Covid-19 forces ACC commissioner John Swofford to prepare for Plans 'B, C and D'

ACC commissioner John Swofford is an optimist — but also a realist — about the immediate future of intercollegiate athletics in the midst of the covid-19 pandemic.

“We have to prepare for a somewhat normal return to play,” he said Thursday in a conference call with reporters, “and we have to prepare for not playing at all.”

He said the latter possibility is “the worst-case scenario,” but he knows this much:

“This is going to be a very different summer than what we’re used to in college athletics,” he said. “A lot of times we leave the spring meeting and you can take a deep breath and relax a while and kick back at the ACC Baseball Tournament and enjoy that. That’s not the case.

“Life is often about Plan B. We are going to have to be ready for Plan C and Plan D.”

One of the problems Swofford and his staff will sweat over in the coming weeks is trying to maintain a level playing field for 14 football-playing schools, plus Notre Dame, that compete in 10 states.

“The hope is that everybody can be on the same page,” he said. “It’s complicated, appropriately so. We’ll just have to wait and see.

“I don’t think some schools not being able to compete, necessarily, keeps the majority of the schools who could compete from competing,” he said, “but it’s premature to answer that question fully at this point.”

He said the concept of playing games while students are not on campus is a “foreign thought to many of us.”

“If campuses are back and generally operating and teaching in whatever way, that certainly improves the likelihood that games are being played, whether it’s with fans or without fans.”

He said covid-19 testing will be “critical for us to get back to play,” and he hopes it can be done equitably at all 15 ACC schools.

“There will be a great deal of comfort if you know the people you are competing against are following the same or very similar protocols in terms of maintaining the health and safety issues. That will be the goal,” he said.

Pitt athletic director Heather Lyke made the point earlier this week that priority would be given to conference games, if the football season needs to be reduced.

Would that priority extend to Notre Dame, which is an independent in football? The Irish are scheduled this season to play six ACC schools, including Pitt at Heinz Field.

“If that was something that was best for the ACC and best for Notre Dame, we would certainly have that conversation with Notre Dame,” Swofford said. “If both parties thought that would be a positive, we would try to work that out.”

The good news from Swofford is that the ACC will send to its members 98% of the revenues it had intended to distribute before the pandemic canceled spring sports and part of the ACC men’s basketball tournament.

“Given the circumstances, we feel pretty good about that,” Swofford said. “We’ve been under budget for 20-some years in a row and that continued this year.”

He said cancellation of spring championships and many in-person meetings helped hold down expenses. Plus, the ACC Network generated more revenue than had been anticipated.

Swofford said ESPN paid the conference the full extent of its contract with the ACC, despite losing seven games of the basketball tournament.