NCAA President: No Fall Sports if Campuses Are Online Only

National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) president Mark Emmert said on Friday he doesn’t expect college sporting events will take place this fall if students don’t return to campuses around the country, reported USA Today.

Mark Emmert

Emmert’s comments came as part of a conversation on the NCAA’s Twitter channel.

“College athletes are college students, and you can’t have college sports if you don’t have college (campuses) open and having students on them,” said Emmert. “You don’t want to ever put student-athletes at greater risk than the rest of the student body.”

Emmert also said he anticipates colleges will resume sporting events at different times and this could mean shorter schedules that could impact postseason selections.

“We would much rather relax some of those competitive-equity issues than ever put a young man or young woman at risk, physically or mentally,” Emmert said.

He and NCAA chief medical officer Brian Hainline also said testing and tracing need to improve and increase before sporting events resume on campuses.