A&M plans fall football, but it is not a guarantee

COLLEGE STATION – Dell Billings, who has been a Texas A&M football subscription holder for nearly a decade, appreciates A&M’s continued enthusiasm for playing a fall schedule.

“The university hasn’t said much about it yet,” said Billings. “It looks like we are still full steam ahead for a fall version of football.”

Billings, who graduated from A&M in 1995, also realizes that it seems like the brakes are about to be applied with every full speed ahead approach, perhaps within a few weeks.

“I can’t see how we would be in the stands on Kyle Field if you have situations like ‘The Basketball Tournament’ now taking place on ESPN and there are no fans,” said Billings. “It is only a small tournament. How will you put 100,000 people in a stadium in September? ‘

That’s the multimillion-dollar question, one A&M, the Southeastern Conference, and the rest of college football should probably answer by the end of this month.

“We said from the outset of this pandemic that the circumstances surrounding the virus would guide our decision-making, and it is clear that recent developments regarding COVID-19 have not gone in the right direction,” said SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey. week. “Important decisions need to be made in the coming weeks and there should be more clarity about the fall season by the end of July.”

The Ivy League on Wednesday is expected to announce that its football schedule will shift to the spring semester. A Power Five administrator told The Athletic that this could lead to a domino effect in college football.

“My suspicion is that most presidents in the (Football Bowl Subdivision) are uncomfortable with the idea of ​​playing football this fall, but don’t want to be the first to say that for several reasons,” the administrator told the website, adding that the bold burst of the Ivy League “provides the cover” for others to follow suit.

The organizers of the State Fair of Texas announced on Tuesday that the Dallas annual event will be closing for the first time since World War II, another ominous sign that it will be the most hollow memory in sports and general fun. .

Early in the pandemic, Ross Bjork, athletic director of A&M, said that college and college football as a whole had time on their side in making long-term decisions. That’s no longer the case with the mid-July creep up, and the most realistic answer right now seems to bring time back on the side of college football by shifting the season to a winter / spring schedule.

Billings said he could enjoy college football without a hitch in February, a time usually reserved for traditional national signing day.

“If it helps ensure students are safe and the community is safe,” he said. “We also have to think about (the Bryan-College Station) area – that people come to games from big cities like Houston, which is a hot spot right now.”

Grinning, Billings added, “We all want football in the fall, but if we have to have football in the spring, and that means a national championship in the spring, that’s what I’m here for.”

Returning 10 starters on the defensive and 8 on the offensive, the Aggies aim for their first SEC title under third-year coach Jimbo Fisher. Most A&M players are on campus this month, participating in voluntary training while awaiting training camp next month.

The Aggies open their season on September 5 against Abilene Christian at Kyle Field. If A&M is not playing this fall or if fans are not allowed in the stands, the athletics department has offered refunds to subscribers or other options moving forward.

Billings said he and his wife, Michelle, would look for “other options” if they didn’t settle in their seats on the 20-foot first deck in early September.

“We have to help the university in our own little way,” he said. “We are not looking for a refund. We’ll look at whatever the college’s plan will be, whether it’s spring football or a fall discount, or throw some extra chairs at (baseball) Blue Bell Park in the spring. … We will not recover our money if there is no football in the fall.

“There are bigger things going on right now.”

In the early days of the pandemic, a diligent Bjork met reporters by teleconference about A&M’s plans every few weeks. Both sides soon found out, but there were only so many ways the AD could say he’s not sure what the future holds for college football this fall – a mantra that will be repeated at all levels of the sport as summer continues , with questions that outweigh answers more than ever.

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