The status of Syracuse football and other fall sports remains unclear, with the NCAA president saying schools would have to reopen for sports to get played.
Syracuse football and other Orange sports are hoping to occur come this fall, but the novel coronavirus pandemic is keeping that possibility altogether questionable.
On April 16, Syracuse University Chancellor Kent Syverud said there is “cautious optimism” that the university will resume on-campus instruction this fall.
The pandemic, however, has created so much uncertainty – and this health crisis is such a fluid situation – that it’s extremely tough to predict whether the ‘Cuse and other colleges and universities will actually have the ability to welcome back students to their campuses in a few months.
One thing that does seem more concrete is that collegiate sports aren’t likely to transpire in the fall unless campuses themselves have reopened to some degree for students as a whole. The NCAA’s president, Mark Emmert, said that on Friday night, and his comments are hopefully echoed by conference commissioners.
In essence, what this entails is that, in the case of Syracuse football, for example, the team’s student-athletes won’t play games unless the general student population is also back on campus.
That makes total sense. If it’s not safe for students at large to reside on the ‘Cuse campus or those of other colleges and universities, then it’s not safe for student-athletes to reside at these campuses, either.
I get that college football, for one, is a big business that generates boatloads of revenue for the NCAA, its member institutions, broadcast networks and additional stakeholders. If the 2020 football campaign is delayed or cancelled, then that could significantly hurt the bottom lines of athletic departments, among others.
While that’s unfortunate, the health and well-being of all students, whether they compete in sports or not, is the top priority (along with the safety of administration personnel, faculty, university workers, etc.)
Hence, Emmert’s comments the other night. “All of the commissioners and every president that I’ve talked to is in clear agreement: If you don’t have students on campus, you don’t have student-athletes on campus. That doesn’t mean has to be up and running in the full normal model, but you have to treat the health and well-being of the athletes at least as much as the regular students. … If a school doesn’t reopen, then they’re not going to be playing sports. It’s really that simple.”
His thoughts basically reject the prospect of possibly playing football on Saturdays this fall with no fans in the stands. I’m sure that some stakeholders would want this to happen, to help facilitate generating television-contract revenue.
Emmert notes that decisions about the fall sports likely will have to come in June or early July.
Now, on April 23, Syracuse Athletic Director John Wildhack said that the Atlantic Coast Conference, up until that point in time, “has had no conversations about canceling the 2020 football season amid the coronavirus pandemic,” per an ESPN.com article.
“We want to play. We plan to play. What we don’t know is when we’re going to start and what form or what format we’re going to start,” Wildhack said in that story.
Syverud, in his statement, says that it is his “hope and intention that we will be welcoming students back to campus this fall,” and that he has “asked administrators, faculty and staff to develop plans for multiple fall opening scenarios.”
Let’s see how this all shakes out. I’m glad that the NCAA, an organization that stumbles all the time, has come out and said that student-athletes’ safety will not get compromised for the all-mighty dollar. Any other approach is deplorable.
If that ultimately entails that fall sports at Syracuse and other schools are delayed or cancelled, that’s a bummer. We are in an unprecedented time for this country. Orange football taking the field would serve as a lovely distraction from the pandemic, but only if student-athletes can suit up in a safe environment.