As each day ticks by without the cancellation of the Ohio State football season and collegiate fall sports in general, it’s one step closer to seeing a product on the field during the COVID-19 pandemic.
However, just because none of the Power Five programs and conferences have canceled games, doesn’t mean that it’s still not a volatile and fluid situation. Things have come awfully close already with the cancellation of fall sports for the Ivy League, Division II and III canceling their fall championships, ConnecticutΒ foregoing its 2020 football season, and several positive COVID-19 positive tests and pauses in workouts so far.
But … again — things are still on. And that’sΒ where a piece from USA TODAY Sports’ Steve Berkowitz comes in.
NCAA president Mark Emmert appeared on an NCAA Twitter site along with the association’s chief medical officer, Brian Hainline, and both were blunt and honest about where things stand.
ππππ ππ¨ππ’ππ₯ πππ«π’ππ¬ | ππ© ππ
ππ’ππ ππ±π°π³π΅π΄ & πππππ-19NCAA President Mark Emmert, NCAA CMO Dr. Brian Hainline and @UKYPres Dr. Eli Capilouto join @TheAndyKatz to discuss the landscape of college sports this fall. https://t.co/6rvzLhUJSQ
— Inside the NCAA (@InsidetheNCAA) August 7, 2020
“This is going to be difficult, to say the least, going forward,β Emmert said.
Hainline went further with a reality check in the midst of the optimism floating around.
βI think we’re in a place that is exceptionally narrow. The boundaries are β¦ there’s not a lot of places to move one way or the other. Almost everything would have to be perfectly aligned to continue moving forward.β
Emmert also pointed to theΒ stringent requirements the NCAA’s Board of Governors put in place for programs to be able to hold fall sports, saying the path is narrow.
βWe may well see more as they look at the requirements that the Board put in place and (make) determinations that they just can’t conduct sports in a way that that would be consistent with those guidelines given resources or their localities because of this hot-spot phenomenon with COVID-19.”
Emmert did end things with hope and the desire to return to normal but cautioned that the health and safety of student-athletes is the priority.
βWe’re all really hopeful that can be done,β Emmert said. βObviously, everybody wants to have kids back on campus. Everybody wants fall sports to return. But we can’t do it unless we can find a way to do it with minimized risk for these young people.β
It sounds like a broken record, but all we can do is take it one day at a time, do our part in limiting the spread of COVID-19, and hope for the best.