Oregon State AD Scott Barnes said "flexibility is absolutely mandatory" during the ongoing pandemic, because things are evolving "not day by day, it's hour by hour," according to a Q&A with Nick Daschel of the Portland OREGONIAN. Below are excerpts from the Q&A with Barnes, some of which have been edited for clarity and brevity:
Q: What's the pandemic been like for your staff, outside of football?
Barnes: It’s taxing. We have less staff, obviously, and more duties with less staff. We’ve got to find ways to give them time off. It’s not easy. We have cross-trained staff numbers that can do the testing, run the testing who aren’t on our medical staff. We’re all taking turns and checking people into the temperature line, including me.
Q: Now that we're into the football season, how is the revenue picture?
Barnes: Having some TV and ESPN and Fox is an important part of that. Our donors and season ticket holders really stepped up mightily. Only had 7% of our football season ticket holders ask for a refund. Everybody else has taken a credit or donated all/part of their season ticket seat donation. So those dollars have been really helpful in this year.
Q: Where do things stand with the west side remodel of Reser Stadium?
Barnes: We continue to move forward with it. We're in schematic design and things are going well (Portland OREGONIAN, 11/26).
