Why Dabo Swinney and Brian Kelly ripped location of potential playoff game
Dabo Swinney has “dreamed of going to the Rose Bowl.” It’s the one major bowl game he has never been to.
But with Clemson in a position to possibly end up there with a win over Notre Dame on Saturday, Swinney believes the game should be held somewhere other than in California in 2020.
The Rose Bowl announced earlier this month that fans will not be able to attend the game. That includes family members of players.
The game, which is scheduled to be played on New Year’s Day in Pasadena, California, can’t have fans because of COVID-19 restrictions in place by the state and local governments.
“It makes no sense to me to put a bunch of kids on a plane and fly them all the way to California to play in an empty stadium,” Swinney said Friday during his news conference previewing the ACC championship game. “That makes zero sense, when you have plenty of stadiums right here where you can have fans. And most importantly, you can have families.”
Swinney said that whether Clemson is in the playoff or not, families should be able to attend the game or it should be held elsewhere.
“You try to have fairness for the playoff teams. There’s plenty of venues where you can have fans and have an atmosphere for these kids who have worked all year. I mean we’ve played in front of fans all year. And we’ve had an incredible experience,” Swinney said.
“I mean there’s plenty of stadiums where you could have fans. You certainly could have families. I think it would be really sad at this point to be in a playoff game and these players’ families couldn’t be there. I think that would be a poor decision in a year where everybody’s had to have flexibility and make adjustments along the way. I think that would be a mistake.”
Swinney’s comments came after Notre Dame coach Brian Kelly spoke earlier in the day and went as far as to say that he’s “not sure if we’ll play in the playoffs if parents can’t be there.”
“It is an absolute shame and a sham if parents can’t be watching their kids play,” Kelly said. “Somebody’s gotta wake up in that room and figure it out.”
Alabama is currently ranked No. 1 in the College Football Playoff rankings and will play in the Sugar Bowl in New Orleans with a win over Florida in Saturday’s SEC Championship game.
Notre Dame is No. 2, followed by No. 3 Clemson. The winner of Saturday’s ACC championship game is expected to lock up the No. 2 seed. As things stand, the No. 2 seed will face the No. 3 seed in the Rose Bowl in California, with the No. 4 seed facing Alabama.
“They’ve gotta figure out how to make sure that whatever sites they play at, that the parents are going to be watching their sons play. That’s what they’ve gotta figure out,” Kelly said. “I’m not sure we’ll play in the playoffs if parents can’t be there, to be honest with you. Why would we play if you can’t have the families at the game?”
Kelly and Swinney both pointed out that their players have had to make sacrifices all year to ensure that there could be a college football season, from spending less time around family and friends to having to constantly be tested for COVID.
“We’ve gotta think about the student-athletes in this situation,” Kelly said. “And not having a chance to share this with their families after being away and sacrificing so much, you could see why they wouldn’t want to play.”
