At Notre Dame, things have been a whirlwind for students and athletes.For students, their school year was up in the air as the waves of COVID-19 rippled through the nation. Many wondered if students would even step foot on campus this fall. Though on August 10th, students took to campus and classes opened. Then, just eight days into the semester, the call was made to move students online to curb the spread of the virus sp. Now there’s a call to return students to in-person classes, and it is a continuously fluid situation.For the student-athletes, the summer was filled with speculation if their season would be canceled. However, on July 29th, Notre Dame announced they would be joining the ACC for the season as a 15th member of the conference in football. The schedule is an 11 game season that kicks off September 12th as they welcome Duke to Notre Dame Stadium. A significant change from their original plans of opening the season in Ireland against NAVY.
Then on August 11th, the Big Ten and Pac-12 announced that they would cancel their fall sports season’s, generating more stir and questions about what was the right thing to do for sports. Though, the message was crystal clear from the ACC as they pushed forward with the season’s start.
Though, what would this look like? How could we have football, and keep the players safe? A bubble was successful in the NBA, WNBA, and NHL. However, that is an unrealistic scenario for football, with so many teams, players, logistics, classes, and the list goes on.
So with questions brewing, answers started to come down the line. However, these are still fluid and seemingly changing daily based on CDC regulations and recommendations from the ACCs health guidance team.
A big question of the media was how coverage would work, maintaining an ability to do one’s job and not putting the student-athletes’ health and safety at risk. All press conferences in the 2020-21 season have been moved online, including postgame pressers. Field access has been completely shut down to non-school personnel.
Media will be given assigned times to enter the stadium and will only be able to do so if they pass a health screening ahead of picking up their credentials. The days of pregame meals with colleagues and talking in close quarters about expectations of the game ahead of kickoff will not be the norm this season.
Seating will be limited, and media members must maintain a 10 feet spacing between each other. Masks must remain on at all times, and departure from the stadium is expected to be expedient following the conclusion of the final press conference. A tough pill to swallow for many of the long-tenured beat writers for Notre Dame was the news that only three traveling media members would be allocated access to road games.
Though the passion and pride of the green and gold faithful writers runs deep, the response was resounding and detailed. It was understood that this was for the best for the athletes, media, and all parties involved. As many began to realize that gameday access could be hit or miss depending week to week, there was a clear consensus of understanding and relief that there would actually be football played.
The press box will be reduced by capacity nearly 80% in the about of people that will be allowed access. However, in some ways, more access than ever was made to be more readily available to media members. With press conferences online, to photos being made available for free for outlets.
It’s a wacky season, with compromises being made across the board and many things still changing daily. Don’t expect everything to stay the same all season, with health and university officials making it clear that things can change on a moment’s notice. Prime examples of this are NC State’s first game already being pushed back due to an onslaught of COVID cases arising, and the Big Ten is starting to see protests and lawsuits from players and families as they fight to get their season back rolling.
As things continue to work themselves out and the first moment of leather to laces gets the 2020 Notre Dame football season underway, we need to take a step back and be grateful that we are getting to play football. A lot has transpired since he country shut down in march along with the cancellation of the NCAA Tournament, amongst countless other events.
So, cheers to those that have helped make this a possibility and brought back a little sense of normalcy. Now, let’s play some football!
