With football season uncertain, Mizzou’s Jim Sterk talks potential path to return
Speculation continues to build for the college football season because of the COVID-19 pandemic. There are talks of pushing it to the spring, playing only conference games, or in the worst-case scenario, outright canceling the season.
Despite the uncertainty, Missouri athletic director Jim Sterk said he’s simply looking forward to his next target date and settling the logistics behind a season. As of now, Sterk said they’re preparing for the fall as if there will be football, and if anything changes, they’ll adapt.
“Anything of an opinion right now is a guess,” Sterk said over a Zoom call on Thursday. “It’s most likely to be wrong. We’re going to wait.”
The next important upcoming date is May 22, when Sterk said SEC chancellors and presidents will meet to discuss whether it’s safe for student-athletes to return to campus. Tentatively, if all goes well, students will be allowed back for workouts starting June 1. But if there are any changes, that date could be pushed back.
When it comes to what everyone is wondering — whether there will be changes to the college football season — Sterk said any real decision won’t be made until mid-July.
“I’d rather deal with the present and try to have a season in the fall if things are in the right status as far as with the health officials,” Sterk said. “I think the health officials are going to drive that.”
The university has also taken steps for parts of campus. On May 20, select faculty, university leaders and grad students will be allowed to return to campus as a first phase of the university’s reopening initiatives.
The athletic department has taken its own small steps, Sterk said. Missouri football coach Eliah Drinkwitz has been working in the south end zone, meeting with offensive and defensive coaches at different times so it doesn’t get too crowded. When they get to work, Sterk said their temperatures are checked and given a green dot sticker on their chest to signify they’re safe for the day.
It’s a positive step for a return to sports even though classes are all being taught online during the summer term. Despite that, Sterk said as long as campus is operational, they can have sporting events. That means even without students, as long as campus is open, there’s a path to sports.
“It’s not all or none,” Sterk said. “If a school is online, it doesn’t necessarily prevent athletic events from happening. If a campus is operational, then we can possibly have athletic events.”
How the budget looks
With the financial fallout of the pandemic, Mizzou will be facing tough budgetary issues for the foreseeable future. It’s a tough break for an athletic department that has been in the red the past three fiscal years.
As of now, Sterk said there are no plans for any furloughs or layoffs. Sterk and five coaches, including Drinkwitz and MU basketball coach Cuonzo Martin, have already taken temporary 10% pay cuts to help the department’s bottom line.
“We’ll be taking some kind of action to help us with our budget,” Sterk said. “Maybe there will be a 20% downturn on tickets and donations. We need to make adjustments on the budget. We’re still a ways away from that.”
While some schools are discontinuing non-revenue sports amid difficult financial decisions, Sterk said Mizzou doesn’t have any such plans as of now.
“As of right now, no sports on the block, if you will,” Sterk said. “You’re going to be seeing that across the country over the next weeks and months. As of right now, we don’t have that.”
Any fans?
When it comes to a football season, Sterk said it’s financially feasible to have games with limited capacities. But he said he wasn’t sure how many supporters will be allowed inside the stadium.
There are question marks about specifics, but Sterk said not to expect to see a full football stadium with tens of thousands of fans in the near future.
“What we have to do is make people feel comfortable by the fall, of going to an event as best we can,” Sterk said. “Does that mean 10%, 20%, 50% of the facility? I don’t know. Full one right now, without a vaccine, probably is nothing you’ll see.”
And when it comes to who gets in if crowds are limited … Sterk said he’d rather not think about that until he has to.
“I’ll kick that can as far as I can until July 15,” Sterk said. “We would have to be ready for scenarios like that.”
Border War
If there is some positive news mid-pandemic, MU and KU revived the Border War rivalry, with the first football game set for 2025 at Columbia. The basketball rivalry renews on Dec. 12 at KC’s Sprint Center as part of a six-game series.
The final result comes after Sterk worked diligently in negotiations with KU athletic director Jeff Long. Sterk said they initially spoke on resuming football. But with the nature of the sport’s scheduling done years in advance, it made sense to finish the basketball series first, which they announced last October.
“It evolved,” Sterk said. “We knew we were going to get football done. … We like that to be able to, obviously, close power five game that has interest, just like the Illinois series. We wanted to have that.”