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New Mexico Governor Asks New Mexico, New Mexico State To Not Play Football This Fall
Governor Lujan Grisham doesn’t want contact sports this falls.
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Will football happen in New Mexico?
The state of New Mexico has been getting strict in regards to sports and the COVID-19 pandemic. The state has already canceled high school football this fall, plus other sports, and the latest has governor Lujan Grisham wanting the same at the college level.
There is already a two-week mandatory quarantine period by an executive order from Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham for those who come to the state, but that is hard to enforce for those coming to visit on vacation.
Yet, a sports team coming into town definitely can’t just sneak in and that is why USL club New Mexico United is shuffling its schedule to play multiple road games against one opponent within a week or so period before returning home.
Now, Governor Luhan Grisham is wanting to expand no contact sports for colleges and that includes New Mexico and New Mexico State, yes, that includes football.
She wrote a letter that was obtained by the Albuquerque Journal and this is the key point to what she penned. (Full letter can be found here)
“I know what I am asking you to contemplate is difficult and unprecedented, but these are difficult and unprecedented times,” Grisham wrote. “Fighting COVID-19 is a team sport. I am asking each of you to join me and take it upon yourselves to do everything you can to fight COVID-19. Together we can protect all New Mexicans, and if we are successful, we can resume contact sports and re-engage in the camaraderie and joy they bring all of us in a safe manner as soon as we can.
“It is therefore critical that you postpone collegiate athletics in this moment of escalating danger,” she wrote. “This is an essential step we must take if we are to return to some safe and balanced new normal as quickly as possible.”
This is a tough decision because there are a lot of people that are impacted by not having college football. Even in the state of New Mexico where the teams aren’t all that great impacts peoples jobs with those who work the games, game day experiences, fans just having fun at a football game, and the players themselves as these years in college are the last they will suit up and play the sport they love.
People want sports back, this website specifically wants college sports back but there is a time where public safety and health trump what people want. The need to contain and control this virus until there is a vaccine or the number of cases is minimal along with hospitalizations.
New Mexico athletics director Eddie Nunez and president Garnett Stokes provided a joint statement on the upcoming school year.
“The health and well-being of our student-athletes and our Lobo community is, first and foremost, our top consideration in how we approach our fall athletic programs. Equally important is ensuring student academic success. We have been in regular communication with the Governor’s office over the past several months, and we sincerely appreciate the guidance her office has provided as we have worked on our plans for fall sports. We expect discussions with the NCAA and the Mountain West Conference to continue over the next couple of weeks as plans for the fall are finalized.”
Right now this is just a request and who knows where it will lead to and if there will be some executive order to not have these two schools play football.
Doing it safely is still up in the air as there have not been any full-contact practices at any school at the FBS level. However, there have been plenty of schools that have shut down even the small group workouts due to COVID-19 and positive tests.
The college football season is scheduled to begin on Aug. 29 with Week 0 games which are five weeks away, and the Lobos are hosting Idaho State that day.
New Mexico and New Mexico State play each other this year and that game is slated for Sept. 19.
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