Football in the spring? The NCAA said today that it is not optimistic about the upcoming fall season: “Today, sadly, the data point in the wrong direction.”

Will Penn State have a chance for a football season in September?

Photo: The Daily Collegian

… spring season is "beyond a last resort"

ESPN conjectured about something today that no one in the Power 5 conferences wanted to hear,

What if college football can't be played this fall? Is spring football really a possibility?

Can you imagine Alabama and Tennessee playing on the Third Saturday in March, instead of the Third Saturday in October?

Ole Miss and Mississippi State playing in the Easter Egg Bowl?

The Rose Bowl kicking off on Memorial Day, instead of New Year's Day?

Mark Schwalbach, Heather Finish, “A spring 2021 college football season? What a coronavirus-impacted schedule might look like,” ESPN, July 14, 2020

However, while the network’s analysts say that no one in the Power 5 conferences wants a spring schedule to happen, pointing out all of the impediments to it, the NCAA was not optimistic as it proposed guidelines to schools that are trying to have sports return this fall. 

Emmert’s statement is not promising

Today, NCAA president Mark Emmert said that the hopeful return to a fall sports schedule is looking bleak with the spread throughout the southern and western parts of the country, which is where many of these schools are located,

"When we made the extremely difficult decision to cancel last spring's championships, it was because there was simply no way to conduct them safely," Emmert said in a prepared statement. "This document lays out the advice of health care professionals as to how to resume college sports if we can achieve an environment where COVID-19 rates are manageable. Today, sadly, the data point in the wrong direction. If there is to be college sports in the fall, we need to get a much better handle on the pandemic."

Heather Dinish, “NCAA issues extended guidelines to help navigate return 

to fall sports during coronavirus pandemic,” ESPN, July 16, 2020

The NCAA is making its decisions in conjunction with its medical and scientific advisors,

"Any recommendation on a pathway toward a safe return to sport will depend on the national trajectory of COVID-19 spread," said Brian Hainline, NCAA chief medical officer. "The idea of sport resocialization is predicated on a scenario of reduced or flattened infection rates."

According to the release, the recommendations were developed in collaboration with the NCAA COVID-19 Advisory Panel, American Medical Society for Sports Medicine (AMSSM) COVID-19 Working Group, Autonomy-5 Medical Advisory Group, National Medical Association, and NCAA Committee on Competitive Safeguards and Medical Aspects of Sports Prevention and Performance Subcommittee. The guidance also takes into consideration recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Heather Dinish,  ESPN, July 16, 2020

Keeping an eye on baseball

With Major League Baseball on the horizon, albeit without any fans in the stands, the other groups like the NCAA are going to be breathlessly waiting for what they hope will be some success, 

The information continues to change rapidly, and there's no shortage of speculation, but with the fall season in serious jeopardy, conference commissioners and other power players have acknowledged that spring football, which once seemed like an only-if-we-have-to option, is becoming more and more conceivable.

"I think we need to be prepared to do it, and I think it should be viewed as a viable option," Notre Dame athletic director Jack Swarbrick said. "We're going to learn so much from the NBA and NHL and Major League Baseball in the next few weeks, and if, for example, those efforts go poorly, it's probably going to be a really critical data point for us, and we'll argue for delay. If that occurs, I think you've gotta be open to the spring."

Mark Schlabach, Heather Dinish,  ESPN, July 14, 2020

Running out of time

The athletic directors are having problems trying to give direction to programs that are reliant upon something completely outside of their control,

Recent decisions by the Pac-12 and Big Ten were made to give the conferences more flexibility in pushing back the start of the season and making up canceled games, if necessary, because of the coronavirus pandemic. The Big Ten and Pac-12 prefer a 10-game schedule, if feasible, but everything seems to be on the table.

SEC athletic directors met Monday at the league office in Birmingham, Alabama. The ACC, Big 12 and SEC aren't expected to announce their plans for the upcoming season until later this month, but SEC commissioner Greg Sankey offered a dire assessment during an interview on Marty & McGee on ESPN Radio over the weekend.

"We are running out of time to correct and get things right, and as a society we owe it to each other to be as healthy as we can be," said Sankey, who described his concern for the upcoming season as "high to very high."

Sankey isn't alone. After announcing the conference-only model, Big Ten commissioner Kevin Warren said, "We may not have a college football season in the Big Ten."

Mark Schlabach, Heather Dinish, ESPN, July 14, 2020

Placing an entire team in quarantine?

The NCAA guidelines that were released on Thursday certainly opened a few eyes, giving details about testing and how those tests could impact teams,

The NCAA guidelines state that any individuals with "a high risk of exposure" should be placed in quarantine for 14 days -- and that includes opposing team members following competition. In some cases, the document states, that could mean an entire team.

The NCAA also gave guidelines for travel, stating when feasible, "schools should aim to travel and play the same day to avoid overnight stays," a scenario that's unlikely for college football season. If overnight stays are necessary, the NCAA recommends travel protocol includes universal masking and social distancing for individuals traveling with others by private car, van, chartered bus or chartered plane. It also suggests "prepackaged meals or room service should be considered."

Heather Dinich, ESPN, July 16, 2020

Conclusion

The truth is that many of these schools are not even certain that their plans for students to return to classes on campus are going to work. Can students really live safely in dormitories? In fraternities or sororities? In apartments?

If they cannot, can you really even consider the possibility of having athletic events?

At this stage, we do not know.