The Big Ten, and the other nine more independent FBS conferences, want to play soccer this fall.
So does the NCAA, the national governing body for major college sports.
But everyone is ready to admit that things don’t look exactly right.
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The NCAA Institute for Sports Science released new suggested guidelines for schools as they try to play soccer and fall sports amid the coronavirus pandemic. Highlights: Mandatory tests 72 hours before competition for soccer and other “high risk” sports, a mandatory 14-day quarantine for those who come into close contact with infected people, and that could mean a full team, and suggested a universal masking.
The document also makes a concession: “Today, sadly, the data is pointing in the wrong direction,” NCAA President Mark Emmert said in a statement. “If there are going to be college sports in the fall, we need to better manage the pandemic.”
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So what would it take to shut down college football? This is the criteria, the NCAA believes:
As of this writing, the spread rate of COVID-19 has increased in many regions of the country. Due to this increase, sports, especially high-risk contact sports, may not be practiced safely in some areas. Along with public health officials, schools should consider pausing or suspending sports activities when local circumstances warrant such consideration. Some examples of such local circumstances that could trigger a conversation with local public health officials include:
- Lack of ability to isolate new positive cases or quarantine high risk cases of contact on campus.
- Lack of availability or inability to carry out symptomatic, surveillance and pre-competition tests when justified and according to the recommendations in this document.
- Testing rates from the local community or campus-wide that local public health officials consider unsafe.
- Inability to adequately track contact in accordance with government requirements or recommendations.
- Local public health officials who say the hospital infrastructure cannot cope with a sudden spike in COVID-19 related hospitalizations.
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James Kratch can be contacted at [email protected].
