CU's George Says Buffs Are 'Ready To Have A Fall Football Season' - University of Colorado Athletics - CUBuffs.com

BOULDER — While the college sports environment changes almost daily — if not hourly — Colorado Athletic Director Rick George remains confident of at least one thing:

The Buffaloes will be ready to play this fall if football is played.

"I think we're ready to have a fall football season and a fall sports season," George told the media in a conference call Monday afternoon. "We've been working incredibly hard to put together the right protocols for our student-athletes when they come back on campus to ensure their health and safety. We've been working really hard on what our facilities will look like … We've put a lot of time and effort into this because we knew there would come a day when we are either going to play or we're not going to play. We are ready to play."

George's press briefing came in the wake of last Friday's announcement by the Pac-12 that the league will play a conference games-only schedule this fall because of the difficulties presented by the COVID-19 pandemic. In CU's case, the ruling will apply to football, volleyball and soccer. Cross country, also a fall sport, does not have a conference schedule and its schedule will be addressed separately.

Colorado student-athletes were allowed to return to campus for voluntary workouts in mid-June. George said approximately 175 Buffs have been tested and cleared to participate in workouts at CU's facilities. The department has been providing curbside pickup meals for student-athletes who are in Boulder, and George said so far, CU has provided more than 4,000 meals, including 277 on Monday, the highest output of the summer.

The Pac-12's announcement meant that all three of Colorado's non-conference games are off the schedule, including what would have been a Sept. 5 season opener at Colorado State. Other games eliminated were a trip to Texas A&M and a home game with Fresno State.

George is well-aware that the Pac-12 decision to eliminate non-conference games this year did not sit well with Colorado State fans, who were anxiously anticipating the Buffs' first trip to Fort Collins since 1996.

"I am disappointed that we won't be playing CSU and be able to go up in their new stadium," George said. "We were looking forward to that. This has been a great series and we're disappointed that we will not be kicking off our season with CSU."

George said he spoke with CSU athletic director Joe Parker immediately after the Pac-12 reached its decision last week, and he also spoke with his counterparts at Texas A&M and Fresno. 

"We will continue to have dialogue with all of those about rescheduling these non-conference games in the future," he said.

Along with the CU-CSU matchup, the Pac-12 decision canceled a number of other critical non-conference games, including Oregon vs. Ohio State, Washington vs. Michigan and Notre Dame games against both Stanford and USC.

"There was discussion on all of those games," George said. "There was a lot of discussion on the non-conference schedule. But what we felt like that was most important is that we play football this fall. For us, we felt the best way for us to do that was to play conference-only because then we can assure that we all have the same protocols in place, the same consistency across the board. It gave us the most flexibility in scheduling those contests and that's why we came to the decision we did."

Next, the Pac-12's football working group will produce a variety of scheduling possibilities and present them to the league's leadership. That process, George said, should be finished by late July.

But those scenarios are numerous. Not only must the league decide whether to increase the number of conference games from the current nine to 10 or 11, but also whether to try to start that schedule in early September, when the non-conference slate originally was set to begin.

"The next step in the process will be for us to solidify our conference schedules for all of our fall sports," George said. "We are collectively working with our conference, with our SWAs, with our coaches, to put a draft that we would put in front of our presidents and chancellors here in the very near future."

Colorado's original schedule called for the conference opener — at home against Oregon — to be played Sept. 26. But that will almost certainly change, as could the lineup of games. The original schedule also called for home games with UCLA, Arizona State, Washington State and Utah; and road games at Arizona, USC, Stanford and Washington.

"The number of games, we haven't made a decision yet," George said. "Will the same games be on there that are currently on the schedule? There will probably be some changes to that. Our group is working on that. Hopefully we'll have something by the end of July."

Meanwhile, George and his staff will continue to plan and implement protocols to assure the highest level of safety possible for CU student-athletes, while also developing protocols that will allow fans to attend home games at Folsom Field.

"We've been working really hard on what our facilities will look like," George said. "They're going to be totally different than they've ever been in the past. You're going to see us go ticketless and a variety of other things to make sure we minimize the contact we would typically have in a stadium as it relates to paying for your food and other things like that. We've put a lot of time and effort into this because we knew there would come a day we are either going to play or we're not going to play … We want to be in a position that the protocols we have in place ensure the health and safety of not only our student-athletes but our community at large. We've been working incredibly hard at that."

There is no doubt that the financial health of nearly every Division I athletic department rests on the shoulders of football. Iowa State athletic director Jamie Pollard recently said his department would suffer a shortfall of roughly $40 million if the fall sports seasons are canceled. 

In CU's case, George said. "If we don't play football, it's around that number."

However, he added, "Just so we're clear, we've been looking at all of these scenarios for the past three or four months. We're not going to make a reaction to something that happens; we have plans in place for all of those different scenarios that could potentially hit."

But until a different scenario is presented, George and his staff will continue to plan for a fall football season. That will include educating the public on how the Folsom Field experience will be different under pandemic protocols.

"We will do an incredible amount of education prior to the football season," George said. "It's going to be important that those that do choose to come to the games, we have to make sure they know it's going to be different and how it's going to be different. We will put things in writing, we'll put together videos on what it will look like … That's an area that we will be focused on as we get closer to knowing what the fall season will look like. We will make sure we send those communications out regularly to those who are coming to the games."

Contact: Neill.Woelk@Colorado.edu

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