The SEC will be enrolled in two other Power Five leagues to play convention games only next season football if the groups can compete amid the existing COVID-19 pandemic, the convention announced Thursday.
The groups will play a 10-game schedule opposite other SEC opponents, and the season is scheduled to begin on September 26, nearly a month later than planned. Following similar moves through Big Ten, Pac-12 and CCA, the SEC’s resolution ensures that the 2020 season will be radically different from the previous one.
The convention championship game, to be held in Atlanta, will move from December 5-19, allowing “a mid-season opening date for schools and an opening date on December 12 for all schools,” the league said.
“This new football calendar plan is consistent with the educational goals of our universities to allow orderly return to the campus of their student populations and provide a healthy learning environment in those exclusive cases presented through the COVID-19 virus.” SEC commissioner Greg Sankey said in a statement.
“This new schedule supports the security measures that are taken in our facilities to ensure the fitness of our communities on campus.”
Big Ten was the first to drop out of the games outside the convention on the normal season schedule 3 weeks ago, highlighting the benefits of flexible planning, hazard mitigation, and the ability to verify percentage protocols with convention colleagues. Members. The Pac-12 temporarily followed him.
On Wednesday, the ACC decided to play an 11-game schedule that includes a game outside the convention while getting rid of the divisions. The league said games outside the convention “must be played in the state of the ACC institution’s home.” The ACC will rise Notre Dame for the 2020 season as the 15th member and the Fighting Irish will be eligible to compete for the convention championship.
This leaves the Big 12 as the only Power Five convention that hasn’t yet made an announcement about how to schedule games and play a classic season in a panorama altered by the coronavirus.
The convention calendar alone eliminates a number of long-standing rivalries between SEC groups and the conflicting parties of other leagues, such as the games between South Carolina and Clemson, Florida and Florida, and Georgia and Georgia Tech. This new rivalry, known as “Clean and Old Fashion Hate,” has been played 113 times since 1893 and frequently since 1925.
“The SEC’s 10-game schedule gives us the most productive opportunity to play football in the safest way imaginable in a COVID environment,” said Georgia sports director Greg McGaritys. “It’s disappointing that the calendar style doesn’t allow you to play Georgia Tech; however, we looked forward to renewing this rivalry in 2021. I would like to congratulate Commissioner Sankey, his staff and university rectors and rectors on their leadership in finding these difficult challenges.”
However, the opposing game to the conflicting parties to the convention maintains the Iron Bowl between Alabama and Auburn, while potentially adding two games to the typical eight-game SEC schedule. Prior to this season, the SEC had maintained that schedule even when other Power Five leagues moved to a nine-game roster.
As with other conferences, the SEC resolution cancels a series of high-level games in September with SEC members such as Auburn and North Carolina, Tennessee and Oklahoma, and Arkansas and Notre Dame. Although pairs of Force Five league teams can be postponed, those cancellations have a higher monetary cost.
Auburn faces $5 million for cancelling its unbiased game opposed to the Tar Heels, assuming it met the requirements for selling price tickets. Similarly with Georgia, you would have earned $4.25 for interpreting Virginia impartially under the same ticketing price requirement. Both games were scheduled to be played at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta.
The greatest monetary effect on the list of cancelled games will be felt through the parties to the conflict that rely heavily on the seven-figure paycheck that accompanies the groups against the SEC, especially for Group of Five convention groups such as Sun Belt and Conference. . United States, as well as the systems participating in the subdivision of the championship.
Kent State has lost games in Alabama and Kentucky for which each would pay $1.75 million. Massachusetts was hoping to make $1.9 million for his brown game. Eastern Washington will lose $750,000 for a game in Florida, a significant victory for an FCS team.