Southeastern Conference Commissioner Greg Sankey has created headlines in recent days with comments regarding the coronavirus pandemic and the possibilities of playing a 2020 college football schedule.
While saying that he hopes all college programs are able to compete this season, Sankey indicated that the SEC might be willing to go it alone if its member schools are the only ones willing and able to move forward.
In our latest "Crisis Management" conversation, Warchant's Gene Williams, Ira Schoffel, Corey Clark and Aslan Hajivandi discuss why the Atlantic Coast Conference could have a tougher time finding consensus among its member schools. We also contemplate what Florida State and the ACC should do if any member schools want to abstain from playing this season.
Please read our comments below and also watch our debate in this video for the full discussion.
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This is the question we presented to our staff:
The Southeastern Conference seems determined to play college football this season, and we believe the leadership of the Atlantic Coast Conference is of a similar mindset. The challenge for the ACC, of course, is it covers a larger geographic area and encompasses some bigger cities that have been — or could become — hot spots for the coronavirus. If necessary, what should the ACC do this season to compensate for the geographical issues? Also, what should the conference and/or Florida State do if there isn’t a consensus from the league schools about returning to the field?
GENE: Conferences and schools will all need to learn how to adapt if they plan to go forward with a college football season this fall. How this will play out exactly is anyone’s guess. But in terms of the ACC, you could envision a scenario where one or more schools decide against playing this season. If that happens, it definitely should NOT be determinative for the rest of the conference. If three schools (hypothetically) decide it’s not safe enough in their area of the country to play football, there’s no reason to scrap the season for the other 11.
You would like to think that the conference and member schools are working on contingency plans in case this scenario plays out. Ultimately, it will likely come down to playing a modified schedule, which could mean substituting Coastal teams for missed Atlantic opponents, and vice versa. It could also mean keeping travel to a minimum and regionalizing schedules as much as possible. Again, hopefully the leadership is putting these hypothetical schedules on paper right now so everyone will be ready when it comes time to make the decision.
It also wouldn’t hurt Florida State to plan for some worst-case scenarios. I doubt it would happen, but what if several ACC schools conclude it’s too risky to play and the conference leadership decides to scrap the season? This would create a potentially bizarre situation, where the SEC and possibly other conferences are playing while the ACC is watching from the sideline. In that case, hopefully FSU would be able to go back to its independent roots and piece together a makeshift schedule of non-conference opponents. There's certainly a chance some SEC schools will be looking for quality non-conference opponents, and schools like USF and UCF would probably be thrilled to get the Seminoles on the schedule. Heck, FSU could play both in-state schools twice in 2019 – one at home and one away.
ALSO SEE: Crisis management -- Shorten the season? Or move to the spring?
The good news is that none of these decisions need to be made now. With every passing day, we are getting a better grip on COVID-19 as a country. And with improved testing, there should be a way to play college football this fall. But it probably won’t be the same college football we’ve all grown accustomed to.
