Football season is currently in the air at the moment, thanks to the coronavirus pandemic. As things stand, Texas is scheduled to kick off their season against South Florida on September 5th.
Many schools have said their universities will be open for the fall semester and they will be ready for football season to begin on time. To do so, conferences and athletic directors need plans in place.
Talking to the Associated Press last week, Dr. Brian Hartline, the NCAA chief medical officer, said widespread testing will be critical to having sports come the fall.
“It’s not going to be risk-free, that’s for sure,” Hainline said. “If this is rolled out in stages and reasonably, we’re really paying attention to proper surveillance and we get the tests available, I think we can have fall sports. My concern is if we just rush into this too quickly because of this almost sense of desperation, that we just have to get going.”
Joined by other medical officers from professional sports leagues, Hartline was on a phone call with White House coronavirus response coordinator Dr. Deborah Birx, outlining the possible steps.
“What we really discussed in some detail was: What is it going to take to get sport back? And I will tell you that 80% of the conversation centered around testing,” Hainline said. ”And more specifically, what happens in contact sports like basketball or football, when one of the players tests positive. Does that mean quarantine? Does that mean we do very regular testing?”
Hartline sounds optimistic the NCAA will have enough resources for collegiate sports to continue in the fall. The issue will be how many fans will be in the stadiums or arena if any.
“I think realistically having a football game with 90,000 fans, that would take a remarkable turnaround in a short period of time,” Hainline said.
Schools having students back in session in the fall will up the chance of a season happening. Universities cannot ask their football players to be on campus if regular students are not.
Football season could happen if widespread testing is available. While fans in the stands may be in question, any kind of sport, even if it is on television, will help during this pandemic.
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