University of Arizona president grows more optimistic about fall sports

University of Arizona president Dr. Robert Robbins has grown slightly more optimistic about the possibility of college football and other fall sports being played amid coronavirus precautions in 2020.

Still, there is much ground to cover for games to happen in empty stadiums, let alone universities to allow students back on campus.

“I got on the homepage of ESPN, fortunately or unfortunately, on the day of the NFL Draft saying, ‘In my gut, I don’t see people in Arizona Stadium or our stadiums in college football,'” Robbins said in an interview with CNBC on Thursday. “Since then, I’ve gotten more information from our conferences and the NCAA.

“I think there’s a plan to try to play games. It’ll probably be a reduced schedule, it’ll start a little later. I don’t think it’ll be with people in the stands.”

Robbins’ relative hopefulness comes after he said on April 23 that it was hard to see college football happening this year.

“I’m really concerned about whether we’re going to be playing football in the fall,” Robbins told 1030 AM KVOI The Voice, as transcribed by ESPN. “My sense, right now, I just don’t see that happening.”

Before fall sports can ramp up, universities must first allow students back on campus. Robbins said Arizona plans to welcome students back when the fall semester begins in just over 100 days.

The school, which according to Robbins is projected to lose $250 million in revenue through June 2021, is formulating a plan to make it happen.

The University of Arizona wants to test, trace and treat its own students. Those abilities, Robbins said, will be done in-house.

“We early on developed our own test kits because we didn’t want to be at the end of the supply chain,” the president said. “That was for viral testing. And we developed a very-highly accurate antibody test. So we’re offering that antibody test to all 60,000 members of our family: students, faculty, staff.”

He added that the school believes it will be capable of using contact tracing and testing to find coronavirus hot spots, even before people are symptomatic.

While confident, Robbins knows it will be a challenging task to get students back on campus. And for fall sports to resume, other schools would need to be aligned in their plans and capable of keeping their students safe as well.

“We’re watching what’s going on with the PGA Tour, NASCAR, (the) NFL is supposed to make a big announcement, but the first thing that has to happen is the campuses have to invite students back, which we plan to do,” Robbins said.

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