Growing concern rises over fall sports as Harvard moves to remote learning

The Kentucky Wildcats are at risk of losing all fall sports and potentially more as the novel coronavirus continues to threaten the normalcy of life for the foreseeable future. Currently, nothing for the SEC has been cancelled or delayed, but the tell-tale signs are starting to fall in place.

It started Monday when Harvard University announced that they’ll have only online instruction for the fall semester. They also noted that only 40% of the normal capacity will return to campus in any capacity. Undergrad tuition will stay the same at almost $50,000, a concept that doesn’t sit well with many.

Keeping Harvard in mind, the The Athletic reported that the Ivy League will be voting to move all fall sports to the spring in an attempt to salvage the season while also giving more time for a vaccine or treatment options to be put into place. It feels like they’ll err on the side of caution.

There’s also been high-ranking personnel, like the president of the University of Michigan saying, “if there is no on-campus instruction then there won’t be intercollegiate athletics, at least for Michigan,” Mark Schlissel told the Wall Street Journal.

This all spells trouble for Kentucky football, a program that’s been on the rise over the last few seasons, winning the Belk Bowl last year.

While for now, only their football season (and every other fall sport) is up in the air, in the SEC, a conference with the University of Florida, a school located state that has recently seen over five figures of cases daily, the thought of putting players and coaches at such risk mixed with the cost of testing may force universities to pass on sports.

There hope for now, but certainly less than there was just a few weeks ago when it appeared the virus was letting up while America opened back up.