When the Cal State system announced earlier this month that campuses will likely be closed through the fall college semester, it threw a lot of people for a loop.
What exactly would this mean for the upcoming 2020 college football season? Colleges in other states seem to be preparing to open their campuses here soon amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
Without a nationwide policy in place, the 2020 season remains very much up in the air. Though, there seems to be some good news on this front.
The Pac-12 issued a statement on Tuesday regarding return-to-play protocols. The conference seems to be confident that fall sports will be played.
“At our Pac-12 CEO meeting earlier today, we discussed the current COVID-19 crisis and reaffirmed that we will be guided by science and data, the counsel of medical experts, and the health and safety of everyone connected to our campuses in our decision-making,” the conference said in a statement, via 247Sports. “We consulted with out Pac-12 COVID-10 Medical Advisory Committee, over 50 of the world’s leading infectious disease experts, public health experts, physicians, researchers and trainers. The Committee has developed a comprehensive set of return-to-play protocols and guidelines carefully designed to enable our member universities, when they determine it is appropriate, to as safely as possible bring student-athletes back to campus and ultimately resume athletic competition.”
The Pac-12 previously released a statement in response to the above-mentioned Cal State news. In said statement, the conference noted it will be making decisions separate from that of the state schools.
Meanwhile, Utah athletic director Mark Harlan noted last week that he expects the Utes to open their campus for student-athletes by June 1.
All of this comes with California Governor Gavin Newsom surprisingly announcing on Monday that sports could return with fans in attendance at some point early next month.
All in all, this is great news.