Brian Kelly is ready to do something unprecedented if the NCAA doesn’t make a big change. The head coach of the Notre Dame football team talked to reporters on Friday ahead of the ACC Championship game against Clemson. He said his team may not play in the College Football Playoff if families aren’t allowed to attend the games.
“I’m not sure we’ll play in the playoffs if the parents can’t be there,” Kelly said, as ESPN reported. “Why would we play if you can’t have families at the game? If you can’t have families at bowl games, why would you go to a game where your families can’t be part of it? What’s the sense of playing a game in an area of the country where nobody can be part of it?”
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This stems from the issues with the Rose Bowl, which is one of the sites for the College Football Playoff Semifinal matchups. The game is being played in Los Angeles and L.A. County public health director Dr. Barbara Ferrer told ESPN last month that the sporting event will “remain spectator-free” after the county announced a stay-at-home order last month. Kelly wants to know why can’t the game be moved to another vent.
“Where’s the flexibility for the student-athlete is all I’m saying,” he stated. “The one thing these kids have been is incredibly flexible, and then on the other side we can’t be flexible? It’s hard to imagine.” Before Kelly and Notre Dame can think about the College Football Playoff, they have to beat Clemson on Saturday. The winner will earn their ticket to the CFP, but even if Notre Dame loses, it’s likely the Fighting Irish could still make it due to them having only one loss, according to CBS Sports. If that happens, Notre Dame could play Alabama in the Sugar Bowl in New Orleans. Clemson would likely play Ohio State in the Rose Bowl, and Clemson coach Dabo Swinney also wants the game moved to a place where families can watch.
“It makes no sense to me to put a bunch of kids on a plane and fly them all the way to California to play in an empty stadium,” Swinney said. “That makes zero sense when you have plenty of stadiums where you can have fans and, most importantly, you can have families.
