NCAA President Mark Emmert. Photo: Joseph/The Washington Post via Getty Images
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