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Report: NCAA president tells Congress that upcoming college football season could be shortened
Published:
NCAA President Mark Emmert has warned Congress that the college football season could be shortened in 2020 due to the uncertainties involving the COVID-19 pandemic.
According to the New York Times, Emmert to congressional Republicans that the college football season could end by Thanksgiving depending on the public health situation come November. The 2020 regular season is scheduled to end on Thanksgiving weekend.
Emmert did say he expects the season to begin around Labor Day, which would be Week 1 of the college football season this year. Only a few matchups are scheduled the week before, a weekend the sport as claimed as Week 0.
Based on Emmert’s comments, the biggest question for the upcoming campaign would be whether or not conference championship games, bowl games and the College Football Playoff are played this year. All of those postseason contests are scheduled for December and January.
Obviously it’s still way too early to make any predictions on that, as those dates are still six months away. But it’s an interesting situation to ponder as the sport moves forward. And, if the postseason was canceled, what would be the financial impact?
The NCAA, its conferences and schools took a hard hit from the cancellation of the NCAA Tournament this year. No college football postseason would be even more detrimental to athletic departments.
This college football season is already expected to see some changes. So far, it appears that athletic directors are preparing to operate with a limited capacity for football games. Some have given figures of anywhere from 20 percent to 50 percent capacity this fall.
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