NORFOLK, Va. - College football fans' fears are becoming a reality.
An increasing number of teams and conferences across the country are canceling their fall sports season, Old Dominion University being one of the latest to make the announcement.
"There's no need to put anyone in any danger or jeopardy, because of an athletic contest, with coronavirus right now," ODU athletic director Dr. Wood Selig said.
Citing student-athlete safety as the main concern, every Monarch team that plays in the fall has had its season canceled.
ODU is the first team in its conference to announce a cancellation and the 14th FBS school.
"When you have a league that's spread from El Paso, to Huntington West Virginia, to Miami, and 14 different institutions in as many time zones as we are in, it's gonna be hard to get one size fits all for everyone." Selig said. "While, right now, the rest of the league is not where we are, nobody is holding it against Old Dominion."
ODU's fall season teams will continue to train as the school hopes they'll be able to move their games to the spring semester. The school will make that announcement at a later date.
Power 5 schools are also starting to feel the pressure as the fall season draws near.
While the Big Ten has yet to make an announcement, it's been reported by the Detroit Free Press that a majority of the schools' presidents are in favor of no fall season. Although, until decision are made official it's business as usual for Power 5 programs, including the ACC.
On Monday, University of Virginia football kicked off its preseason camp. Head coach Bronco Mendenhall is happy with how the program's handled COVID-19 precautions and testing, on Monday the team announcing that there have been no positive test results since their July 24th report.
Athletes will soon start to leave the team's bubble as the new school year approaches, and that situation concerns Mendenhall.
"Once students arrive and our players are asked to go outside of the bubble to class, live outside the bubble, it becomes an entirely different issue the world hasn't solved," Mendenhall said. "Everyone has said health and safety first and foremost, I'm exactly there. I'm exactly there, so I think we've done a great job with our program in the virtual bubble,. That does not mean it's sustainable or lasting so I think there's still a lot of work that needs to be done."
Hopefull that work will be done by the start of the season, which the Cavaliers open on September 11th.
