When do collegiate sports conferences need to make decisions about the schedules for fall sports?
Football teams would need to be on campus in July?
If a conference(SEC, ACC, etc.) includes a school that is located in a hard hit region of the country, does the entire conference postpone the start of their season?
How much do the big schools rely on the football season? Is it a huge problem financially if schools lose a portion of the season?
Yes, it’s a huge problem if they lose football, even just a few games. At P5 schools football funds 70+% of the athletic budget and has a significant multiplier effect, bringing in full pay out of state students and alumni donations that boost operating revenues. They are making contingency plans now that include everything from a regular starting date to a season that starts late but stretches into the spring. They probably need to have a plan for fall sports by June, which might be a set of options that can be adjusted based on conditions.
I read some articles yesterday that there was talk of just playing conference games and not the lead up games in Aug and Sept.
They’ve already lost the spring practice season which is important for freshmen and for new coaches. My school has a new head coach and several new assistants. It has of course lost all the seniors but also several juniors to the NFL draft. They are working on line right now, but it is not the same. The players aren’t getting training and PT if they need it. It could be dangerous to just send them out to play in Aug.
To answer the other part of your question, the whole conference must decide together , so let’s say the Big ten wants to open but Rutgers is not allowed to ( most P5 conferences are state schools and at the end of the day the gov has a big say in if they are allowed to open) the B10 would have to chop RU off this year which would not be easy and I doubt the other teams would want to pay RU it’s share of money without playing. SO my understanding is if there is football this year , and I do not expect there to be, it will be conference by conference but each member will be open for sports, kinda of a all for one , one for all thought process per conference.