Colorado athletic director Rick George spoke with the media on Monday, answering a wide array of questions and inquiries into the feasibility of a fall college sports season, impending fiscal ramifications on that note and in general, how COVID-19 continues to impact the University of Colorado.
Here's all he had to say:
Q: As it relates to football this fall, how confident are you that it will be played this fall and what kind of conversation, if any at all, has there been at the conference level about perhaps moving it to spring? Is that an option that you guys would take a look at?
George: “We’ve been working with the conference on this and felt like having a conference-only schedule allows us to be a little more nimble and flexible. You ask how confident I am — look, I think that we’re ready to have a fall season and a fall sports season. 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 about what our facilities will look like and they’re going to be totally different than they’ve ever been in the past. You’re going to see us go ticket-less and a variety of other things to make sure we minimize the contact that we’d typically have in a stadium, as it relates to paying for your food and other things like that, like sharing paper tickets."
"So, we’ve put a lot of time and effort into this because we knew there would come a day where either we’re going to play or we’re not going to play. We are ready to play and we want to be in a position that the protocols we have in place ensures the health and safety of not only our student-athletes, but our community at-large and we’ve been working incredibly hard for that. Is the spring on the table? Probably, but again, I think us playing in the fall — there’s no assurance that things are going to be better in the spring and so we don’t know what that landscape will look like. It’s important for us to get ready to play this fall. There may be disruptions but we’re goin to do everything we can at Colorado to be prepared to play when that moment comes.”
Q: When we talked a couple weeks ago, you had four athletes that tested positive (for COVID). Are you able to give us an update on that?
George: “The same four athletes that we had previously had been cleared to be in our facilities have tested positive."
Q: Are there any athletes that have expressed to you that they don’t feel comfortable playing the season? With all the protocols putting in, how do you worry about or control athletes who still go out and party and do things on their own on the weekends?
George: "Let me say this: I worry about our student-athletes when there’s not a pandemic going on. My biggest concern I would say that I think about all the time is their health and safety, because it’s paramount to what we do. Certainly, during this pandemic, we have taken great strides to ensure that we’re informing the parents of our student-athletes as we are informing (them) it is a family decision for them to come back and right now workout voluntarily or compete this fall. As the Pac-12 stated on Friday, if a student-athlete decides that they don’t feel comfortable, then we will honor their scholarship."
"(As far as CU student-athletes informing me that they are uncomfortable playing the fall season), not to my knowledge. I don’t hear from all of our coaches consistently so I don’t know — there could be some (players) saying that they’re not comfortable but it hasn't gotten to my desk at this point.”
Q: Was there any discussion for you guys (on keeping) the CU/CSU game? I’ve had a lot of people ask me, ‘why would CU go down and play one of the Arizona schools when it would look to be safer going to Fort Collins?’"
George: “It’s a really good question and yes, there was discussion on all of those games. You look at our conference and you’ve got USC that plays Notre Dame and Stanford that plays Notre Dame and then we have Texas A&M on our schedule — there’s a lot of discussion about the non-conference schedule, but what we felt like was most important was that we play football this fall. For us, we felt the best way to do that was to play conference-only because then we could assure that we all have the same protocols in place, the same consistency across the board, and it gave us the most flexibility in scheduling those contests and that’s why we came to the decision we did.”
Q: When you talk about flexibility, does that mean you still hope to start the season in early September and then have some flexibility for 10 games instead of 12 as that goes on?
George: “I think that all of that is on the table and we’ve had a football working group that we’ve had within the conference that is working on different scenarios so I think any of that is possible at this point.”
Q: With the possibility of moving some of the conference games into early September, has there been any discussion?
George: “There certainly is. We want to provide flexibility and I do know that that is on the table and is being discussed.”
Q: Is cutting sports now a reality around the country and for you if there is no football?
George: “I can’t speak for the rest of the country but I can speak for Colorado in that it’ll be the last choice that we have in cutting sports. One of the things that I’ve maintained and one of our responsibilities is to provide for all of our student-athletes and to provide them the support mechanisms that we can provide. We know that it costs us, but we feel like that's why we’re here. We’re talking about a situation that is right in front of us and we’re trying to do everything that we can to keep our sports and our support services intact for our student-athletes as we move forward. We’ll continue to do that. Is there a chance it could happen? There’s always a chance, bit again, those two areas are areas we will stay from unless we don’t play any college football at all and then we’ll have to have those discussions.”
Q: Will further pay cuts for coaches be an option you’d consider?
George: “I think at that point, every option is on the table other than the things I just mentioned. We’ll look at that, we’ll look at operating budgets, we’ll look at pretty much everything within our budget and certainly, just so we’re clear, we’ve been looking at all these scenarios for the past three or four months. We’re not going to make a reaction to something that happens — we’ve got plans in place for all of those different scenarios that could potentially hit.”
Q: Have there been any conversations about how bowl games would be played in December or January or is that a further-down-the-line discussion?
George: “I think that’s probably a discussion that the bowls are having amongst themselves at this point. I think for us and for most institutions, our focus is on playing sports in the fall and we haven’t really gotten that involved in what the bowl season will look like at this point.”
Q: How important will it be, once a game is played at Folsom Field, to educate the public and stress the importance of whatever kind of social distancing plan is in pace and wearing masks?
George: “We will do an incredible amount of education prior to the football season because it’s going to be important that those that do choose to come to the game, and it’s their choice, but we’ve got to make sure that they know it’s going to be different, and how’s it going to be different? I would believe that (we’ll strive to make sure) fans know what it’ll look like to make sure that they know what the ticket situation will be like and how they can secure tickets, where they’ll park, what gates they’ll enter — it may not be what it’s been for the last 40 years so we will have to do a really good job in that area and that’s an area we’ll be focused on as we get closer to knowing what the fall season will look like. We will make sure that we send communications out regularly to those who are coming to the games.”
Q: In regards to the execution of athletes playing out there, we’ve seen some prototypes of some sort of mask type deal that goes in the football helmet. I would imagine that’s part of the conversion as you guys cover all bases?
George: “Yes. Certainly there will be some practice protocols in place and you’ll apply those to the games as you get closer. All those discussions are being had at the football oversight committee and NCAA are working on things of that nature. There will be differences than we’ve had before in our stadium and with the course of play.”
Q: How major will potential tweaks to the schedule be and are we looking at 10 or 11 games?
George: “The number of games, we haven’t made a decision on yet. We’re looking at will the same games be on there that are currently on the schedule? There will probably be some changes to that but our working group is on that and hopefully we’ll have something by the end of July?
Q: If USC and UCLA for whatever reason can’t get to a point where they can play this season, will the rest of the Pac-12 still try to make so with the schedule or will it become an all or nothing thing?
George: “Those are discussions that we’ll continue to have. We meet with our conference a couple times a week and so those are ongoing discussions that we’ll continue to have with the conference and our peers. We meet a couple times a week and will continue to do that until we finalize what our plan is.”
Q: Iowa State’s AD sent out an email to supporters basically saying that they were going to have $40 million of unfunded expenses if football isn’t played this fall. How close is that number to what you guys will have and what can you do to counteract that?
George: “If we don't play football, it’s around that number and how will we mitigate that? There’s a number of ways: we’ll look at our operating budgets — everything that we have within our budget is on the table for us to be able to make this 2021 academic year, competitive year, as successful as we can. Everything’s on the table.”
Q: I was under the impression that due to the number of sports that (CU) has, you actually can’t maintain D1 status. If that’s not the case, please correct me if I’m wrong but if that is the case, do you see exceptions being made to deal with that?
George: “We’re above the number. The number is 16 and we’re at 17 sports so we’re above that number. That’s not the reason we wouldn’t cut — the reason we wouldn’t cut is that we like the 17 sports that we have, we feel like those student-athletes should be competing for CU. And so if there as a scenario, which some schools may face, falling below that number, they can certainly work with the NCAA through the waiver process to be exempt from that minimum limit as long as they have a plan in place on how they will get back to that number in the short term.”
Q: Have you had any conversations with Commissioner Larry Scott who tested positive for the virus? Any update on his condition?
George: “I’ll let him give you an update, but Larry was on all of our calls on Friday. I don’t know what the update is on his condition but I know when we talked on Friday, his symptoms were mild.”
Q: Could you address the idea of how retching of a decision it was for you to go along with the Pac-12 on (cancelling non-conference games, including the Rocky Mountain Showdown) and how you can’t just create an exception within your schedule for a rival?
George: “Joe Parker and I are good friends. We wear different colors but we’re good friends and communicate quite often. He knows how difficult a decision that was for our conference and for us individually. I’d love to play Colorado State and Joe and I will continue to have discussions on the future. I’ve read a little bit on Twitter on how they feel about me (up in Fort Collins) but it was a decision our conference made and I support our conference’s decision. Would I like to have been able to play CSU? The answer is yes.”
Q: Talking about the mental health aspect for athletes, have there been any discussions about putting a football team or a soccer team or a volleyball team on a plane and going into one of these hotspots in Arizona or California to potentially play a game?
George: “Certainly. Those are things that our student-athletes have concerns about and certainly we’re goin to talk with them about what those concerns are We’ve got great medical professionals that are helping us with those conversations and decisions I’m confident in our team that we have around us in helping us make informed decisions on what our protocols are. Certainly, when you get on a plane, there’s some concerns and maybe some anxiety but we’ve got incredible psychological help on this team led by Dr. Walker and we've got a great staff throughout this entire process, having been engaging and interacting with our student-athletes and they can go to them and get support whenever they need it. I have conversations with multiple people in our department about the health and wellness of our student-athletes.”
Q: How often have the athletes been tested (for COVID) at this point and do you feel like they’ve done a good job at adjusting to that aspect of being tested and going through checks?
George: “We do temperature checks and symptom checks every day. I do one every day I come into the office and any of our staff members go through the same protocols and wear their masks. The key thing is wear your mask and clean your hands — do all those little things. We talk about education for fans coming back to games — it’s the same education for our student-athletes, staff and community. We want to be a part of that message because it’s important to wear a mask and do the symptom checks that we do on a daily basis. We’ll start surveillance testing this week on all student-athletes, so we’ll have multiple tests moving forward for our student-athletes. We’re going to do everything we can to make sure our student-athletes are in a safe and healthy environment."
FIN
Pretty similar framework in this ADRG press conference in that a lot of stuff still remains in the air across the board. It is notable that with respect to Iowa State's $40 million of unfunded expenses the school will face if there's no football, that George anticipates CU as facing an equivalent financial dilemma.
I would certainly hope that coaches at CU would be willing to do another 5-10, maybe more % pay cut it it meant saving a sports program from elimination. I know for a fact George really, really does not want to do that. But his hand may be forced.
Overall, George continues to walk the fine line between maintaining a robust procedural structure to ensure the well-being of CU's student-athletes while also being financially honest in realizing that the prospect of no fall sports season brings with it almost certain fiscal lunges, if not sheer calamity.
Here's all he had to say:
Q: As it relates to football this fall, how confident are you that it will be played this fall and what kind of conversation, if any at all, has there been at the conference level about perhaps moving it to spring? Is that an option that you guys would take a look at?
George: “We’ve been working with the conference on this and felt like having a conference-only schedule allows us to be a little more nimble and flexible. You ask how confident I am — look, I think that we’re ready to have a fall season and a fall sports season. 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 about what our facilities will look like and they’re going to be totally different than they’ve ever been in the past. You’re going to see us go ticket-less and a variety of other things to make sure we minimize the contact that we’d typically have in a stadium, as it relates to paying for your food and other things like that, like sharing paper tickets."
"So, we’ve put a lot of time and effort into this because we knew there would come a day where either we’re going to play or we’re not going to play. We are ready to play and we want to be in a position that the protocols we have in place ensures the health and safety of not only our student-athletes, but our community at-large and we’ve been working incredibly hard for that. Is the spring on the table? Probably, but again, I think us playing in the fall — there’s no assurance that things are going to be better in the spring and so we don’t know what that landscape will look like. It’s important for us to get ready to play this fall. There may be disruptions but we’re goin to do everything we can at Colorado to be prepared to play when that moment comes.”
Q: When we talked a couple weeks ago, you had four athletes that tested positive (for COVID). Are you able to give us an update on that?
George: “The same four athletes that we had previously had been cleared to be in our facilities have tested positive."
Q: Are there any athletes that have expressed to you that they don’t feel comfortable playing the season? With all the protocols putting in, how do you worry about or control athletes who still go out and party and do things on their own on the weekends?
George: "Let me say this: I worry about our student-athletes when there’s not a pandemic going on. My biggest concern I would say that I think about all the time is their health and safety, because it’s paramount to what we do. Certainly, during this pandemic, we have taken great strides to ensure that we’re informing the parents of our student-athletes as we are informing (them) it is a family decision for them to come back and right now workout voluntarily or compete this fall. As the Pac-12 stated on Friday, if a student-athlete decides that they don’t feel comfortable, then we will honor their scholarship."
"(As far as CU student-athletes informing me that they are uncomfortable playing the fall season), not to my knowledge. I don’t hear from all of our coaches consistently so I don’t know — there could be some (players) saying that they’re not comfortable but it hasn't gotten to my desk at this point.”
Q: Was there any discussion for you guys (on keeping) the CU/CSU game? I’ve had a lot of people ask me, ‘why would CU go down and play one of the Arizona schools when it would look to be safer going to Fort Collins?’"
George: “It’s a really good question and yes, there was discussion on all of those games. You look at our conference and you’ve got USC that plays Notre Dame and Stanford that plays Notre Dame and then we have Texas A&M on our schedule — there’s a lot of discussion about the non-conference schedule, but what we felt like was most important was that we play football this fall. For us, we felt the best way to do that was to play conference-only because then we could assure that we all have the same protocols in place, the same consistency across the board, and it gave us the most flexibility in scheduling those contests and that’s why we came to the decision we did.”
Q: When you talk about flexibility, does that mean you still hope to start the season in early September and then have some flexibility for 10 games instead of 12 as that goes on?
George: “I think that all of that is on the table and we’ve had a football working group that we’ve had within the conference that is working on different scenarios so I think any of that is possible at this point.”
Q: With the possibility of moving some of the conference games into early September, has there been any discussion?
George: “There certainly is. We want to provide flexibility and I do know that that is on the table and is being discussed.”
Q: Is cutting sports now a reality around the country and for you if there is no football?
George: “I can’t speak for the rest of the country but I can speak for Colorado in that it’ll be the last choice that we have in cutting sports. One of the things that I’ve maintained and one of our responsibilities is to provide for all of our student-athletes and to provide them the support mechanisms that we can provide. We know that it costs us, but we feel like that's why we’re here. We’re talking about a situation that is right in front of us and we’re trying to do everything that we can to keep our sports and our support services intact for our student-athletes as we move forward. We’ll continue to do that. Is there a chance it could happen? There’s always a chance, bit again, those two areas are areas we will stay from unless we don’t play any college football at all and then we’ll have to have those discussions.”
Q: Will further pay cuts for coaches be an option you’d consider?
George: “I think at that point, every option is on the table other than the things I just mentioned. We’ll look at that, we’ll look at operating budgets, we’ll look at pretty much everything within our budget and certainly, just so we’re clear, we’ve been looking at all these scenarios for the past three or four months. We’re not going to make a reaction to something that happens — we’ve got plans in place for all of those different scenarios that could potentially hit.”
Q: Have there been any conversations about how bowl games would be played in December or January or is that a further-down-the-line discussion?
George: “I think that’s probably a discussion that the bowls are having amongst themselves at this point. I think for us and for most institutions, our focus is on playing sports in the fall and we haven’t really gotten that involved in what the bowl season will look like at this point.”
Q: How important will it be, once a game is played at Folsom Field, to educate the public and stress the importance of whatever kind of social distancing plan is in pace and wearing masks?
George: “We will do an incredible amount of education prior to the football season because it’s going to be important that those that do choose to come to the game, and it’s their choice, but we’ve got to make sure that they know it’s going to be different, and how’s it going to be different? I would believe that (we’ll strive to make sure) fans know what it’ll look like to make sure that they know what the ticket situation will be like and how they can secure tickets, where they’ll park, what gates they’ll enter — it may not be what it’s been for the last 40 years so we will have to do a really good job in that area and that’s an area we’ll be focused on as we get closer to knowing what the fall season will look like. We will make sure that we send communications out regularly to those who are coming to the games.”
Q: In regards to the execution of athletes playing out there, we’ve seen some prototypes of some sort of mask type deal that goes in the football helmet. I would imagine that’s part of the conversion as you guys cover all bases?
George: “Yes. Certainly there will be some practice protocols in place and you’ll apply those to the games as you get closer. All those discussions are being had at the football oversight committee and NCAA are working on things of that nature. There will be differences than we’ve had before in our stadium and with the course of play.”
Q: How major will potential tweaks to the schedule be and are we looking at 10 or 11 games?
George: “The number of games, we haven’t made a decision on yet. We’re looking at will the same games be on there that are currently on the schedule? There will probably be some changes to that but our working group is on that and hopefully we’ll have something by the end of July?
Q: If USC and UCLA for whatever reason can’t get to a point where they can play this season, will the rest of the Pac-12 still try to make so with the schedule or will it become an all or nothing thing?
George: “Those are discussions that we’ll continue to have. We meet with our conference a couple times a week and so those are ongoing discussions that we’ll continue to have with the conference and our peers. We meet a couple times a week and will continue to do that until we finalize what our plan is.”
Q: Iowa State’s AD sent out an email to supporters basically saying that they were going to have $40 million of unfunded expenses if football isn’t played this fall. How close is that number to what you guys will have and what can you do to counteract that?
George: “If we don't play football, it’s around that number and how will we mitigate that? There’s a number of ways: we’ll look at our operating budgets — everything that we have within our budget is on the table for us to be able to make this 2021 academic year, competitive year, as successful as we can. Everything’s on the table.”
Q: I was under the impression that due to the number of sports that (CU) has, you actually can’t maintain D1 status. If that’s not the case, please correct me if I’m wrong but if that is the case, do you see exceptions being made to deal with that?
George: “We’re above the number. The number is 16 and we’re at 17 sports so we’re above that number. That’s not the reason we wouldn’t cut — the reason we wouldn’t cut is that we like the 17 sports that we have, we feel like those student-athletes should be competing for CU. And so if there as a scenario, which some schools may face, falling below that number, they can certainly work with the NCAA through the waiver process to be exempt from that minimum limit as long as they have a plan in place on how they will get back to that number in the short term.”
Q: Have you had any conversations with Commissioner Larry Scott who tested positive for the virus? Any update on his condition?
George: “I’ll let him give you an update, but Larry was on all of our calls on Friday. I don’t know what the update is on his condition but I know when we talked on Friday, his symptoms were mild.”
Q: Could you address the idea of how retching of a decision it was for you to go along with the Pac-12 on (cancelling non-conference games, including the Rocky Mountain Showdown) and how you can’t just create an exception within your schedule for a rival?
George: “Joe Parker and I are good friends. We wear different colors but we’re good friends and communicate quite often. He knows how difficult a decision that was for our conference and for us individually. I’d love to play Colorado State and Joe and I will continue to have discussions on the future. I’ve read a little bit on Twitter on how they feel about me (up in Fort Collins) but it was a decision our conference made and I support our conference’s decision. Would I like to have been able to play CSU? The answer is yes.”
Q: Talking about the mental health aspect for athletes, have there been any discussions about putting a football team or a soccer team or a volleyball team on a plane and going into one of these hotspots in Arizona or California to potentially play a game?
George: “Certainly. Those are things that our student-athletes have concerns about and certainly we’re goin to talk with them about what those concerns are We’ve got great medical professionals that are helping us with those conversations and decisions I’m confident in our team that we have around us in helping us make informed decisions on what our protocols are. Certainly, when you get on a plane, there’s some concerns and maybe some anxiety but we’ve got incredible psychological help on this team led by Dr. Walker and we've got a great staff throughout this entire process, having been engaging and interacting with our student-athletes and they can go to them and get support whenever they need it. I have conversations with multiple people in our department about the health and wellness of our student-athletes.”
Q: How often have the athletes been tested (for COVID) at this point and do you feel like they’ve done a good job at adjusting to that aspect of being tested and going through checks?
George: “We do temperature checks and symptom checks every day. I do one every day I come into the office and any of our staff members go through the same protocols and wear their masks. The key thing is wear your mask and clean your hands — do all those little things. We talk about education for fans coming back to games — it’s the same education for our student-athletes, staff and community. We want to be a part of that message because it’s important to wear a mask and do the symptom checks that we do on a daily basis. We’ll start surveillance testing this week on all student-athletes, so we’ll have multiple tests moving forward for our student-athletes. We’re going to do everything we can to make sure our student-athletes are in a safe and healthy environment."
FIN
Pretty similar framework in this ADRG press conference in that a lot of stuff still remains in the air across the board. It is notable that with respect to Iowa State's $40 million of unfunded expenses the school will face if there's no football, that George anticipates CU as facing an equivalent financial dilemma.
I would certainly hope that coaches at CU would be willing to do another 5-10, maybe more % pay cut it it meant saving a sports program from elimination. I know for a fact George really, really does not want to do that. But his hand may be forced.
Overall, George continues to walk the fine line between maintaining a robust procedural structure to ensure the well-being of CU's student-athletes while also being financially honest in realizing that the prospect of no fall sports season brings with it almost certain fiscal lunges, if not sheer calamity.
