NCAA President Mark Emmert said that it's not likely all schools will simultaneously be ready to start their seasons this fall, in an interview on Friday night.
Why it matters: States across the country are seeing varying impacts from the coronavirus — making it more reasonable that teams will have varying start dates and total number of games for the season, AP writes.
What he's saying: Emmert wants to ensure all 130 teams across 10 conferences and 41 states have the same amount of time for pre-season preparation.
- “All the various (NCAA) member committees and the conferences are all talking about: What does it mean if we have that sort of scenario where we’ve got different opening times or different opening models."
- "If you don’t have students on campus, you don’t have student-athletes on campus. That doesn't mean it has to be up and running in the full normal model, but you've got to treat the health and well-being of athletes as much as the regular students. So if a school doesn't reopen, then they aren't going to be playing sports."
- “What does it mean if you look at a conference, for example, if a conference has some schools open and some not? “You can’t run a regular schedule if you’ve got that scenario. How do you adjust all the rules to provide as much flexibility as you possibly can to let student-athletes have a good experience in that season?”
Go deeper: Coronavirus grants NCAA spring athletes an extra season of eligibility
