SEC updates timeline to determine the fate of the SEC football season
SEC athletic directors met to see where they stand on the college football season.
After meeting on Monday at the SEC Office in Birmingham to discuss SEC and college athletics issues, namely the fate of fall sports amid rising coronavirus cases. SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey said over the weekend that he was very concerned about having a season.
After decisions by the Big Ten and Pac-12 to cancel non-conference games, the SEC is not expected to make a final decision on the fate of the fall schedule until late July.
“We had a productive meeting on Monday and engaged in discussions on a number of important issues that will contribute to critical decisions to be made in the weeks ahead,” said SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey. “The ability to personally interact over the course of an entire day contributed to the productivity of the meeting.”
“It is clear that current circumstances related to COVID-19 must improve and we will continue to closely monitor developments around the virus on a daily basis,” Sankey said. “In the coming weeks we will continue to meet regularly with campus leaders via videoconferences and gather relevant information while guided by medical advisors. We believe that late July will provide the best clarity for making the important decisions ahead of us.”
SEC to determine fate of the season in late July.
Late July can be defined between July 27-31, the last week of the month. So fans should know the fate of the SEC football, and by large extend, the fate of the college football season in 14-18 days. Expect the SEC decision-makers to use as much of the time they have before being forced to make a decision. This ultimately could be one of the biggest, most important and long-lasting decisions the conference has seen since the advent of the SEC Championship Game, if not ever.
That’s not even hyperbole, because it’s the message Sports Illustrated’s Ross Dellenger is relaying on the Paul Finebaum Show.
Sports Illustrated's @RossDellenger says he expects the SEC to wait a couple weeks before making a decision on the 2020 season. "This may be the biggest two or three weeks in college football history."
— Paul Finebaum (@finebaum) July 13, 2020
When the Big Ten made their decision last week, there were people who felt the timing of the decision was a surprise. The Pac-12 followed, the Ivy League had already pushed their season to the fall. Monday, the Patriot League and NJCCC announced they will not have fall seasons.
There is an increasing push that if there isn’t a fall season that university presidents may not be too keen on having a spring football season. Having players play in the spring, with the NFL Draft not pushing their date back, and the 2021 fall season that close, it presents all sorts of logistic nightmares.
Football players, coaches and fans all want the game this fall but the growing sense is even if we do start, with safety precautions in place, there are no assurances that the season will reach a finale anyway.
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