NCAA ISSUES GUIDANCE FOR START OF FOOTBALL SEASON

The NCAA has released its latest guidance to help member schools navigate competition during the coronavirus pandemic, and they come as the prospects of actually playing look grim.

The NCAA says college football players should be tested for COVID-19 at least 72 hours before a game, players with high-risk exposures should be quarantined for 14 days and everybody on the sideline should wear a mask.

NCAA President Mark Emmert said that if there is to be college sports in the fall, they need to get a much better handle on the pandemic.

"When we made the extremely difficult decision to cancel last spring's championships, it was because there was simply no way to conduct them safely," Emmert said in a statement. "This document lays out the advice of health care professionals as to how to resume college sports if we can achieve an environment where COVID-19 rates are manageable. Today, sadly, the data point in the wrong direction. If there is to be college sports in the fall, we need to get a much better handle on the pandemic."

According to the release, the recommendations were developed in collaboration with the NCAA COVID-19 Advisory Panel, American Medical Society for Sports Medicine (AMSSM) COVID-19 Working Group, Autonomy-5 Medical Advisory Group, National Medical Association, and NCAA Committee on Competitive Safeguards and Medical Aspects of Sports Prevention and Performance Subcommittee. The guidance also takes into consideration recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.