The COVID-19 pandemic has brought college sports to nearly a complete stop. Recruiting is the only part of college programs that continues to move ahead, but even that part of the puzzle has plenty of restrictions. Arizona athletic director Dave Heeke is planning for sports to return this fall with football at the forefront of that discussion.
He mentioned during a virtual media session with local reporters that not having a college football season would be "devastating" to college athletics as a whole. Heeke doesn't see that taking place, however, and instead he envisions the fall season arriving and games to be played but with some modifications for fans.
Some states have already started the process of reopening by relaxing some of the restrictions that have been in place for months since the coronavirus outbreak began impact the United States.
While not every state is on the same timeline and path to a return to normalcy, it is Heeke's belief that college sports will get there eventually and games will be allowed to take place. Because there have been plenty of restrictions preventing large gatherings it presents an issue for college athletics considering part of what makes them so successful are the fans.
Keeping those fans – and athletes – as safe as possible is certainly going to be a big part of the return of sports at the college level.
“It feels like a lot of the conversation is certainly around modified fans and environments not full-capacity environments,” Heeke said Thursday. “So, we’ll have to see what comes up as we keep moving down this road and where we are with testing, understanding treatment. Are there other opportunities that arise that give us more flexibility from the fan-experience level?
“At the same time we need to be prepared for modified crowd environments. ... That’s hard for all of us when we know how important those revenues are. It needs to be a safe environment. We can’t go into this haphazardly. We have to provide an environment that we’re confident in and that our fans are confident in and our fans are confident in that they’re protected and safe.”
Arizona Stadium holds around 50,000 fans, so it is clear to see how that will be a concern as college sports looks to begin again. However, even smaller venues will be a concern and Heeke believes that will mean modified crowds and precautions for McKale Center and other venues around campus as well.
"We've begun to talk a little bit about our winter sports," he said. "All of us understand that it's not going to be business as usual. So, going into McKale or other large arenas and how we manage our fans, how we manage our student-athletes is going to be different.
"So we're going to begin to make preparations there."
Heeke and his staff continue to plan out what a return to sports will look like and he continues to point to June 1 as being the next critical date when the process will become more clear.
