Louisville AD Vince Tyra hopes to push back, not cancel 2020 College Football season
With the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic forcing a number of sports leagues to either cancel or indefinitely suspend competition, very real concerns have been raised on if the upcoming 2020 college football season will be played in its entirety, if at all.
Eliminating any amount of games from the 2020 schedule is a move that would have an overarching financial impact on a university's athletics department, possibly forcing many institutions to cut various non-revenue generating sports during the 2020-21 academic year.
Because of potential budgeting shortfalls that would be created, University of Louisville athletic director Vince Tyra is hoping that instead of canceling part of the season, the entire schedule should simply be pushed back.
"If we do have to postpone, selfishly I hope we can move it in kind of a schedule block where we move forward September 1st to 15th, or October 1st, November 1st," Tyra said in a teleconference with reporters on Thursday.
Going by this model, Tyra hopes that the season would not have to start any later that February due to potential overlapping with postseason college basketball games. He also noted that he would prefer at least a 60 day window between having players back on campus and the first game on the schedule.
Tyra is not a fan of the prospect of potentially hosting games without fans present, as many conferences were planning on doing for their basketball tournaments prior to being outright cancelled due to the coronavirus.
"I don't foresee games in the stadiums without fans, I just don't," he said. "It just seems coordinated that if we're healthy and everyone's safe then we get together. It just seems counterintuitive to have the young men out there tackling and touching each other, using the same ball and all the things you go through, if we're still in masks and staying at home."
While he believes it is of "everyone's best interest if we can start on time and have our season as planned", he will still adhere to whatever guidelines set forth by public health officials, as well as the NCAA & ACC.
"I really think health officials will make those decisions, not the leaders in the athletic world," he said. "Time, and hopefully a cure for this pandemic, will determine what we eventually do."
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