Notre Dame coach Brian Kelly threatens College Football Playoff boycott if families can't attend

The 10-0 Notre Dame Fighting Irish will clinch a berth in the College Football Playoff by defeating the Clemson Tigers (9-1) in Saturday's ACC championship game. 

Notre Dame head coach Brian Kelly isn't sure he'd accept the offer to play for the national title, depending on who would or wouldn't be allowed to watch in-person. 

"I'm not sure we'll play in the playoffs if the parents can't be there," Kelly said during a Friday Zoom call with reporters, per Andrea Adelson of ESPN. "Why would we play if you can't have families at the game? If you can't have families at bowl games, why would you go to a game where your families can't be part of it? What's the sense of playing a game in an area of the country where nobody can be part of it?"

Per a public health order, the Rose Bowl announced earlier this month that fans won't be able to attend that semifinal. Kelly suggested the contest should be relocated. 

"Why can't it be the Rose Bowl in Las Vegas or can it be the Rose Bowl in another town?" he asked. "Where's the flexibility for the student-athlete is all I'm saying. The one thing these kids have been is incredibly flexible, and then on the other side we can't be flexible? It's hard to imagine."

Kelly added: 

"Maybe they [CFP] need to spend a little less time on who the top four teams are and figure out how to get parents into these games because it is an absolute shame and a sham if parents can't be watching their kids play. My kids have been on campus since June. They haven't seen their families very much at all. They've had to fight through COVID, some of them have had COVID. They can't be around their families for Christmas, and you're going to tell me we're going to have a playoff and maybe one site can have families and the other can't? Please.

"Somebody's got to wake up in that room and figure this out or you might as well call this the professional league. I am so sick and tired of this playoff committee talking about having sites where you can't have parents at and their families. It's ridiculous."

As of Friday, the Rose Bowl game has not been moved, and there are no known plans to relocate the game or allow spectators.