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Bob Bowlsby to 247 Sports: Big 12 Targeting 'Later in June' for Possible Return to Campus

The Big 12 commissioner issues more caution for a Coronavirus return and raises questions about potential competitive disagreements
John E. Hoover|
Bob Bowlsby to 247 Sports: Big 12 Targeting 'Later in June' for Possible Return to Campus
Bob Bowlsby to 247 Sports: Big 12 Targeting 'Later in June' for Possible Return to Campus

Big 12 Commissioner Bob Bowlsby told 247 Sports on Monday that the league may be targeting the middle of June for a return to campus for student-athlete workouts and other activities.

Bowlsby said league leaders have discussed a return anywhere from June 1 to July 1, and said Big 12 athletic directors are in a “good spirit of compromise” about a vote that would put athletes back on campus.

The NCAA Division I Council will vote Wednesday whether to lift its current ban on team activities as early as June 1. The SEC is scheduled to vote Friday over allowing on-campus voluntary workouts.

Bowlsby told 247 Sports that the Big 12 isn’t in any hurry to lift its ban.

“If I were going to handicap it, I would say we are more likely later in the month of June than we are on June 1, but I could be wrong on that,” Bowlsby said.

“You have to have therapeutics in place, you have to have testing in place. You have to know what you’re going to do with your sanitization of your weight rooms and your locker rooms and and your training rooms. There’s a very heavily logistical component to this and we rely on the the advice of our physicians and an organization that we have hired to advise us on infectious disease control. We’re going to do, first and foremost, what is safe for our student-athletes.”

Bowlsby again warned about the return of Coronavirus after students have returned.

“There are going to be outbreaks on campus,” Bowlsby said. “The virus is going to be with us for the foreseeable future. All of our health officials and scientists are telling us that this next 18 to 24 months is going to be a bumpy road for public assembly and for the virus.”

He also raised questions about what unforeseen scenarios the virus might produce, such as whether one team insists on playing a scheduled game while the opponent declines.

“Is it a forfeit?” Bowlsby asked. “Is it a no contest? Does it get rescheduled? Those things are are not resolved yet but they will be before the start of the season. We have to have plans A, B, C, D, E and so on.”

To read the full article at 247 Sports, click here:

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John E. Hoover
JOHN E. HOOVER

John is an award-winning journalist whose work spans five decades in Oklahoma, with multiple state, regional and national awards as a sportswriter at various newspapers. During his newspaper career, John covered the Dallas Cowboys, the Kansas City Chiefs, the Oklahoma Sooners, the Oklahoma State Cowboys, the Arkansas Razorbacks and much more. In 2016, John changed careers, migrating into radio and launching a YouTube channel, and has built a successful independent media company, DanCam Media. From there, John has written under the banners of Sporting News, Sports Illustrated, Fan Nation and a handful of local and national magazines while hosting daily sports talk radio shows in Oklahoma City, Tulsa and statewide. John has also spoken on Capitol Hill in Oklahoma City in a successful effort to put more certified athletic trainers in Oklahoma public high schools. Among the dozens of awards he has won, John most cherishes his national "Beat Writer of the Year" from the Associated Press Sports Editors, Oklahoma's "Best Sports Column" from the Society of Professional Journalists, and Two "Excellence in Sports Medicine Reporting" Awards from the National Athletic Trainers Association. John holds a bachelor's degree in Mass Communications from East Central University in Ada, OK. Born and raised in North Pole, Alaska, John played football and wrote for the school paper at Ada High School in Ada, OK. He enjoys books, movies and travel, and lives in Broken Arrow, OK, with his wife and two kids.

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