BOULDER — The Pac-12 landscape changed dramatically Thursday with an announcement that the conference will soon have the ability to implement daily, rapid-result Covid-19 testing for all student-athletes across all of its campuses in all close-contact sports.
That could mean a significant acceleration of the conference's return to competition plans, weeks ahead of the current Jan. 1 start date.
An agreement with the Quidel Corporation, which produces Sofia 2 testing machines, will place the testing machines in every Pac-12 athletic department by the end of September.
Commissioner Larry Scott called the agreement a "game changer" for a conference that just more than three weeks ago postponed all fall sports — and men's and women's basketball — until at least Jan. 1.
Now, Scott said, the availability of daily, highly accurate, rapid-result testing "could provide a pathway" to starting the basketball season in late November or early December, and could also open the door for an earlier start to the football season.
"This is a major step toward the safe resumption of Pac-12 sport competitions," Scott said. "The availability of a reliable test that can be administered daily, with almost immediate results, addresses one of the key concerns that was expressed by our medical advisory committee, as well as by student-athletes, coaches and others."
Scott made the announcement in an afternoon webinar, where he was joined by Quidel president and CEO Douglas Bryant, Dr. Kimberly Harmon of the University of Washington and Dr. Doug Aukerman of Oregon State.
"This is an opportunity to get our athletes back to activity in a careful and controlled manner while monitoring outcomes," Harmon said. "It is win-win for athletics and to better our understanding of strategies to prevent spread during sports."
Scott said when the Pac-12 reached its decision in mid-August to postpone fall sports, part of the decision was based on the belief that any kind of reliable, rapid-result testing would not be available on a conference-wide basis until at least late November.
But in the time since the decision, Quidel has doubled its manufacturing output, meaning the company will be able to provide enough of the testing machines to meet the needs of every Pac-12 school by the end of September. The machines will deliver an accurate result in approximately 15 minutes. Bryant said the machines are already being used by several universities who are currently set to play football this fall, but he could not be more specific because of confidentiality agreements.
The Pac-12, however, is the first conference to reach an agreement for every school in the league.
Now, Scott said, the conference is in position to revisit and reconsider its mid-August decision because the availability of rapid-result testing mitigates many of the concerns the Pac-12 CEOs had in August when they voted unanimously to postpone fall sports.
"When we made our decision to not start competition before Jan. 1 it was based on the information in front of us, leading with what public health authorities will allow us to do and not having access to the kind of testing we will now have access to by the end of the month," Scott said. "We have to constantly re-evaluate in light of these circumstances. We have scenario planning groups, made up of our coaches, athletic directors and other football administrators. They'll be relooking at all of these scenarios — but again, some of it is still outside our control."
Indeed, one major obstacle still in place for the Pac-12 are current restrictions on on-campus gatherings and workouts in California and Oregon, where half of the Pac-12 schools reside.
"We still have six universities — our four California schools (UCLA, USC, Stanford and Cal) and two Oregon schools (Oregon and Oregon State) — that don't have the requisite approvals from public health authorities to engage in contact practice at the moment," Scott said. "Even if we were ready to start tomorrow, we couldn't start what we think of as training camp."
Still, Scott seemed especially optimistic that Pac-12 schools could begin the basketball season along with the rest of the nation. While the original start date for basketball was Nov. 8, the NCAA is currently considering a proposal that would push the start date back to Nov. 25 or even perhaps Dec. 4.
Either would allow the Pac-12 schools time to begin practice and prepare for the season, and it would also allow for more than just a shortened conference-only slate. Scott said the conference will no doubt be prepared to make a change in the Jan. 1 restart plans if circumstances allow.
"This is a major new development," Scott said. "We will wait to see what the NCAA decides in terms of hopefully a later start date that allows us to participate. We always said we will constantly revisit and we will constantly track the data and the science. As circumstances change, I think we're going to stay nimble and regularly convene with our athletic directors, with our university presidents and chancellors, and evaluate. I'm hopeful today's news and what's coming from the NCAA will provide us with a pathway to start before Jan. 1."
As for football, the circumstances are a little more complicated. Currently, the Pac-12 and Big Ten have postponed their fall seasons and at least preliminarily begun plans for spring seasons. That, though, could also change with the acquisition of the rapid-testing capability.
"We have scenario planning groups, made up of our coaches, athletic directors and other football administrators," Scott said. "They'll be relooking at all of these scenarios — but again, some of it is still outside our control in terms of public health authorities being comfortable with contact required for football practice and training camp … What we can't predict is when we're going to get the approvals we need from government authorities. (But) this testing piece is a big step forward. I'm hopeful this does open up possibilities to start competition before Jan, 1. But that decision has not been taken yet."
Scott also said the Pac-12 is working with the Big Ten to align their seasons in a manner that would see them start and finish at the same time, and thus allow for teams from each conference to meet in bowl games. The Rose Bowl, of course, has a longstanding relationship with the champion of each conference, and he and Big Ten commissioner Kevin Warren are discussing scheduling plans.
"We have regular and great communication with my peers in the A5 (Power Five) conferences," Scott said. "Kevin and I are speaking frequently outside of that. We have a working group set up to look at post-Jan. 1 scheduling scenarios. Obviously it's uncharted territory … But I've said to Kevin, a high priority for the Pac-12 would be trying to align our seasons in a way that not only for our student athletes could we have a Pac-12 championship game and champion, but it would be awesome to have some of the postseason opportunities the Pac-12 and Big Ten have enjoyed with each other over many, many decades."
Scott stressed that the agreement with Quidel will provide regular data from thousands of tests, which the company and Pac-12 schools will be able to utilize in their ongoing Covid-19 research.
"Our partnership with Quidel, the industry leader in point-of-care antigen testing, will provide crucial research data that will benefit our members' communities as well as the entire country," Scott said. That includes data that will help the entire nation in how citizens return to work, school and "normal" activity.
While Scott didn't specifically address other fall sports, the testing capability would ostensibly be a boost for the other postponed sports. At CU, that would include cross country, soccer and volleyball.
There, of course, plenty of details still to be worked out. Scott said he has yet to discuss with coaches and athletic directors how to handle possible games with non-conference opponents that may not have the same testing procedures and protocol available. But he also stressed that Pac-12 schools would not compromise their standards under any circumstances.
And, he added, he and leadership from member schools are not in favor of a "bubble" — which the NBA has been using — for basketball.
"That doesn't resonate with our leadership," he said.
But, he did say the conference is working on a number of scenarios, and that could involve several teams in one place for a weekend with multiple games played by each school.
"Some of those ideas would be smart to pursue," he said.
Contact: Neill.Woelk@Colorado.edu
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Pac-12 Reaches Testing Agreement That Could Accelerate Return To Competition Dates - University of Colorado Athletics - CUBuffs.com
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