This week, NCAA president Mark Emmert said he can’t imagine schools being able to have sports this fall if campuses are doing online-only classes.

What does that mean for football? Well, according to ESPN analyst Jay Bilas, it doesn’t mean a whole lot coming from Emmert.

On “SportsCenter” on Sunday morning, Bilas said the NCAA is powerless to stop conferences from deciding to play football (via 247Sports):

“You have to remember, the NCAA office in Indianapolis has no say over football,” Bilas said. “And the SEC or the B1G, if they feel like they are safe enough to play football, they’re playing football and the NCAA is not going to be able to stop it.

“I think the issue will ultimately be what does an open campus mean? You know, can you have some students on campus, but not all? Does it have to be back to normal, whatever normal will be? I think we’re going to see these universities do everything they can — in a safe manner — but if they can play football, they’re playing because it is that much money and everybody knows it.”

Indeed, if colleges can’t get football revenue this season, it could be a disaster for other, non-revenue sports. We’ll see if the major conferences decide to push forward with college football even if Emmert and the NCAA don’t think it should happen.