Notre Dame AD Jack Swarbrick doesn't want college football games inside empty stadium
The UFC, Australian A-League, Australian Football League and World Wrestling Entertainment are some of the entities that have held empty-arena events during the ongoing coronavirus outbreak.
According to ESPN's Adam Rittenberg, Notre Dame athletic director Jack Swarbrick isn't keen on the idea.
"I don't see a model where we play, at least any extended number of games, in facilities where we don't have fans," Swarbrick told ESPN for a piece published on Tuesday. "College football is about the cheerleaders and the band and the campus environment on game day. We're interested in solutions that allow us to have a traditional game-day experience."
Swarbrick added:
"There might be a middle ground where you say, the first two games of the season, you might have to make some accommodations. Maybe you only have students in attendance and you don't invite other fans. I couldn't see us going past a very limited example of that."
On Tuesday morning during a segment for "Get Up," ESPN's Laura Rutledge reported an "overwhelming majority" of "college coaches and a couple of conference commissioners" agree the college football season could not occur without fans.
"Fans in college football are the fabric of our sport," she added.
Professional and amateur sports are shut down around the world, but German Bundesliga clubs have resumed training sessions, as Dan Sansom of Sky Sports wrote. Early Tuesday morning, ESPN's Jeff Passan reported MLB is exploring an option that would involve all clubs sequestering in Arizona to play regular-season games as quickly as May.
There are, of course, dozens upon dozens more college football squads than MLB organizations, and there's no guarantee large groups will be allowed to convene in any state by the scheduled first football weekend. As Frank Schwab of Yahoo Sports explained on April 4, California Governor Gavin Newsom doesn't expect NFL games played in the state would include fans in September because of the coronavirus pandemic.
"How does college football operate if several states are in a position where they're not prepared to allow college football to be played, but other states are?" Swarbrick asked when speaking with ESPN.
It's the conundrum affecting competitions and sports governing bodies around the world.
If only the NCAA could buy a private island for football games.
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