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Even in the midst of the madness of a pandemic, this week has been a week “like no other” for SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey, and it wasn’t until Wednesday.
As COVID-19 test results began to arrive in the league, team after team had to postpone their games.
Sankey and the SEC directors knew something like this could happen since they started talking about the pandemic in January. So far there have been cancellations and postponements at all levels, from high school to professional sports, which served as a risk reminder. But the reality was a little different from the expectations.
“I am shaken but not disheartened,” Sankey said on the SEC teleconference Wednesday afternoon.
Sankey has said he can speculate on why it all happened this week, but he doesn’t like to speculate. “Frankly,” he said the disruption was not necessarily caused by an increase in the number of cases. The rate of positivity in athletes has increased but remains relatively low. The problems come from contact tracing.
“But contact tracing has the potential to magnify even a positive test,” Sankey said.
Local policies dictate contact tracing rules and the SEC has not been able to change the mandatory 14-day quarantine for players who come in close contact with a positive case like the NFL.
The “testing cadence” in the SEC, where teams test three times a week, means the league doesn’t yet have all the information it needs to make decisions, whether it’s adjusting the schedule or move the conference championship game. Currently, Sankey has stated that football’s goal is to get to the SEC Championship date of December 19.
In developing the new 2020 schedule, the league created opportunities to invent games, but the opportunities were not “endless,” Sankey said. The predicament of LSU has clearly shown this. The school has already had to postpone its Florida game to Dec. 12 and no longer has a vacant weekend to catch up with the Alabama game that was postponed Tuesday.
Sankey says he has a sign in his building that reminds him to be flexible. It’s possible the league will push back the championship date, and it’s also possible that it will prioritize matches that will decide conference champions when it comes to roster dates. But they’re not yet at the point where they can make that decision.
“Is there a point?” Sankey said. “There certainly could be. Is it now? I mean, there are still a lot of possibilities at stake, and this latest reality has to guide us forward to provide this opportunity to properly determine this champion.
Ideally, Sankey would prefer to have more games before deciding. However, it is not certain that they have this luxury of time. There is still so much that can change on short notice.
The decisions the SEC makes or not about makeup games and its championship also have an impact outside of the league. The college football qualifying committee takes the leagues and calendars into account when determining the four teams that may compete.
Right now, Sankey is more concerned with what’s going on in his own conference, but he said the SEC respects the PCP committee process. It is sure that the rigors of a fully DRY schedule will be evident.
Sankey is proud of everything the SEC has already been able to accomplish. They demonstrated it was possible, he said. Now they just have to adapt and find a way to move forward safely.
“We’re probably going to test people’s patience,” Sankey said. “We will work with our Members, Athletics Directors, Presidents and Chancellors to continue to guide us forward… we will continue to move forward with our efforts to support healthy competition, leading us to a football conference championship.
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