OPINION: Like It Is

WALLY HALL: Sankey's decision will be the gold standard

It is expected we are 24 hours from hearing from SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey about the 2020 college football season.

When Sankey said he hoped to have a decision by the end of July, the coronavirus was not raging like it has been the last two weeks.

Texas A&M Athletic Director Ross Bjork said he felt waiting until the middle of August would be fine even though practices are currently slated to start Aug. 7.

So Sankey might make an announcement this week, or he may decide to wait since total cases took a slight drop on Wednesday.

Sankey has to be complimented on the way he has handled this.

The Big Ten and Pac-12 have already announced they plan to have conference-game only schedules but had to add if there is a season.

The ACC announced Wednesday that it will stage 11 football games for each school, including one nonconference game, with a schedule that will include Notre Dame.

An announcement from the Big 12 should come rather quickly.

The last thing any of the leagues want to do is start football, then have to cancel it because of an outbreak of new cases on the football teams.

Former Arkansas All-American Jim Mabry had an idea of playing every other week, and the more thought that goes into that, the more the idea is appealing.

That would give a team 10 days after a game to be quarantined before they had to be tested again.

Quarantining a team after the season has started could really gum up the works. Or even having to isolate your starting quarterback or running back.

At this point, anything is possible. The one certainty since spring sports were canceled because of the virus is that the virus is unpredictable.

It is fully expected that when Sankey makes an announcement, with the approval of the SEC presidents and athletic directors, it will be the industry standard.

And the lives of the student-athletes will be the first concern.

. . .

The NCAA board of governors meets Tuesday, but it has become clear that the NCAA will not dictate fall football to the Power 5 conferences.

NCAA President Mark Emmert said earlier this week that he remains "very concerned" about trying to play football this fall.

He did say a shortened season would be less affected by quarantines.

Emmert and everyone else knows the cash cow for colleges is football and that no school can make its budget without it, at least not for long.

Do not bet against Sankey and the other Power 5 commissioners.

They have been studying this with medical experts for months.

. . .

The University of Texas announced it as planning to allow 50% of its stadium to be full for football games this fall.

City health officials quickly said, "Whoa."

Austin's public health authority officials said it was hard to imagine allowing that many people into Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium which has a capacity of 100,119.

Don't bet against the Longhorns who bring millions of dollars into the city's economy for every home game.

. . .

Max Mendelsohn, a junior tennis player at Boston College was named the Golden Eagles Male Scholar Athlete of the Year.

Mendelsohn, a Little Rock native who has been playing competitive tennis for many years, was one of five Boston College tennis players to make the scholar-athlete team.

To be named to the scholar-athlete team, a student must be a letterman and have at least a 3.5 GPA.

Mendelsohn is the son of Larry and Sonja Mendelsohn.

Larry, who grew up in Fort Smith, is often seen in CARTI television ads as one of the leading oncologists in the country.

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