Georgia AD Greg McGarity Talks About COVID-19 Coronavirus

Georgia athletic director Greg McGarity talks about the impact made on the sporting world by COVID-19 coronavirus on WSBTV in Atlanta.

At 4:31 PM on March 11th, the NCAA put a policy in place to play all of their tournament games with essential personnel only. By 1:16 PM on March 12th, the NCAA canceled all spring sporting event championships. 

To say things moved quickly is an understatement: 

"Everything just happened so quickly. But we arrived at the decision for the best of all that the safety and wellness of all of our student-athletes and staff was the most important." 

University of Georgia athletic director, Greg McGarity was on WSBTV today. He spoke about the obvious impact of COVID-19  coronavirus. 

When asked what head football coach, Kirby Smart's reaction was to the news he said: 

"Well, his first and foremost concern was the health and safety of the student-athletes and his staff. And everything. I think there was disappointment there but he totally understood the dynamics. This is much bigger than sports, and what's in the best interest and the health and safety fo these young student-athletes is of the utmost importance

"This is much bigger than sports."

AD Greg McGarity said @KirbySmartUGA and his @GeorgiaFootball team's focus is on the safety of people everywhere as spring practice has been postponed.

📺: TODAY at 11am on @wsbtv! #GoDawgs pic.twitter.com/mBYCNZKQ3H

— Game Day on 2 (@GameDayOn2) March 14, 2020

The NCAA March Madness tournament brought in nearly $933M last year, but AD McGarity says that money or the bottom line was never a  concern. 

"I think there was a lot of disappointment because these students work all year for these seasons but he understood. Finances never came up. Revenue loss of revenue was never an item of discussion it was all focused on what is best for the population."

And thought the NCAA has placed these limitations through the spring championships, however, the SEC has a hold on things until at least April 15th at which point they will readdress the situation. 

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