The NCAA is doing what it can to help get the upcoming college football season up and running.

The latest news from the organization is that a new working group has been created for the purposes of examining all options when it comes to the upcoming college football season.

Kevin Noon of Rivals shared the following statement via email from the NCAA announcing the formation of the COVID-19 working group:

To assist the membership with evaluating medical, operational, and potential rules challenges for upcomign seasons of training and competition, the NCAA has established an internal COVID-19 Playing and Practice Seasons Working Group. This cross-funational, representative group will be responsible for identifying, examining and recommending advice, solutions and/or direction to the relevant governance committees to respond to playing and practice issues of a national scope arising from the COVID-19 pandemic.

To beign its work, the group will primarily focus on the sport of football, which will include direct communication with the NCAA Division I Football Oversight Committee and the NCAA Divisions II and III Football Committees, as well as other constituent and governance groups. Emerging strategies likely will be applicable to all fall sports impacted by current events.

The foundation of return to practice and competition is public health. Assuming safety principles are in place, there are many ‘what if’ scenarios that this group will assess, including possible modifications of conditioning and training in the summer and pre-season. Given currently available data and infrastructure for disease management for COVID-19, it is premature to establish a timeline for when these scenarios may be put in place. The group will provide regular updates regarding its progress and related recommendations with the understanding that any policy or legistlative changes must be approved by the membership and the respective divisional governance structures.

The NCAA has also released information regarding the members of the COVID-19 working group.

The good news here is the NCAA will be in communication with the power figures around the sport this time around as several ADs and commissioners took issue publicly with the NCAA’s decision to cancel the NCAA Tournament as well as the baseball and softball seasons without any heads up.

Thanks to the formation of this working group, issues like that will hopefully be avoided when it comes time to make a decision on the upcoming college football season.