Sports brought normalcy to 'abnormal world,' SEC chief tells Hoover chamber

The past year has been incredibly challenging for college sports, but by making a concerted effort to press on, student-athletes in the Southeastern Conference were able to celebrate achievements that otherwise would not have been possible, SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey told the Hoover Area Chamber of Commerce on Thursday.

Many late winter and spring sports were canceled about a year ago as the COVID-19 pandemic kicked into gear. But even when some conferences continued stoppages into the fall, SEC officials were determined not to give up hope and to try to make fall sports and seasons that followed a reality, Sankey said in a virtual chamber Zoom meeting.

A resurgence of COVID-19 late in 2020 caused numerous disruptions and led to difficult decisions to cancel some games and competitions, he said.

“Those are hard. Those are difficult experiences. Those are difficult for our student-athletes, for our coaches, for the conference office staff, for athletic directors and for the commissioner, but we’ve been able to continue forward and keep people moving forward together,” Sankey said.

In the spring, there was no mechanism for testing student-athletes, but by the summer, schools were able to start testing and figured out protocols for what to do when students tested positive for COVID-19, Sankey said.

The SEC didn’t know if the fall sports seasons would be successful, but they were determined to try, he said. “Just the commitment to try provided a sense of normalcy in a really abnormal world.”

As a result, the football season continued, a seventh-season Vanderbilt women’s soccer team was able to win a conference championship, Arkansas was able to win a cross-country championship and a female kicker for Vanderbilt was able to kick off and kick extra points in games and get invited to the presidential inauguration, Sankey said.

“None of that happens if we didn’t try,” he said. “While it’s been a challenge, we provided opportunity. We provided attachment. We provided connection to education. We provided connection for fans. That’s why you try. That’s why you work through the hard things.”

Sankey said the conference is looking forward to conference basketball tournaments, despite winter weather challenges, and a 56-game baseball season like there was two years ago.

“I expect disruptions, but I also expect returning outside will be an incredible asset for us,” he said.

While the SEC Baseball Tournament at Hoover Metropolitan Stadium was canceled completely last year, he’s looking forward to bringing it back this year and hearing the ping of the bats at the Hoover Met again, he said.

The SEC appreciates the work that has been done in Hoover to improve the experience, Sankey said. Providing an indoor venue for an SEC Fan Fest with games and activities and a place to seek refuge from rain (in the Finley Center) was enormous, he said.

Also, the ability for teams to have a practice field within walking distance that is geometrically aligned the same as the Hoover Met is unique, and the close proximity of the Hoover RV Park next door is a big plus, he said.

He can’t predict what will happen with the pandemic or the weather, he said. With everything that has happened this past year, “it may snow in May. I’m not going to be surprised,” he said.

But they’re planning to have a good tournament, he said.

Medical experts are advising the SEC that vaccinations for athletes — and others — will be important, so getting those shots in the arms for athletes will be a priority, he said. “Forget the politics. We’re going to have to follow the science here,” he said.

He doesn’t know when the vaccine will be available for student-athletes, but he suspects it might be by April or July, he said.

He’s also glad to hear that the conference no longer will have to worry about quarantining healthy athletes just because of close contact with someone who tested positive, he said. If the conference had not had to worry about close-contact quarantining, there would not have been any disruptions to the football schedule, he said.

The SEC also plans to have its SEC Football Media Days at the Hyatt Regency Birmingham — The Wynfrey Hotel in Hoover on July 19-22, instead of in Nashville as originally planned.

Offering a new experience in Nashville was proving difficult with COVID-19 precautions, so officials decided to bring it back to Hoover this year instead.

They haven’t figured out all the details about how to get fans to social distance in the lobby, but there is still time to work on that with some creative thinking, Sankey said.