Shane Lyons Remains Optimistic There Will be a Football Season
For now, the thought of having a football game seems a bit farfetched at the moment with so much uncertainty. Nonetheless, that hasn’t stopped West Virginia head coach Neal Brown and Athletic Director and member of the NCAA Football oversight committee, Shane Lyons from being optimistic that there will be a football season this fall.
“I still remain optimistic that we will play football in the fall along with our other fall sports. The University, along with the athletic department, has various teams put together for a return to campus, return to play, what that’s going to look like,” said Lyons. “Also, from the NCAA and conference standpoint, we continue discussions on what that’s going to be in the future. First and foremost is the safety, and health, of our student-athletes, our fans, our employees as we continue to navigate the uncertain times, that’s going to be our top priority moving forward.”
However, no questions have yet to be answered even though Lyons said, “We’re planning, and our goal is to play football on September 5th or August 29, technically, I think we have seven games on August 29.”
In fact, he brought up more questions than answers.
“Our focus right now, really both from the conference as well as the football oversight of the NCAA is the return to practice. What does that look like? What protocols do we need to put in place both that meet the local, state, federal guidelines on testing, and what do we have to do?
“So, the first step we that are taking is, what is that return? How long is that time period going to be? And, I think we’re looking at anywhere from four to six weeks before the first competition that we have to have the athletes be able to back – back on campus and be able to train.
“The next step would be then, what would the season look like? And I think we’re all moving forward at this point and every day there is new information, there’s new data that we have to make adjustments, but our focus right now is starting on time on August 29 and September 5 specifically for us. That’s the date that we’re focusing on, but I think we would not do ourselves justice without having other contingency plans of looking at an altered season of maybe only conference games only.
“Do you have a potentially interrupted season where you play half in the fall and the pandemic and the virus spikes again and you have to stop and what does the spring look like? So, all those things are in discussion. I can tell you we meet as a football oversight on a weekly basis and as a conference, we’re talking probably two or three times on issues such as this, along with commissioner, talking with our presidents on a weekly basis.
“There’s just a lot of moving parts right now and unfortunately no answers. It's just not a matter of flipping a switch.”
One of the debates among the NCAA has been, do students have to be back on campus in order to play sports? While early on it was a quick yes, but as time has passed there’s a growing consensus that not everybody has to be back in order for there to be fall sports.
“Different states are going to reopen at different times. What does that mean what does that look? So, you may have some institutions that aren’t back because of their state regulations in the fall. What does that mean? We don’t have all the answers to those things yet but those are questions that as we get closer - I think it’s still a little bit too premature to start coming up one way or the another and saying we’re going to play football or we’re not. I think as the time gets closer, we’ll have more intelligence to tell us, from the medical experts and scientists, ‘here’s what you need to do to in order to play football.’ And, as I mentioned, I think I’m very optimistic in talking with those individuals that there’s a great possibility that we can do that,” said Lyons.
Just focusing on the ability to play football in the fall there is obviously a lot of moving pieces. Then add in the fan side of things, for instance, is there going to be social distancing in the stands? How does that look? If you ride with somebody, why would you have to sit six feet apart? That, in itself, is going to be riddled with details and we haven’t discussed concessions, security, and entering into the game.
But for now, most of the attention is just having a season and by the sound of it, it may be a free for all for who’s going to play and who’s not. Should everyone sacrifice a season because a handful of programs can’t play?
I’m with Shane Lyons in the optimism of having a season. The reasoning? Well, it's simple. The NBA was the first to shut down, then conferences and the NCAA followed.
The entities that stood to lose a lot of money cancelled it all at their most profitable time. So, while state and federal guidelines may be in place to start the football season, I have a feeling these same entities aren’t going to lose out on their most profitable product, they’ll safely find a way for games to be played.
How profitable it will be? That’s the question because, without fans in the stands, that profit margin will shrink considerably. And as for the guidelines, you’ll see ease once they see the projected losses in tax dollars from not having sporting events. What the product will look like is the lingering question.
You can follow us for future coverage by clicking "Follow" on the top righthand corner of the page. Also, be sure to like us on Facebook & Twitter:
Facebook - @WVUonSI
Twitter - @SI_WVU and Christopher Hall @WVHallBilly
