NCAA Division I Council Votes to Approve Voluntary Workouts June 1
We’re one step closer to having Oklahoma State football players back on campus. According to a report from Yahoo! Sports’ Pete Thamel, the NCAA Division I Council voted on Wednesday to approve voluntary athletic activities beginning on June 1 and going through to June 30. This vote was for football and men’s and women’s basketball.
Every in-person activity, whether it regarded to the current program or recruiting, for athletic programs had previously been suspended until the end of May due to the on-going COVID-19 pandemic. So, this is the first step in trying to ensure there will be a season for fall sports this year.
This is huge as the NCAA has opened the door for the return of student-athletes, but this is not an automatic as each Power Five school is governed by its respective conference. With that being said, this rule will largely affect group of five and FCS programs as they’re not governed by a conference.
The first of the five Power-Five conferences, the SEC, is set to have its athletic directors meet virtually on Thursday with medical professionals to get an update on the latest information regarding the on-going COVID-19 pandemic.
Following that meeting, on Friday, the SEC will talk with the school presidents and chancellors to decide whether or not players should be allowed back on campus.
The remaining four Power Five conferences are tentatively scheduled to vote next week on the matter following the Memorial Day holiday weekend.
The SEC will more likely than not vote to return, with a majority of the remaining Power Five conferences following suit.
Something important to note as this updated rule is for June 1-30, players being brought back that will be quarantined for two weeks to ensure there’s no spread of the virus, volunteer work outs wouldn’t begin until after that two-week period.
"They have to have testing and assurances that systems are in place to deal with positive tests, treat people after a positive test, triage, hospital-level disinfectant in all of the activity spaces," Bob Bowlsby said. "There's just a lot of layers of systems that have to be put in place."
However, this is a very encouraging step being taken by the NCAA as it opens the door for conferences to return schools to a more normal way of operation, hopefully, in the very near future.
