A JERSEY GUY: What Will CFB Look Like When It Returns
Do you think college football is a big deal in the South, where stadiums are often filled for the annual spring games?
Well, what if circumstances postponed the resumption of CFB to next winter? What if the 2020 CFB regular season started next February or March and played a full schedule and playoffs in the spring of 2021?
"If we don't have a fall season, ''said American Athletic Conference commissioner Mike Aresco, ""we should seriously consider the spring season. If the XFL can play 10 games a season, a spring regular season should seriously be considered.''
Like everyone else in college football, Aresco has a long list of contingency plans when the wide world of sports returns to action after a solution to the Covid-19 Pandemic is found.
"We're doing everything by phone,'' said Aresco, who has the additional task of moving the AAC offices from Providence, R.I. to Dallas in June. "There are a lot of conversations going on with coaches, athletic directors and other commissioners about how we are going to handle all of this when we come back.
"Certainly we are looking at lot of adjustments. Who knows when we come back or what its going to look like. We know we could have a truncated season.''
Aresco thinks that college football needs a minimum of six weeks to prepare for the regular season. ""That's what the coaches tell us, give or a take a few days,''he said. "But there are so many other issues which have to be considered. We try and anticipate what could happen, but no one really knows. ''
Aresco concedes that college football is the main cog in his conference's revenue engine , which is why it is a vital piece of any re-start plan.
"Our conference is in excellent financial shape as long we have football,''' said Aresco.
Pushing the regular season back to the winter and spring would create conflicts with the chief NCAA cash cow, the NCAA basketball tournament, but it would be a one-year plan and adjustments could be made.
There is also the issue of what measures to take if seasons do resume. Daily testing, crowd control. There are so many other areas.
"For now, we are just communicating with each other, making contingency plans and trying to get through all of this.We haven't seen anything like this in our lifetime. No one is the same after something like this.''