SEC plans for normal football season, but scenarios could change, Ray Tanner says
A bit more than five months separate now from the opening of the University of South Carolina’s football season.
For the moment, the sports world is shut off by the coronavirus pandemic, and there’s a long way between today and Sept. 5.
Speculation of if college football will happen and how it might is rampant. ESPN analyst Kirk Herbstreit said he’d be shocked if football was played in the fall — an opinion that drew plenty of blowback — while Stadium’s Brett McMurphy reported that several alternative structures are being discussed among school leaders.
Gamecocks Athletics Director Ray Tanner said he’s had some informal conversations with other administrators about the potential of different contingencies for the season, but nothing formal.
“From the Southeastern Conference perspective, we’re looking at the 12-game schedule as it is currently set,” Tanner told The State. “Certainly realizing that in weeks, months to come, that the scenario could be different. But that’s where we are formally as a league.”
Some of the scenarios McMurphy mentioned as being discussed were a football season split over both the fall and spring semesters, with the playoffs wrapping up in May or June 2021. Another idea floated is a nine-game, conference-only season.
The whole process is fraught with unknowns, long-term projecting when the long term is far from certain.
“We’re talking about different scenarios,” Tanner said of his department without specifying any options. “As you know, our plans as we sit here today (is) to continue to play football as scheduled. But we also know that we’re working from home right now. So we’re looking at different models as we move forward. But that’s where we are today.”
Tanner said he was confident South Carolina could handle a shift from the staffing and logistical side if something changes from the norm. He pointed out that situations such as an NCAA tournament bid or bowl game require a quick turnaround.
“We would do the same thing if we get a curveball thrown at us here,” Tanner said.
South Carolina has also moved one home football game from a Saturday to a Sunday (Georgia in 2016) and added a season finale to make up for a game lost to a hurricane (Akron in 2018).
The cancellation of the spring season and the Gamecocks not hosting an NCAA women’s basketball regional actually saved the athletics department a small amount of money in the short term. But the school’s bottom line will still be impacted by a drop in NCAA revenues, which will be reflected in the final SEC distributions at year’s end. (Last year it was $44.6 million per school.)
If football is affected, that would hurt ticket sales ($20 million from football alone on a 2019 report to the NCAA), and the sport is a key part in more than $30 million the school received in contributions.
The school this week announced adjustments to their season ticket arrangement in a plan USC calls “The Most Accommodating Payment Plans in College Football.” That included extending the season ticket renewal date to May 8, extended payment plans and a guarantee for refunds if anything in the season is disrupted.
“If for any reason the 2020 season or any portion of the home schedule is not played, we will refund affected payments,” USC announced to prospective season ticket holders.
South Carolina 2020 Football Schedule
Sept. 5 — vs. Coastal Carolina
Sept. 12 — vs. East Carolina
Sept. 19 — vs. Missouri*
Sept. 26 — at Kentucky*
Oct. 3 — at Florida*
Oct. 10 — vs. Tennessee*
Oct. 17 — Bye Week
Oct. 24 — vs. Texas A&M*
Oct. 31 — at Vanderbilt*
Nov. 7 — vs. Georgia*
Nov. 14 — at LSU*
Nov. 21 — vs. Wofford
Nov. 28 — at Clemson
*SEC game
This story was originally published April 3, 2020 at 5:00 AM.
