“I am happy for the student-athletes, coaches, and fans of our fall sports, because we now have a little more clarity on what the coming seasons will be like,” Sports Technology Director Todd Stansbury said in a statement. “We hope to have even more details that we can share with our fans in the coming days and weeks as we get closer to the fall sports seasons.”
In this model that includes room for a single non-conference game, Tech’s big preference would surely be to play against archrival Georgia and leave Central Florida and Gardner-Webb. Policy also dictates that the non-conference game be played within the ACC school state. One result of that deal is that Georgia’s Chick-fil-A scheduled start game against Virginia at Mercedes-Benz Stadium is off the table, though UGA, if given the option, would likely pick Tech over Virginia. anyway.
Creating space for a non-conference game now puts the onus on the SEC to match. According to a Sports Illustrated report, the SEC was moving toward adopting a conference-only model, which would leave no room for ACC-SEC rivalries between Tech and Georgia, South Carolina and Clemson, Florida and Florida State and Kentucky and Louisville. If the SEC continues that plan, it will have to deal with the repercussions of crushing (for at least a year) those tradition-bound games.
One question that will need to be answered is how Tech and other member schools will approach the contracts they have signed with those schools. Tech’s contract with Gardner-Webb, for example, states that if either school terminates the contract within 12 months of the scheduled date, it owes the other $ 750,000, although certain conditions would lift that obligation.
There is no certainty that the games will play as planned. Epidemiologists have warned of the inherent dangers of playing soccer at a time when COVID-19 infection rates are still high, and of doing so on college campuses. MLB, which has to pause the Miami Marlins’ season, talks about the challenges of teaming up and playing during the pandemic, as well as the decision by several FCS leagues to cancel their fall sports seasons.
The press release from the conference made that lack of certainty clear. The plan to start the fall sports competition the week of September 7-12 will be enacted “if the public health guide allows it,” according to the statement. In a statement, Commissioner John Swofford described the plan as “a way, if the public health guide allows it, to move forward with the competition.” He also stated that it was necessary “to be agile and make adjustments in the future. We will be as prepared as possible in case that need arises.”
In a video conference call after the announcement of the 11-game schedule, Miami athletic director Blake James said “we all recognize that it is very aspirational.”
An 11-game season that started on September 12 and ended on December 12, a week before a championship game on December 19, would have three open dates. It is an acknowledgment of the possibility that games may have to be canceled and moved due to COVID-19 infections. Such flexibility is a significant advantage of playing a schedule largely composed of conference games.
It could be a watershed moment in Notre Dame’s association with the ACC, which it joined in 2013 for all sports except soccer and ice hockey, choosing to preserve its prized independence (and NBC contract) in football. As part of the deal to allow the Fighting Irish to play for the league title, the 14 member schools and Notre Dame will also share their ESPN and NBC television earnings, respectively. It is conceivable that this could be another step towards Notre Dame by joining the ACC for soccer.
There were other details in the ACC announcement that will be shocking in its own way. All team members (including players, coaches, and support personnel in close contact with the players) will be evaluated weekly for COVID-19 within at least three days of competition. Positive athletes will be required to be isolated for at least 10 days from the onset of symptoms or a positive test and at least one day after recovery. During games, players, coaches and staff in the bench area must wear face covers with the exception of players wearing helmets.
Additionally, the league’s revenueless sports will have a drastic impact on its seasons. There will be no golf competition in the fall, for example, and the league’s volleyball teams will play 10 conference games, the NCAA minimum. The teams have typically played 18 league games.
Tech is slated to start preseason camp on August 5. The school has not made a decision on whether fans will be allowed in the games. But, for now, there are at least plans to play them.
