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Report: ACC’s top medical advisor believes college football can be played in fall
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The ACC is planning to move forward with a fall football schedule. It has support from the conference’s top medical advisor, according to a report from the Sports Business Journal.
Dr. Cameron Wolfe, a Duke infectious disease specialist who chairs the ACC’s medical advisory team, told the Sports Business Journal that he believes there is a safe way to play college football during the fall. While he admits there will be a risk factor involved, he thinks there’s a path to playing.
“We believe we can mitigate it down to a level that makes everyone safe,” Wolfe said. “Can we safely have two teams meet on the field? I would say yes. Will it be tough? Yes. Will it be expensive and hard and lots of work? For sure. But I do believe you can sufficiently mitigate the risk of bringing COVID onto the football field or into the training room at a level that’s no different than living as a student on campus.”
Wolfe’s optimism about playing a season comes as the Power 5 conference leaders begin discussing the possibility of moving forward with a college football season. Already, there have been reports that the B1G and Pac-12 are considering cancelling or postponing all fall sports until the spring.
There was an acknowledgement that football is not a risk-free environment for potentially being infected by COVID-19. However, Wolfe says that there are risks with playing football, even without the threat of a virus.
“You have to feel some level of comfortable playing in a non-zero risk environment. You can’t tell me that running onto a football field is supposed to be a zero-risk environment,” Wolfe told the Sports Business Journal. “Look at all of the regular sporting injuries that we accept as a certain level of risk as part and parcel of football. Now the reality is that we have to accept a little bit of COVID risk to be a part of that.”
Right now, the ACC is still planning to play football in the fall. However, no final decisions have been made at this time.
Dustin grew up in the heart of Big Ten country and has been in sports media since 2010. He has been covering Big Ten football since 2014. You can follow him on Twitter: @SchutteCFB