If you have followed college football closely over the years, you almost certainly know that the sideline area for teams has extended from one 25-yard line to the other.
It is easiest to identify the sideline area when looking at an unoccupied field. You can see the area which is more thickly painted. On game day, you can see how the players are confined to the 50-yard area between the two 25-yard lines.
If you haven’t paid close attention to those details during college football regular seasons, you might still be aware of this sideline area because of watching the Rose Bowl game over the years. The color of a team is painted on the sideline inside the 25-yard line, whereas the 50-yard area between the 25-yard lines is painted white:
You can see in the above photo that at the nearside 25-yard line inside the Rose Bowl stadium, on January 1, 1987, there was a border between the white paint (moving toward the middle of the field) and the blue paint which moved toward the goal line and formed the outer border of the maize-colored Michigan end zone.
This lengthy prelude sets up our story in this column:
The NCAA Playing Rules Oversight Panel — in response to COVID-19 — decided to enlarge the sideline area by 20 yards, 10 on each side. The sideline area is now from one 15-yard line to the other.
This is clearly an attempt to address the need for social distancing among teams when they gather on the sidelines during a game. Everyone can see that.
The obvious question: Why limit the area to the 70 yards between the 15-yard lines? Why not just allow teams to be on the sidelines for all 120 yards of the sideline, from the corner of one end zone to the corner of the other end zone on the same side of the field?
If the limit of 70 yards — giving the area from the back of the end zone to the 15-yard line — is meant to accommodate on-field media, I get the point. However, can’t a goal-line camera be installed without a person needing to manually operate it on the field? ESPN has pioneered “pylon cam” technology. ESPN and other networks are able to cut back on the manpower needed to operate equipment and staff production trucks for games, so with the cost savings achieved there, more cameras can be installed on a field.
Let’s say, for the sake of argument, that at least one person has to operate cameras on the field. Even then, that person could stand on the goal line. Other players on the team could still stand on the 5-yard line and display more-than-adequate social distancing. Beyond that point, if it is felt that media personnel have to be at the goal line on each side of the field, the camera operators can split up and take each side of the field. There would be one camera operator on the west side of the goal line at the north end zone, one on the east side of the goal line at the south end zone.
Players could — under this setup — occupy over 100 yards of the sideline on each side of the field. A 70-yard limit under the new change is still far too restrictive.
California state guidelines on how universities such as USC can safely conduct practices and games were released on Friday. You can look at the document for yourself.
Here is a relevant excerpt:
“As general guidance, smaller groups are safer than larger; outdoor locations are safer than indoor; sports that can ensure distance of six feet or more are safer than close contact; and shorter duration is safer than longer. For most sports activities, this guidance assumes that use of face coverings while playing is not feasible, although they should be worn by players and others while on the side lines. Athletic directors and coaches need to consider all these factors as they plan to resume training and conditioning.”
If college football is truly interested in maximizing social distancing in sideline areas, thereby maximizing safety for athletes and creating the safest possible experience for college football players, the 70-yard limit to the sideline area would have not have been approved. A 100-yard minimum would have been established.
Let’s see if this adjustment is made before the season starts.
There IS still time to do this.