SEC Commish: Conferences Could Restart CFB Activities on Different Timetables

City and state governments across the United States are approaching the easing of social distancing guidelines at different paces, and SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey is open to FBS conferences following that model in order to field the 2020 college football season amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

"There is room for different conferences to make different decisions," Sankey told 1010 XL radio in Jacksonville on Thursday (h/t ESPN's Alex Scarborough). "If there's a couple of programs that aren't able, does that stop everyone? I'm not sure it does. But the ability for us to stay connected will remain important."

ESPN published a survey with "dozens of athletic directors, coaches and commissioners from the 10 FBS conferences" on Wednesday.

"There isn't a model I can run to fix the problem of not having any football," UCF athletic director Danny White told ESPN. "I don't think there's anybody in my position with a big football fan base that could make decisions to fix that. I don't know what happens—there's not a model, there's not a solution, there's not an action I can take that's going to solve that problem."

Anonymous commissioners noted that their first priority is determining when it will be safe to reopen campuses for students and faculty, while Arizona State head coach Herm Edwards added the following:

"You're going to need two months to get these guys back going again before you can even consider putting them on a field and asking them to play football. When you rush back, that's when you get the soft-tissue injuries—hamstrings, Achilles tendons, groins—because you haven't done anything. Pro players, they have a sense of, 'I gotta work out, I make my living doing this,' but if you're a college kid, and a lot don't have access to gyms where they can lift, it's not like he's in football shape."

Others have offered their opinions on the matter elsewhere:

Stadium's Brett McMurphy conducted his own survey, which resulted in 99 percent of the 114 FBS athletic directors that responded believing that there will be a 2020 college football season, though the execution remains up in the air.

Spring football was canceled across the country March 12. The 2020 regular season is scheduled to begin Aug. 29.