Oklahoma football: Trying to hit a moving target for return of football
By Chip Rouse
Athletic director Joe Castiglione is looking at multiple scenarios and timelines surrounding the return of Oklahoma football and what form a 2020 college season might take coming out of the coronavirus crisis.
For the time being, the COVID-19 pandemic has brought all college and pro sports activities to a standstill.
In a conference call on Thursday with reporters who cover Oklahoma athletics, Castiglione said it is impossible to pick any one option at this points because of all the uncertainties that still exist around COVID-19. Nobody knows exactly how much longer the current crisis will last and what our lives will be like once we get through it.
“The target is always moving. That’s the challenge of it,” said the OU athletic director.
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As in any crisis situation in which there are so many unknowns and far more questions than answers, rumors and speculation take over the communication channels in a natural cause and effect to fill the information void.
We have some experts, like ESPN college football analyst Kirk Herbstreit, saying they would be surprised if there is a college of NFL season this year, and others, like Texas A&M chancellor John Sharp saying that a 13-game college football schedule would be possible even if the start of the season were delayed by a month until October.
Castiglione pointed out that the first order of business before you can even begin to think about the start of the season is for the players to be allowed back on campus. Then, of course, how and how often would you have to test them for the coronavirus. The health and safety of the players will always be the highest priority. Until that can be assured, all other plans and timelines become irrelevant.
Options that are being considered range from a full season starting on time to a delayed season potentially extending into the spring to no season at all. And there are variations and contingencies to those broad scenarios, according to Castiglione.
“Whatever we decide will be done collectively with our conferences working together,” Castiglione said. “I’m having conversations not just with our ADs in our own conference but with ADs in other conferences.”
What you don’t want to happen in these conversations, he said, is to “allow perfect to (become) the enemy of good.”
I think most fans would agree with the Oklahoma athletic director that an imperfect football season is better than no season at all.
Assuming there is a college football season in some form, there also is the question of whether there will be fans in the stands or not?
Government and public health officials will have a lot to say about that, but a sports poll conducted by the Seton Hall University business school and reported by ESPN, showed that 72 percent of Americans said they would not attend if sporting events resumed without a vaccine for the coronavirus.
Of the poll respondents who identified themselves as sports fans, 61 percent said they would not go to a game until a vaccine is available.
Only 12 percent of the fans polled said they would attend games if social distancing was maintained.
Regardless, it’s probably safe to assume that stadiums and arenas will not be at full capacity when sports events resume.
As far as Oklahoma football is concerned, that most likely means the end of the 129 consecutive home sellouts at Gaylord Family Oklahoma Memorial Stadium.
That’s all well and good, but I think we all will agree there are much higher national and local priorities right now.