It seems likely that college football won’t be able to have fans in attendance until there is a treatment for coronavirus.

Though medical experts are seemingly making progress toward that goal, it remains to be seen how long it will take to become a reality.

During an appearance on “The Paul Finebaum Show” on Wednesday, Alabama coach Nick Saban said he’s hopeful things will get better soon (via AL.com):

“I think first of all, I’m very hopeful that we make progress toward whether it’s some kind of a treatment for this flu,” Saban said Wednesday on The Paul Finebaum Show. “Probably a vaccine is further down the road.

“Hopefully if people knew they could be treated for this and there wouldn’t be a risk of fatality, they may be more at ease with what’s happening. Hopefully maybe something like that happens and maybe that accelerates the process of us getting back to sports and being able to have all sports.”

Saban continued to urge patience, saying it’s important to listen to the experts about safety:

“I think we still have to, No. 1, sort of listen to the experts on what is really safe for us to do,” he said. “I know that is a difficult thing when you’re out of work and suffering a little bit, but I think the message is you got to keep trying to do the right things and try to not do the wrong things. Every individual can do the best they can whatever their circumstance is. I know that we try to encourage people to give to 2-1-1, which is a way to help folks. Those who can help, should help. Those who need help should ask for it so others can help them.

“I really think we just got to be patient, stay focused on what’s in front of us, try to do the best we can but follow the rules. Stay home, practice social distancing, wash your hands. I do think they’re making scientific progress here, so maybe we’ll have a breakthrough here in two weeks, a couple weeks, and we can get back to normal.”

We’ll see if Saban is proven correct in the coming weeks. Hopefully, things change and we can have football this fall.