Boise State athletic department reports 22 COVID-19 cases; Florida State rematch in jeopardy
Boise State announced Thursday that it has tested 533 athletes, coaches and staff members for the coronavirus since the first week of June and the athletic department has produced 22 positive cases.
Of those 22 cases, seven never showed symptoms, according to a university spokesperson.
On June 24, the athletic department reported four positive cases out of at least 230 tests and announced it would provide periodic testing updates.
Boise State athletes began returning to campus during the first week of June. Less than a week later, the university reported multiple athletes had tested positive for the virus but declined to identify them or specify which sport they played.
The NCAA voted June 17 to allow organized team activities to begin on July 13.
Conference-only fall season
The Big Ten announced Thursday that if there is a fall season, it will move to a conference-only schedule for all varsity sports.
More Power 5 conferences are expected to follow in the coming days, according to reports, including the Pac-12 and ACC, which would directly affect Boise State’s 2020 football schedule.
The Broncos are scheduled to host Florida State on Sept. 19 in a rematch of last season’s weather-altered affair in Tallahassee, Florida, which Boise State won thanks to a fourth-quarter comeback.
The ACC has not made its announcement official, but if the game is canceled, lost revenue could be another shot to Boise State’s athletic department budget, which Athletic Director Curt Apsey said was trimmed by about $2.2 million with the disbanding of its baseball and swimming and diving teams.
But the Broncos will save a little money, too.
Florida State was required to pay Boise State $400,000 for the 2019 game by Feb. 15, 2020, according to documents obtained by the Statesman through a public records request. The Broncos are scheduled to pay the Seminoles the same amount for this year’s game, but thanks to a clause in the contract that relieves both teams of any financial obligations if it’s canceled by a natural disaster, such as a pandemic, they may not have to.
Florida State will also be off the hook for a $2 million penalty it would have incurred had it backed out within 12 months of the game.
A spokesperson for the Mountain West said Thursday that no decision has been made about the fall season. Conference athletic directors have been meeting twice a week to discuss all options, but a decision isn’t likely to be made until later this month.
The Broncos are scheduled to open fall camp Aug. 7, but programs across the country have been forced to suspend workouts due to positive COVID-19 tests.
Ohio State and North Carolina halted all activities on Wednesday, and Boise State’s campus just reopened Monday after a string of cases shut it down for two weeks. All athletes, coaches and staff members were retested before returning to campus, according to a university spokesperson.
Boise State’s nonconference schedule also includes home games against Georgia Southern (Sept. 5) and BYU (Nov. 6) and a road game at Marshall (Sept. 25).
ACC Commissioner John Swofford said if the ACC does go with a conference-only schedule, it would likely include Notre Dame — one of the few independent programs in the country.
BYU is also a team without a conference. The Cougars already have Mountain West teams Boise State, San Diego State and Utah State on their 2020 schedule, but there have been no discussions about adding BYU if the season is limited to conference games, according to a Mountain West spokesperson.
Following a script that played out in March as COVID-19 led to the cancellation of all winter championships and the spring season, the Ivy League was the first to make a move on the fall season.
On Wednesday, it canceled the fall season, saying it wouldn’t even consider playing games until Jan. 1, 2021. On March 10, the Ivy League was the first conference in the country to cancel its basketball tournaments because of the virus.
This story was originally published July 9, 2020 at 5:17 PM.
