The exhausting college football season has finally come to a close, but the stress levels in college athletics are far from being back to normal. In the American Athletic Conference and across the country, basketball schedules are being heavily impacted by COVID-19.
AAC commissioner Mike Aresco spoke with The Dallas Morning News on Friday about the end of football season, league expansion and basketball season. Here’s what he had to say.
Football possibly expanding to 14 teams
It was just a month ago when CBS Sports reported that Boise State was looking into possibly joining the AAC in a football-only capacity. While Aresco declined to discuss specifics on what schools the conference may look to add, he did provide a possible indicator of the future of the football conference.
“Our goal is to get back to 12 [teams],” Aresco said. “... And if down the road, there’s an opportunity to go to 14, why wouldn’t we at least think about it?
“We are going to be a factor. We are going to be a P6 conference. I’m totally convinced we’re going to make it.”
The newsworthy item there is that the conference could look to expand to as many as 14 football schools. Aresco noted that travel is less of a concern with football games taking place just once a week.
Championship waiver
The COVID-19 pandemic extended a two-year waiver that the conference was given by the NCAA to play an eight-game conference schedule and conduct a championship with just 11 teams. That waiver now goes through the end of the 2022 season.
Aresco said the conference is applying for a permanent waiver in the event that it does stay at 11 members for football.
“We’ve always had a database of schools, that if they ever had interest in us, that we would consider,” Aresco said. “... I don’t want to emphasize expansion too much because nothing is on the table at the moment. But if there’s something that could enhance your league, and something that could enhance your brand out there, why wouldn’t you do that?”
Everything is about gaining more credibility for the College Football Playoff. Aresco said he expects discussions in the spring about expanding the CFP. But everything that happens in that conversation at least impacts the outlook for how the conference will operate moving forward.
He felt strongly that Cincinnati should have been given a chance this year, and the competitive Peach Bowl loss to Georgia was further evidence of that.
“I think we need to fight hard for an automatic bid,” Aresco said.
Could basketball season be paused?
Every AAC basketball team has had its conference schedule interrupted by COVID-19. Most teams have missed multiple games. SMU missed three straight games and on Saturday played just one of three AAC games over the weekend. Cincinnati has had five consecutive games postponed, and when it is scheduled to return Feb. 4, it will have been nearly a month away from the court.
Aresco was asked if the numerous postponements are a possible reflection of transmission between teams.
“We haven’t seen that yet,” Aresco said, “and we’re talking to our medical people. ... We’ve been very, very careful to quarantine, isolate and not play games if we even have a positive. If we see evidence of transmission on the court, we will have to relook at this.”
It would be tough to prove there’s on-court transmission. It can take up to two weeks following exposure to test positive for the virus. At that point, numerous games could have been played and numerous teams could have been infected. Athletes are not wearing face coverings during games.
As of now, the conference tournament scheduled for Fort Worth in early March is still on, with attendance possibly at 25% capacity. Aresco said there haven’t been any games canceled yet, but that will likely happen in February. In the meantime, being “nimble” with scheduling is key.
Aresco noted that he would encourage everyone in the league to get the COVID-19 vaccine as soon as it’s their turn to get inoculated.
Aresco was asked if it’s possible, given the numerous issues, that the season could be paused. He indicated that it wasn’t out of the question, while noting specific concern about the more transmissible strain of the COVID-19 virus.
“I don’t know, I don’t know. It’s always possible,” Aresco said. “I don’t want to be an alarmist. The last thing I need is a headline that suggests that that’s imminent, or may happen. But on the other hand, I think we’re taking this very seriously.”
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