SEC athletic directors to discuss fall sports schedule next week

The athletic directors of the SEC are expected to meet on Monday to discuss the fall sports schedule, as the COVID-19 pandemic has shown no signs of slowing down with September quickly approaching.

According to sources, the plan for the meeting is for SEC commissioner Greg Sankey to hear from each of the athletic directors in order to hear their concerns and ideas regarding sports being played this fall. It is expected that no major decisions will be made during the meeting, as most athletic directors are fine with letting more time pass before having to decide about the fate of their conference's sports.

The news of the meeting comes on the heels of the Big Ten announcing a conference-only schedule, along with Ohio State AD Gene Smith admitting there's a real chance football isn't played this year. With cases beginning to spike across the south, it's hard to imagine that SEC football will be played this year barring a vaccine or shutting everything down to flatten the curve.

"I think spring is more viable than fall," an anonymous SEC AD told SI. "What we have currently scheduled is not realistic. If somebody told me we could play conference-only in the fall, that would be great. But I’m not sure we can play one game, let alone a full conference schedule."

At this point, it's nearly impossible to argue that college sports are simply not viable under the current conditions. While professional athletes are willing to risk their health in order to be paid millions of dollars, college athletes have no real incentive to greatly increase their risk of contracting coronavirus.