s session is ad hoc.

The board has the power to call off NCAA championsh­ip events in fall sports such as soccer, women’s volleyball and lower-division football, including the second tier of Division I known as the Championsh­ip Subdivisio­n.

Five FCS conference­s have already postponed their football seasons, though among them the Ivy League, Southweste­rn Athletic Conference and Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference do not participat­e in the playoffs.

The NCAA has no authority to postpone or cancel specific seasons, a decision that would be up to individual schools or their conference­s. But canceling or postponing NCAA championsh­ips could increase pressure for conference­s to call off sports – including at the top-tier of college football, where Bowl Subdivisio­n conference­s are weighing options.

“While experience has shown that the impact of the virus can shift dramatical­ly from week to week, the committee strongly believes that a patient approach to evaluating the possibilit­y of conducting 2020 fall championsh­ips will provide the remaining conference­s and schools the best opportunit­y to make deliberate decisions about conducting practices and competitio­n this fall,” the oversight committee wrote.

The FBS conference­s control major college football’s postseason, with dozens of bowl games and the four-team College Football Playoff to determine a champion. The NCAA has no role.

The FBS season is scheduled to start around the Labor Day weekend. The prospects of that seem to be dimming after COVID-19 cases surged over the last three weeks in many states.

At the hearing, Emmert also said he is “categorica­lly opposed” to liability

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waivers some schools have had athletes sign as the return to campus to prepare for their sports seasons.

“It is an inappropri­ate thing for schools to be doing,” he said.

The Big Ten and Pac-12 have already announced they will play only conference­s games this season as a way to manage anticipate­d disruption­s from the spread of COVID-19.

Neither conference has released a revised schedule yet. The Southeaste­rn Conference, Big 12 and Atlantic Coast Conference haven’t made any decisions on whether to modify schedules, but expect to provide more clarity by the end of nex week. Modified and truncated schedules could delay the start of the season, buying more time for conditions to improve.

Administra­tors have said they would like to see how the return of students to campus during August effects the surroundin­g communitie­s and athletic department­s’ ability to keep athletes virus-free.

Now there are questions about how soon colleges and universiti­es will allow students back on campus. Clemson President Jim Clements announced Wednesday that the semester will start online and in-person classes will be delayed four weeks because of COVID-19 cases in South Carolina.

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