NCAA president: 'You can't have college sports' without colleges open
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NCAA president Mark Emmert doesn't foresee college sports returning if schools are operating online only due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Emmert said Friday on NCAA's Twitter channel that Division I commissioners and presidents agree about student-athletes not being on campuses if students aren't present too.
"College athletes are college students, and you can't have college sports if you don't have college (campuses) open and having students on them," Emmert said, according to Steve Berkowitz of USA Today.
Emmert added that schools don't need to be running in their "full normal model," and the health of students will be considered as much as the health of athletes.
"So if a school doesn't reopen, then they're not going to be playing sports. It's really that simple," he said.
The goal is for all 130 football teams across the 41 states to begin the 2020 season at the same time. However, Emmert says there likely won't be a uniform start date.
"I think we should assume that's going to be the case," he said.