SEC commish Sankey admits high level of concern for football season

There's a growing concern about whether or not football season will take place this fall. Count Southeastern Conference Commissioner Greg Sankey among those who share those worries.

Sankey was a guest on ESPN Radio's Marty & McGee on Saturday and was asked how concerned he was about the football season.

"High to very high," Sankey said on the program. "I look at the numbers every day and the important issue is not just numbers. It is trying to understand and comprehend. And that’s where literally you want experts moving you away from the scroll or the titles at the bottom of the TV screen or the interviews of this expert or that by people. We put a medical advisory group together in early April with the question of, 'What do we have to do to get back to activity?' They’ve been a big part of the conversation. But the direct reality is not good."

Prior to Sankey's Saturday comments, the college football landscape had already begun to shift. The Big Ten announced on Thursday that it now plans to only play conference games this fall and the Pac-12 announced Friday it'd do the same. The Ivy League won't play football at all this fall. Meanwhile, the SEC has joined the Big 12 and ACC in planning to wait until later this month to make any type of decision on upcoming plans for football.

The SEC picture could start to come into better focus this upcoming week. Sports Illustrated's Pat Forde and Ross Dellenger reported Thursday that SEC athletic directors have been summoned to meet in person at the league office in Birmingham, Alabama, this coming Monday (FOR MORE ON THAT CLICK HERE).

For now though, it seems with each passing day, the path towards a 2020 season with any semblance of normalcy is getting cloudier by the moment.

“The reality right now is the trends in our region, in our nation, are not in the positive direction for being able to have normal experiences," Sankey said.

Sankey later doubled down on his comments on Twitter:

Yep...that’s exactly what I said...and have been saying. I want to provide the opportunity for college athletics to be part of the fall, but we need to all consider our behavior to make possible what right now appears very difficult. “The direct reality is not good...” https://t.co/z3pHGeMIa9
— Greg Sankey (@GregSankey) July 11, 2020

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