Poll: 75 Percent of ADs Believe CFB Season Will Be Delayed Amid COVID-19

While administrators remain optimistic about the prospect of staging a 2020 college football season, that optimism evaporates when it comes to kicking off the year as scheduled in late August and early September.

According to Stadium's Brett McMurphy on Wednesday, 99 percent of the respondents in a poll of 114 FBS athletic directors "believe a season will be played in one form or another." However, 75 percent of the ADs are expecting a delay because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Sixty-one percent are anticipating an October or November start, while 14 percent feel the season could be postponed until January or February 2021.

"Spring gives us the best chance to have a full season," one AD at a Power Five school said. "It's been hard for many to process this, but the longer this goes, the more this will become the best option."

McMurphy laid out the possible ramifications of that outcome, though.

Players looking to make the jump to the NFL in 2021 might choose to focus entirely on the draft rather than playing a season through the spring. There would be a quick turnaround between the end of what would be the 2020 season and the traditional 2021 kickoff.

Oklahoma State head coach Mike Gundy and Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney have received criticism after indicating their desire to get their players back to campus in order to start the upcoming campaign on time.

However, Big 12 commissioner Bob Bowlsby confirmed to CBSSports.com's Dennis Dodd in mid-April that staging any games is impossible until schools allow the entire student body to return for classes.

"Our message was, we need to get universities and colleges back open, that we were education-based programs, and we weren't going to have sports until we had something closer to normal college going on," Bowlsby said.

Regardless, schools—particularly Power Five programs—have a compelling reason to delay the 2020 season rather than wiping it out altogether. USA Today's Steve Berkowitz projected athletic departments in Power Five conferences could lose an average of $78 million in revenue if the season is lost.