PSU AD Sandy Barbour says schools would need players back on campus 60 days before first game to avoid health concerns
There are plenty of questions about the 2020 college football season, and what the affect the COVID-19 pandemic could have on the outlook for the year. There’s potential for a delayed start, a truncated year or, worst-case scenario, no football at all.
A lot of that won’t be determined for quite some time. In the coming weeks and months, a watchful eye on the coronavirus pandemic is what will dictate the direction college football, and the rest of the sports world, will go.
On Thursday, Penn State Athletic Director Sandy Barbour did provide a little insight on what it would take for the 2020 college football season to be up-and-running as scheduled. Really, it boiled down to two main points:
- Students must be permitted to return to campus
- Players should be back to campuses and practices 60 days before the first game
Penn State AD Sandy Barbour says a 60 day window is what they think they need to ramp up for football and not have health concerns relative to playing the game.
— Ben Jones (@Ben_Jones88) April 2, 2020
Sandy Barbour: "We're not bringing students back to campus until it's safe." In other words, no football if students aren't on campus.
— Dennis Dodd (@dennisdoddcbs) April 2, 2020
Barbour also says that she doesn’t see a scenario where it is healthy/safe enough for students to play not have crowds.
— Ben Jones (@Ben_Jones88) April 2, 2020
Penn State’s first game is scheduled for Saturday, Sept. 5, putting players’ return date at July 7. A few teams will have games before that Sept. 5 date, so essentially players will need to be able to return to campus in early July to get things moving on time.
Barbour also said that there really isn’t a situation in which she feels it would be safe for student-athletes to participate in competition but not allow fans inside the stadiums. In addition, it’s not very likely that student-athletes will be permitted to return to campus without other students also having the same opportunity.
That still provides coaches, athletic directors and conference commissioners a little time to see what happens over the coming weeks and months before making a determination.
