College Football Returns, But Was It Too Early?

July 9, 2020 by Staff

Sports have continued their returns around the world, following the lengthy extended break due to the coronavirus pandemic. This covers the likes of soccer around Europe, with the UFC also one of the first organzsations to return. It has led many to ask the question as to when we would finally see College football return. This has now finally taken place.

An original six week practice plan was approved by the NCAA’s Division I Council, which would see football return in July, with mandatory meetings and pre-season camps, in order for teams to get ready and prepare ahead of some form of a 2020 season. That was positive news, with markets already forming at numerous sites and punters picking up offers such as the betfair joining bonus, with anticipation building ahead of the season kickstarting. The return of the season has now been set for a date of August 29th, with great hope that this date can remain and normality returning.  This also comes as many student athletes have started to return to their campuses this month for different voluntary workouts. However, it is not as simple as that, and testing has started with a number of different athletes testing positive, which is further going to add to complications in order to keep to the scheduled return date.

With so many athletes across a number of different areas, positive tests were expected when the testing was ramped up. This is why schools have procedures ready and in-place for when this occurred, such as contact tracing. The different schools have also had to already pass stringent measures to allow students athletes back, so this is all part of the process.

An enhanced training schedule is expected to begin from July 24th, before the usual four week pre-season training camp starting from August 7th. An additional two weeks has been added to the traditional process. This is to ensure athletes are conditioned and ready for the season ahead.

Despite all this positive news about returns, cases are rising in a number of areas and this could therefore be stopped within the coming weeks and months if this does not improve. Daily and weekly calls are taking place between the sport’s main decision makers, and they could also yet look at updating the current college football calendar for the upcoming season. But at present it is business as usual.