NCAA president: Resumption of play up to health officials, universities

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NCAA president Mark Emmert said Tuesday that start dates for college sports will be left up to state officials and university presidents.

"Normally there's an agreed-upon start date for every sport, every season, but under these circumstances, now that's all been derailed by the pandemic," Emmert said to ESPN's Heather Dinich. "It won't be the conferences that can do that, either. It will be the local and state health officials that say whether or not you can open and play football with fans."

Though some coaches have recently made public appeals for the NCAA to determine when the college football season will start, Emmert explained why a mandate uniform date won't be given.

"These are localized decisions. Local campuses have to decide are we opening up and are we bringing students back to play sports," he said. "The NCAA doesn't mandate that, nor should it. The schools themselves have to make those choices."