LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is an unabashed college football fan and on Tuesday told Lexington TV station WTVQ that he'd like to see the show go on in, even after the Big Ten and Pac-12 conferences pulled the plug on fall football out of COVID-19 concerns.
McConnell told the station that, "America needs football."
"Both the SEC and ACC, the two (Power Five) conferences that impact Kentucky, are still planning on playing football and they should," he said. "The U of L football coach, for example, was on one of the network morning shows this week pointing out that the players are actually safer in the program than outside because the protocols that have been established and the way that kids are watched on a virtually 24-hour basis. So if you’re interested in the health of the football players, the best thing is to allow them to play, not to shut down like the Big Ten and the Pac-12 did."
Neither the SEC nor ACC has made a move on fall sports. The SEC delayed the start of its season more than any other conference and won't begin football practice for another two weeks. The ACC is scheduled to begin play in the second week of September.
On Monday, Louisville head coach Scott Satterfield expressed frustration at the discussions of postponing football coming so soon on the heals of announcing schedules. He accused conferences of "playing with the minds" of players and not making a plan and sticking to it.
Conferences, including the ACC, have said from the start that plans would change as information about the novel coronavirus becomes available. To date, the ACC and SEC say that their medical experts believe they can play safely.
Satterfield agreed, saying, "We don't know how long we're going to have to live with this virus. I would anticipate for probably the rest of our lives. We're going to have to deal with it, we're going to have to maneuver. We got to do some protocols and some different things that we didn’t in the past. And that's what we're doing. And we're moving forward with it. And so, you know, when we told our players, ‘Man listen, if you don't feel comfortable, if you have an underlying health deal, and our staff, if there's something that you have you don't feel comfortable, don't come here. We’ll still pay for your scholarship. We'll still take care of you. But, if you don't feel good about being here, don't be here - go home.’ And so our guys want to be here. Our guys want to want to coach. Our guys want to play. And so we're maneuvering through it.”
McConnell said he would like to see that perseverance continue.
"I hope the presidents of the SEC schools — Dr. (Eli) Capilouto is the president of the presidents of the SEC — will stand firm against the pressure to eliminate fall sports," McConnell said. "... It’s safer for the football players to play than to not play and we ought to go ahead with it. I hope the ACC and SEC stick with their current plan which is to have football this fall."
Both leagues are expected to discuss the topic further next week.
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