NCAA Chief Medical Officer Dr. Brian Hainline said he is “cautiously optimistic that there's going to be a go for the fall sports,” but a combination of national, state, local and institutional factors will determine when college athletics can return to play. Hainline during today's CAA World Congress Comes To You session pointed to President Trump’s guidelines for “Opening Up America Again” and said, “They’re really quite well done. It describes three phases, and I think that can be a guideline and a model for re-socializing in society and re-socializing in sport.” Hainline added that the NCAA is working on a principles document being vetted by its membership.
Hainline also spoke to the possibility that college sports could return in the fall with no, or limited, attendance: “One scenario is that you just have the essential personnel present. And you work out all of the logistics. What would that take? And then the other is that you expand it to maybe you have a small fan base. And then the other is that you actually have a spectator base with social distancing in place.” He said that for the NCAA, it is key to play out all scenarios. Hainline: “We're still a long way away from August. ... I think there are going to be a lot of different possibilities that we can work with come August.” There is a chance immunity cards or some kind of testing system could be considered for fans to attend, he added.
