--Last three weeks has been crazy and there were a lot of unanswered questions. You'd like to go in prepared but it's impossible to prepare for something like this. The last three weeks Lyons has been off-line trying to handle things not only at West Virginia but in the Big 12 and on the NCAA committees where he serves to help provide some structure. The pandemic policy is now in place to find structure for students off campus with what can and can't be done during that time period as well as how long it will last. Right now that is May 31 but it can be shifted if it needs to. Virtual meetings, the film sessions and things like that could happen while some things like video conditioning aren't allowed.
--It's given back to the institution to grant the extra year and look at the financial aid opportunities. You have returning seniors that would come back and incoming student athletes. The right decision was made to grant that season back to the seniors and some will take advantage, some won't. The financial aid limits, the scholarships for the seniors only won't count toward those limits for only one year. For one year you'll be allowed to count those up and will be worked through institution by institution.
--A lot of continued discussion on campus with what that would look like moving forward with construction projects. They are continuing to work but they hope there won't be delays. They are reviewing other prospects but the seating in the Coliseum, video boards and Puskar Center are all moving forward with the hope that they'll have those completed on the deadline dates especially with football in early August.
--The NCAA distribution for the conference will be around $10-11 million short from what was expected. The ticket sales in the Big 12 which were $6.6 million not having the tournament in Kansas City, they are looking at around $2.2 million revenue that won't be coming in. There are some reserves and how that distribution can be looked at but there are some savings with the spring sports by not competing or traveling. All of that taken into account there will be a revenue loss but it's hard to know what it looks like in the future.
--Lyons is optimistic they will be playing football in September and things will start in August but right now it's hard to predict what they could look like when it comes to fan bases and ticket sales. There are a number of factors to look at and what they have at this point.
--Projections based on the medical experts they haven't gotten to the point of making any concrete plans. The expectation is normal life would be back by mid-to-late summer. In recent calls, the pandemic will spike in the next two to three weeks but if you use the approach in other countries it was three months before they got back to normal. Once it starts to flatten out, you hope by late summer you're ready to play football but when the student athletes are ready to return you have to make sure the pre-season schedule looks a little bit different to get them ready. But right now there is a lot of uncertainty and you'd hope that athletics align with academics when it comes to things starting back up at the same time.
--There are athletic directors that certainly share the same optimism as Lyons on football starting on time. Medical professionals are working around the clock but of course there are others on the opposite side of the fence that doesn't believe it will happen. It's hard to project what five months from now is going to look like but right now they are making decisions based on the medical advice. They are looking and discussing the ability for student athletes to come back in June and some practices such as OTAs in June to have some equal footing. Then you plan out if that doesn't happen what is the next plan? They will have a better story in two weeks and then a month will tell an even better story but they don't want to rush judgement on what could happen too early.
--West Virginia has not made decisions on their discretion on how they'll handle the seniors coming back in golf, track, rowing and a few baseball players. It's a matter of them sitting down with the student athletes and seeing where they stand. Those conversations will start now and then figure out how they plan to move forward. They're at the front end of that and make decisions on what that looks like in the coming weeks.
--Lyons said he doesn't have the answer of what it would look like to play without fans or season tickets. There are revenue with tickets but also with the television partners as well. But to answer that question you'd have to be able to see into the future to see what that looks like from a public perspective at that time. The biggest revenue stream is from football and they have to try to be flexible in approach to see what will work.
--On the Pitt basketball series, Lyons would love to have to see it continued. Pitt is on the same page and they will be in discussions about extending it once some of the issues with the pandemic blows over.
--Lyons said that they are looking at $500,000 additional expense if all of those student athletes return for their senior years. The financial picture people are continuing to look at it and there are just so many unknowns with how it will operate.
--Academic advisers have unlimited contact with students. This is new with how it will work.
--What does it look like when it comes back to normal? That is the question that is hard to answer.
--Asked about football ticket refunds and donations and they won't begin to discuss that until May at the earliest because Lyons is optimistic based on the information that he had available right now from the medical experts that they will be playing football in August.
--West Virginia continues to send out information to athletes to flatten the curve and follow the rules that are going to slow the spread. If you come from an area that is a hot spot then they are self-quarantined for 14-days. Players returning must follow that even if they have zero symptoms.
--It's given back to the institution to grant the extra year and look at the financial aid opportunities. You have returning seniors that would come back and incoming student athletes. The right decision was made to grant that season back to the seniors and some will take advantage, some won't. The financial aid limits, the scholarships for the seniors only won't count toward those limits for only one year. For one year you'll be allowed to count those up and will be worked through institution by institution.
--A lot of continued discussion on campus with what that would look like moving forward with construction projects. They are continuing to work but they hope there won't be delays. They are reviewing other prospects but the seating in the Coliseum, video boards and Puskar Center are all moving forward with the hope that they'll have those completed on the deadline dates especially with football in early August.
--The NCAA distribution for the conference will be around $10-11 million short from what was expected. The ticket sales in the Big 12 which were $6.6 million not having the tournament in Kansas City, they are looking at around $2.2 million revenue that won't be coming in. There are some reserves and how that distribution can be looked at but there are some savings with the spring sports by not competing or traveling. All of that taken into account there will be a revenue loss but it's hard to know what it looks like in the future.
--Lyons is optimistic they will be playing football in September and things will start in August but right now it's hard to predict what they could look like when it comes to fan bases and ticket sales. There are a number of factors to look at and what they have at this point.
--Projections based on the medical experts they haven't gotten to the point of making any concrete plans. The expectation is normal life would be back by mid-to-late summer. In recent calls, the pandemic will spike in the next two to three weeks but if you use the approach in other countries it was three months before they got back to normal. Once it starts to flatten out, you hope by late summer you're ready to play football but when the student athletes are ready to return you have to make sure the pre-season schedule looks a little bit different to get them ready. But right now there is a lot of uncertainty and you'd hope that athletics align with academics when it comes to things starting back up at the same time.
--There are athletic directors that certainly share the same optimism as Lyons on football starting on time. Medical professionals are working around the clock but of course there are others on the opposite side of the fence that doesn't believe it will happen. It's hard to project what five months from now is going to look like but right now they are making decisions based on the medical advice. They are looking and discussing the ability for student athletes to come back in June and some practices such as OTAs in June to have some equal footing. Then you plan out if that doesn't happen what is the next plan? They will have a better story in two weeks and then a month will tell an even better story but they don't want to rush judgement on what could happen too early.
--West Virginia has not made decisions on their discretion on how they'll handle the seniors coming back in golf, track, rowing and a few baseball players. It's a matter of them sitting down with the student athletes and seeing where they stand. Those conversations will start now and then figure out how they plan to move forward. They're at the front end of that and make decisions on what that looks like in the coming weeks.
--Lyons said he doesn't have the answer of what it would look like to play without fans or season tickets. There are revenue with tickets but also with the television partners as well. But to answer that question you'd have to be able to see into the future to see what that looks like from a public perspective at that time. The biggest revenue stream is from football and they have to try to be flexible in approach to see what will work.
--On the Pitt basketball series, Lyons would love to have to see it continued. Pitt is on the same page and they will be in discussions about extending it once some of the issues with the pandemic blows over.
--Lyons said that they are looking at $500,000 additional expense if all of those student athletes return for their senior years. The financial picture people are continuing to look at it and there are just so many unknowns with how it will operate.
--Academic advisers have unlimited contact with students. This is new with how it will work.
--What does it look like when it comes back to normal? That is the question that is hard to answer.
--Asked about football ticket refunds and donations and they won't begin to discuss that until May at the earliest because Lyons is optimistic based on the information that he had available right now from the medical experts that they will be playing football in August.
--West Virginia continues to send out information to athletes to flatten the curve and follow the rules that are going to slow the spread. If you come from an area that is a hot spot then they are self-quarantined for 14-days. Players returning must follow that even if they have zero symptoms.