SEC to delay 2020 season, play 10-game conference-only slate
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The Southeastern Conference has voted to play a 10-game conference-only schedule beginning Sept. 26 this season, the league announced Thursday.
In addition to pushing the start of the season back three weeks, the SEC Championship Game at Mercedes Benz Stadium in Atlanta has also been rescheduled from Dec. 5 to Dec. 19.
That creates a 12-week window for Arkansas and the rest of the conference to play 10 games, with each team getting a midseason open date and a Dec. 12 open date. A revised schedule will be announced at a later date after it’s been approved by the SEC’s athletics directors.
“Throughout this process, we have worked collectively and diligently as a conference to pursue the opportunity for student-athletes to compete in their respective sports, while maintaining the health, safety and wellbeing of student-athletes, coaches, staff members and fans,” Arkansas athletics director Hunter Yurachek said in a statement. “Overwhelmingly, our student-athletes at the University of Arkansas have indicated that they want an opportunity to compete.
“The thoughtful plan announced today by the SEC will allow us to push back the start of the football season, while also providing the ultimate flexibility to accommodate a 10-game conference schedule. There are still many details to be worked out, but this is a positive first step in allowing us to work toward a return to competition in a safe and appropriate manner.”
The Razorbacks were previously scheduled to open the season by hosting Nevada on Sept. 5 and then traveling to Notre Dame on Sept. 12. They were also slated to host Charleston Southern (Oct. 3) and ULM (Nov. 21), but none of those games will happen now.
By going to a conference-only schedule that features two open dates, the SEC has maximized its flexibility to make “necessary scheduling adjustments while reacting to developments around the pandemic and continued advice from medical professionals,” according a press release by the conference.
It is similar to scheduling formats announced by the Big Ten and Pac-12 earlier this month, but different from the ACC’s plan revealed Wednesday, which included one non-conference game.
That was presumably in an effort to preserve traditional rivalries like Florida-Florida State, Georgia-Georgia Tech, Kentucky-Louisville and South Carolina-Clemson, while also keeping alive the possibility of Arkansas playing Notre Dame. Those gave have now been canceled by the SEC’s decision.
“We believe these schedule adjustments offer the best opportunity to complete a full season by giving us the ability to adapt to the fluid nature of the virus and the flexibility to adjust schedules as necessary if disruptions occur,” SEC commissioner Greg Sankey said in a statement. “It is regrettable that some of our traditional non-conference rivalries cannot take place in 2020 under this plan, but these are unique, and hopefully temporary, circumstances that call for unconventional measures.”
In a press release, the UA announced that season ticket holders and Razorback Foundation members would be receiving additional information regarding the 2020 season - including plans for approved capacity, game procedures and updated ticket and related contribution details - in the coming weeks.