Lyons Optimistic That Fall Return Is On The Right Track
May 28, 2020 12:54 PM | Football, Blog
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – West Virginia University director of athletics Shane Lyons is going to be doing a lot of data collecting this summer.
As chair of the College Football Oversight Committee, Lyons presides over an organization in charge of a multi-billion dollar industry. That's billion with a capital B!
According to a recent story posted on ESPN.com, if college football is canceled this fall because of the coronavirus that would equate to a $4 billion loss industrywide, not to mention the economic havoc it would wreak to local economies.
In Morgantown alone, that equates to roughly $7.5 million per home football game, or more than $52 million in potential local economic activity for West Virginia's seven-game home football schedule this year.
This comes from data provided in the economic impact study athletics released last summer.
The statewide economic fallout would approach $200 million, so you can see why Lyons is so reluctant to make concrete statements about the unlikelihood of a college football season this fall.
What he will say is that he's very optimistic that games will be played this season.
Most others agree.
Last Friday, the Big 12 Conference Board of Directors approved a phased-in plan for student-athletes to return to campus. Beginning June 15, football student-athletes will again have access to campus training facilities for voluntary workouts.
Athletes from the fall sports volleyball, soccer and cross country will be permitted to return on July 1 and all other student-athletes can return on July 15.
Professional leagues are also beginning to open up.
The PGA Tour will be the first to resume competition on June 11 with the Charles Schwab Challenge in Fort Worth, Texas. Professional golf's first four events will be held without spectators, the Tour announced.
The newly-formed women's professional soccer league plans to have a 25-game tournament held near Salt Lake City, Utah, starting June 27, while the NHL is planning for a July 1 return for a summer training camp leading into a 24-team playoff that will crown a Stanley Cup champion in early fall.
NBA teams are now opening up their training facilities for voluntary workouts with a tentative resumption of play targeted for late July.
Major League Baseball is hopeful of having an abbreviated 82-game season this year provided an agreeable economic plan can be worked out with the MLB Players Association.
Professional football is opening up its training facilities to small portions of staff for voluntary workouts with mini-camps possibly getting underway as early as June 15, according to Yahoo Sports' Charles Robinson.
And business titan Disney, located in Orlando, Florida, plans a phased-in reopening on July 11.
Lyons said he will be watching all of them very closely.
"You can always learn from others," he said this morning between video meetings. "You can take their best practices and the things they may have not done completely right and learn from them. By somebody else going first, you have a little bit of an advantage of being able to learn from them. The great thing about this business is we are all sharing good ideas.
"(The Football Oversight Committee) has gotten information from the NFL of what they are doing upon return. Obviously, we will continue to learn from the other professional leagues, what protocols they are putting in place as well. They may not be identical, but we can take advantage of things that we can implement on our own campuses."
Lyons' primary concern right now is the phased-in return of football players in mid-June. He indicated all of them will not be returning at once.
He said several committees have been formed within the athletics department to minimize the risks of student-athletes contracting the virus when they return.
"We are in the process of rearranging the weight room to make sure student-athletes can social distance as much as possible," Lyons explained. "Our facilities management team continues to work on a return-to-campus plan for fans and what that will look like. We've got a number of groups working on logistics and protocols are being put in place to help manage this as we return to campus."
A great deal has changed from early March, when the Big 12 basketball tournaments were canceled, to the present.
We now have rapid, reliable testing in place and medical experts are learning more every day about the virus. Lyons anticipates even more will be known over the next 99 days before West Virginia is scheduled to open its season against Florida State at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta on Sept. 5.
"Over the last 75 days, I think we've learned how to manage this better as a society," he explained. "We know there is a risk, so how do we manage it? The personal protection equipment, sanitation and social distancing methods have improved and enabled us to better avoid the risk of contracting the virus as we head into the fall seasons.
"We will continue to take precautions, and I think it's important when people return to campus that we have the proper protocols in place for testing and continued monitoring of student-athletes for the virus," he said.
In the meantime, Lyons points to the season ticket deadline rapidly approaching on Monday, June 1.
Season tickets sales for football and men's basketball represent the second-largest funding source for the athletics department just behind the Big 12 Conference's yearly allocation to its members.
Football ticket sales alone account for approximately $15 million per year in annual revenue, according to Lyons.
"Season tickets are very important because they are tied to a donor gift aspect of it and you know those tickets are actually sold going into the season and what your capacity for Milan Puskar Stadium is ultimately going to look like," he explained. "It gives us a better read of our financial picture as we move through this to say 'this is what we're going to look like.'
"It's important for us in order to sustain our department's financial stability," he added.
Lyons noted it's still too early yet to know if Milan Puskar Stadium's capacity will be reduced for games this fall. He's hopeful the capacity is closer to 60,000, but he said conversations are taking place within his department on different capacity models to accommodate social distancing should that be necessary.
If capacity reductions are implemented, Lyons said season ticket holders will get first priority when entering the stadium to see Mountaineer football games this fall.
"We are going to take care of those first, along with our students, so you talk about the importance of buying season tickets? If we are in the neighborhood of where we have been in the past with season ticket sales around 25, 26,000, and when you add students in there, you are right near the 30,000 mark and that's 50% capacity. That is why it is important for fans to be able to know they have access to the stadium by purchasing a season ticket."
He mentioned a detailed refund policy has been established should games be canceled. An FAQ ticketing link is available on WVUsports.com for fans to access: https://wvusports.com/sports/2020/4/28/2020-football-season-ticket-and-donation-faq.aspx"The question we've gotten a lot here is 'what if I purchase season tickets and the season doesn't happen' or 'what happens if there are limited games?' We will have a refund policy as we have done in the past for the canceled men's basketball tournament in Kansas City or for baseball season tickets," Lyons said.
"I would err on the side of buying my season ticket so I have it and if there isn't a season then we will work on that if we go down that road," he added.
Having said that, Lyons remains optimistic college football will be played this fall.
"It may look a little different from a capacity standpoint - hopefully not, you never know - but the good thing is we are on track to come back for fall sports to start competing again," he said.
In the meantime, Lyons will be continuing to monitor things throughout the summer, collecting additional information as we inch closer toward Saturday, Sept. 12, when West Virginia takes on Eastern Kentucky in its home opener.
Football season tickets can still be purchased by calling the Mountaineer Ticket Office toll-free at 1-800-WVU GAME or by logging on to WVUGAME.com.
TV Highlights: WVU 74, UCF 67
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Ross Hodge | UCF Postgame
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Friday, February 13
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Thursday, February 12
