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SEC Sports
SEC weighs options on how to play the 2020 football season during coronavirus pandemic
The SEC has some hurdles to clear before attempting to kick off the college football season during the coronavirus pandemic.
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The Southeastern Conference has some hurdles to clear before attempting to kick off the football season during the coronavirus pandemic.
Summer will provide a small buffer before making any big decisions. But some critical questions need answers soon.
Will it be safe for athletes to have close physical contact in practices and games? Can fans practice social distancing in stadiums that are usually packed on Saturdays in the South? If not, could college sports survive financially without the lucrative paydays that each football season provides?
If students are on campus, will games be played?
The SEC has taken a few steps forward. As of mid-May, 13 of its 14 member schools had indicated that students will return to campus for the fall semester. Only Vanderbilt, located in the SEC’s most populated city in Nashville, has not done so.
The SEC’s Return to Activity task force, comprised of medical professionals from every member school, is guiding the path back to competition by setting protocols. But member schools, led by presidents and chancellors, will determine the timing of that return.
College students are at low risk of dying due to COVID-19, according to the Centers for Disease Controls and Prevention. About 0.1% of COVID-19 deaths are people from ages 15 to 24.
Could the SEC play without other Power Five conferences?
The season is scheduled to start Aug. 29. But the first SEC games are slated for Sept. 5, with 11 contests on campuses. Also, Georgia-Virginia will be in Atlanta, Alabama-Southern Cal in Arlington, Texas, and Ole Miss-Baylor in Houston.
Some reports have speculated that the SEC could play a limited schedule, even if other Power Five conferences decided to sit out the 2020 season. But SEC commissioner Greg Sankey has dismissed those ideas.
In an SEC news release, Sankey said the SEC task force is assisting in “our collaboration with colleague conferences” about a safe return to competition. And on the “Paul Finebaum Show” on the SEC Network, Sankey said the “notion that one lightly thinks about going off and doing something in an independent way is actually not attached to reality,” because of conferences’ interconnected schedules.
Could SEC afford to play games with no fans?
SEC home football games drew about 7.3 million fans last season, with ticket sales serving as a primary revenue stream for athletic departments. If social distancing practices prohibited or limited fans attending games, schools would take a financial hit.
But playing games on TV with no fans would still generate revenue. In the 2018-19 fiscal year, the SEC distributed an average of $44.6 million per school, including a big payout for TV contracts.
SEC Media Days — the conference's made-for-TV event — is still on schedule for July 13-16 in Atlanta. But it could be staged without coaches, players and reporters on site.
