SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey not optimistic about football this fall: “The direct reality is not good.”
© Steve Roberts | USATSI
“We are running out of time to correct and get things right.”
Greg Sankey’s words on Saturday morning’s edition of Marty and McGee cast doubt on the likelihood of college football being played this fall. The statement comes on the heels of the Big Ten and Pac-12’s decisions to exclusively play conference games this fall.
“We put a medical advisory group together in early April with the question, ‘What do we have to do to get back to activity?’ and they’ve been a big part of the conversation,” Sankey said. “But the direct reality is not good and the notion that we’ve politicized medical guidance of distancing, and breathing masks, and hand sanitization, ventilation of being outside, being careful where you are in buildings. There’s some very clear advice about — you can’t mitigate and eliminate every risk, but how do you minimize the risk? … We are running out of time to correct and get things right, and as a society we owe it to each other to be as healthy as we can be.”
Sankey will meet in-person with SEC athletic directors on Monday to discuss possible plans to play football this fall. Even though two conferences have previously pulled the trigger to make significant changes to the schedule, Sankey said that will not determine the SEC’s plan of action.
“I don’t feel any pressure because of somebody else’s decisions. We’re trying to make the right decisions for us, for the Southeastern Conference. It does have an impact because I’ve said publicly we’re all linked nationally, so when other people make decisions, yup, there’s an impact, but also we’re going to look at our situation and make a decision that’s appropriate for the Southeastern Conference and most importantly for the health of our student-athletes.”
The SEC is targeting late July to make a final decision on if and how the conference can play college football this fall. During the coronavirus pandemic, things change rapidly. Sankey acknowledged that even though things do not look good right now, it could all change before a decision must be made.
[ESPN]
60 Comments for SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey not optimistic about football this fall: “The direct reality is not good.”
Anyone surprised by this?
Nope
Always said until a vaccine there will be no sports.
So answer this for me. What if no vaccine is developed? This year, next year, or the next? And the virus spikes again? Do we keep shutting down sports for multiple seasons if there is no vaccine?
Does anyone really believe there will not be a vaccine developed, that Bill Gates and big pharma would miss out on an opportunity to make billions of dollars? At this point sports is the least of our worries.
They have been trying to develop an AIDS vaccine for 40 years, so good luck with that
If I were a betting man I’d bet the farm that Bill Gates will make certain there will be a vaccine that probably will do more damage than good.
Someone is obsessed with Bill Gates and falls for all the conspiracy talk he hears. This is why we won’t have sports!
Is AIDS even still a thing? I remember hearing it was going to kill millions of people, sure didn’t hurt Magic Johnson.
Wow really how uninformed are you? Yes they have made great strides to make this disease easier to live with. But you still have to be careful as your immune system is very compromised. It’s no longer certain death but it is no walk in the park and the meds are very very expensive.
4ever magic has HIV not full blown AIDS. They’ve made it to where you can live with and manage HIV. AIDS kills tons of people still and is incurable.
Not as uninformed as you apparently.
Research has shown that there is a direct connection between amyl nitrate aka poppers and AIDS, but you wouldn’t know that if you only get your info from msm.
I think we had all come to this conclusion before his comments. Most telling was the absurd philosophy that non-conference games were more deadly than conference games.
I agree mostly, but to be fair, I guess the reasoning was if you limit the number of games you limit the spread of the virus.
Isn’t economical to pay the guarantees to the small schools if you are playing in less than full stadiums. Different story for conference games.
Good point, Rick; but, wouldn’t the TV money take care of that? Doesn’t matter, I guess; the government, MSM, and college administrators think this is the Bubonic Plague.
Well, $hit; now I see that China is reporting a case of the Bubonic Plague. Called the Black Death, it wiped out 30-60% of Eurasia and N. Africa in the 1300’s; estimates were between 75-200 million people. Survival rate was only 50%.
Fortunately, it’s caused by a bacteria, and antibiotics are effective.
Can we get rid of China…please.
Now I see there were two previous cases of the plague in China last week. This could be a problem in poor, underdeveloped areas.
He’s as LAME as our governor. Knee jerk reactions….betcha he’s a cupcake libtard.
You’re a real idiot and direct part of the problem
I agree. Both the Ky gov and SEC commissioner are very lame. Couple of candy asses.
I’m curious, has there been a governor from either party who has done anything different? I only ask because I genuinely don’t know. I don’t believe they are all lame, I haven’t heard of any governor from either party standing up to the pressure.
4ever, the gov of South Dakota imposed zero lockdowns. She shut dowm zero businesses but encouraged people to follow safe practices.
“I don’t feel any pressure because of somebody else’s decisions.“
Yeah right. Just go ahead and rip the Bandaid off and get it over with already.
I guess he’s spoken with epidemiologists, virologists, and other experts, and considered the threats to players, coaches, and fans. What’s he thinking?
Have him talk to the ones who said church spreads Corona but rioting and looting don’t, and tell them this is rioting and looting and they’ll give him the A-okay!
In case you were unaware of the exponential difference in risk between indoor and outdoor congregating. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/06/health/coronavirus-airborne-aerosols.html
Well what did you expect for a msm source?
That is totally nonsensical satchel. A lot of rioters wore no mask, were elbow to elbow, were in the streets by the thousands. The NYC mayor threatened to break up a Jewish funeral that I believe was to be outdoors. They are a bunch of big, fat, hypocrites.
Don’t forget all the politicians who violated their own orders, including Deblasio.
Oh, not to mention how many of them were attacking people.
Anybody surprised? You put morons in power and you get moronic decisions. There WILL be football or his ass will be thrown out on the street.
By morons you mean any politician…
Pensacola says: “There WILL be football or his ass will be thrown out on the street.”
Actually no he won’t be. Before any decision is made to pull the plau university presidents and athletic directors will have to sign off on it. It is not a one person decision.
And by the way there are reports out today (Saturday) Baylor and Ole Miss have already decided to cancel their season opening game in Houston with the formal announcement to come this week.
It’s just a matter of time Cat, the sooner you accept the fact the easier it will be for you.
There will NOT be football this fall at least in college and I’m guessing eventually in the NFL.
And Sankey is correct in his comments, people being moronic and not following simple steps isn’t helping matters. These same clowns will then wail and moan when things are shut down again.
Actually, I don’t think the ADs will have any final say. It will be the Governors and the University Presidents making that call, which doesn’t bode well for UK.
There isn’t going to be football folks, just get used to the idea. This is getting worse instead of better and as long as idiots refuse to wear mask in public, it’s not going away
Even though the death rate is going down.
I think I am finished following sports, which in reality just takes your attention from the important things, like who is in power positions in this state/country. Time for us to get more involved and not let this country be taken over by Marxists and Corporatists.
…. or by those currently in office who turn their heads and close their mouths as they are led by an outright liar and dangerously divisive leader.
No, the direct reality is, why not wait a while to make a decision, instead of months out? Deaths are down, you have according to the CDC down to a 0.2% death rate, and approx 50% of the deaths have been from nursing homes, (Thanks De Blasio and other commies for putting sick patients in there), and have underlying conditions. Stop letting the media freak you out and do some research and learn.
Probaly saying this since everybody is picking us to win the SEC this year and not Bama. Not fair i think they should just let the 6 teams in the Sec play a tourney #1 Uk vs #6TxAM, #2Bama vs #4Fla #3 Ga,#5 LSU , based off their conference ranking.
According to Bill Gates “So we……so you know we’ll have to prepare for the Next one, THAT, you know, I’d say will get attention this time.” That is a direct quote from Gates. The next lockdown will most likely be worse than the first, very little chance there will be college sports this fall. They have to generate enough fear to gain the needed support for mandatory vaccinations.
Hahaaaaaa. What a great time to be alive. You do this Contact Tracing thing to Multiple the test numbers Many Fold so you can contact people who have, haven’t had or will not have a single symptom to tell them they have a deadly virus. Hahaaaaa. Oh My. There are stories everywhere about people being contacted saying theyd been identified as high risk because of contact…tested positive with NO SYMPTOMS…followed up with more than one test from a another health care provider only to test Negative for the active virus and the antibodies. I have a friend who is a nurse at a Northern Kentucky hospital that has a Covid Unit. In the last 10 days they have had over 300 Positive Cases…ZERO Hospitalizations. You cant make this crap up.
If no college football this season then be prepared for universities to cut most if not all non-revenue sports. And they will get around Title IV by getting special exemptions from the NCAA. Don’t believe it will happen, think again because it’s already started at Stanford.
Never been a better time to get a dirt bike and hit the motocross tracks we have in ky or if you havent rode alot find a field. Beats sitting at home hearing ho we are all going to die or losing 50 bucks a day on the horses.
Pretty much expected it but this is getting extremely depressing! Most likely no sports this year, no movie theaters, beaches being closed, masks anywhere ya go, amusement parks that are open require reservation plus mask outside in Summer heat along with many other activities that have been limited or closed due to this crap.
The real disease we need to concern ourselves with is Liberalism. Its far worse than covid.
It isn’t a liberal that let this spiral out of control . It was the Orange shitstain
Even though the deat rate is going down.
So damn true!!!
Could be the best team yet in the Stoops era. Was looking forward to seeing them on the field. All politics aside, will be a shame if we don’t play.
There will be many more deaths due to suicide than COVID in the south if football isn’t played.
That will be a fact!!! Poverty and suicide will kill many more than Covid does.
It’s because of our governor that or case and death rates are among the lowest in the nation. If you don’t like Beshear go live in Florida where DeSantis is trading lives for money. Forgive our governor for being a caring person who puts his citizens above all else.
Lol
You’re exactly correct
I’m sure the unsuccessful lock down and mask mandate has really made a difference.
Nothing will make a difference when you have a bunch of uneducated red necks that won’t do the right things
Do you count yourself among those uneducated rednecks who won’t do the right thing and is the right thing in your world?
At least the childcare centers are open.