As college football fans anxiously wait to see if there will be a season, some programs have revealed their return plans. Notre Dame became the latest program to do that Wednesday. Pete Sampson of The Athletic outlined it in a pair of tweets:
-Players will live at the Morris Inn during summer.
-Phase 1 of training limited to groups of 10 of fewer. Phase 2 limited to 50 of fewer. Phase 3 will be unlimited.
-Players/staff should wear masks with social distancing cannot be achieved.
-Phase 1 begins June 22.
2/2
— Pete Sampson (@PeteSampson_) June 5, 2020
While the fate of the 2020 season is unknown right now, it’s encouraging that Notre Dame has a plan in place. Everything mentioned is as safe as a college football program can hope for if it wants to play games this fall. It’s impossible to avoid physical contact in any major sport in this country, and this is uncharted territory for everybody.
There’s no question this will be a tough adjustment for the players. After all, when you can’t see your brothers for a week and a half after reporting for duty, it’s torture. But if this is the new normal, at least until we get a vaccine for COVID-19, sacrifices have to be made as our society continues to push towards more intimate things. The Irish only are one example of how things are now and the foreseeable future.