UNC coach Mack Brown said he wasn't aware of any upcoming NCAA discussions about this seasongetty images
Univ. of North Carolina coach Mack Brown indicated that there is a "growing fear among coaches that there will not be a 2020 college football season," according to Jonathan Alexander of the Raleigh NEWS & OBSERVER. Brown said, "Coaches really have no clue. There is a fear of 'would we have a season?' 'Would we have a partial season?' 'What does a partial season mean?'" Brown did acknowledge that he "wasn't aware of discussions among NCAA officials" about the status of the upcoming season (Raleigh NEWS & OBSERVER, 3/24). In Salt Lake City, Josh Newman noted it "may seem premature to question whether or not a season five months away will start on time, but everything is on the table right now." Utah coach Kyle Whittingham said of having the season impacted, "There's absolutely that possibility, as much as I hate to say it" (SALT LAKE TRIBUNE, 3/24). Virginia coach Bronco Mendenhall suggested that there "has been discussion of playing a truncated season that might include only conference games." But Georgia AD Greg McGarity said that both his school and the SEC are not considering "anything of the sort at the moment." Both the school and conference remain hopeful the season "will proceed as planned" (ATLANTA JOURNAL-CONSTITUTION, 3/24).
HARD DISCUSSIONS TO BE HAD: In Birmingham, Tom Green noted Auburn AD Allen Greene would "rather not talk about" the impact a fall without football would have on the school, but he knows it is a "discussion that must eventually be had given spring football has already been canceled and there’s no certain timeline for a return to normalcy." Greene: "We have to have some conversations about what the world would look like if there wasn't a football season even though we're planning on playing one. I would say if there wasn't a football season, that would be a sizable financial impact. To what degree? Uncertain. But there would definitely be a sizable impact on our financials if we would not have a football season" (BIRMINGHAM NEWS, 3/23).
WOULD BE MASSIVE FINANCIAL HIT: West Virginia President E. Gordon Gee said he and his administration "haven't had the courage to contemplate" the college football season not taking place as scheduled. One Power Five AD said that he has "yet to begin modeling what that would look like." A source said that some school presidents and ADs "have just begun speaking those words out loud" within the past week as a way to "develop contingency plans." The revenue generated by home football games at some of the largest colleges totals nearly $100M, while the TV contracts "total billions annually, which would make playing in empty stadiums critical for the future if that's the only option this fall" (SPORTS.YAHOO.com, 3/22).
