HOUSTON — The American Athletic Conference is “planning for the unknown” in the event the upcoming football season is affected by the coronavirus pandemic.

AAC commissioner Mike Aresco said Monday the league remains hopeful the football season will be played as scheduled but admits the uncertainty over the coronavirus — which has brought sports and businesses across the globe to a standstill — has led to behind-the-scenes discussions of “worst-case” scenarios that include everything from an abbreviated schedule to cancellation of the entire season.

“What’s going to happen with football season? No one knows right now,” Aresco said. “Because we have no idea whether we are talking postponement or truncated season, you have to plan for worst case. But certainly, everyone hopes it doesn’t come to that.”

With April about to begin, Aresco said “it’s pointless for me to speculate” on how the COVID-19 crisis could affect the football season.

“We still have time,” he said. “We’re working on scenarios and what kind of deadlines we might be facing.”

Many around college football believe a decision on an initial timeline for the football season would need to come by June. Aresco said schools would likely need six to eight weeks to prepare for the season and avoid injury risks to student-athletes. Some schools, including the University of Houston, had spring practice canceled in mid-March, while others had yet to begin.

More Information AAC headquarters move delayed The relocation of the American Athletic Conference’s offices to suburban Dallas may hit a snag due to the coronavirus pandemic. Due to travel restrictions and uncertainty regarding COVID-19, commissioner Mike Aresco said Monday the league’s move from Providence, R.I., to Las Colinas planned for this summer could be delayed. “Right now, it’s all uncertain,” Aresco said. Aresco said he expected to get an update later Monday on where construction stands on the office space that will serve as the AAC’s headquarters. “We were planning to take all our furniture and get everything out (of the Providence office) by the middle of June,” Aresco said. “If we needed to, and let’s say our space was not ready, we could have people work remotely if necessary and put our furniture in a warehouse. Of course, right now you don’t know if you can even move. It’s uncertain at the moment.” Aresco said there is some flexibility to negotiate an extension to the AAC’s current lease in Providence. Joseph Duarte

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Under normal circumstances, schools would report for preseason camp in early August. With guidance from the NCAA and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Aresco said talks with league athletic directors focus on contingency plans for when schools could begin practice, what a conference schedule might look like and how to deal with non-conference games in case uncertainty over the coronavirus lingers into the fall.

“What we’re trying to do now is anticipate all the different kinds of issues that might arise,” Aresco said. “While you don’t have answers for everything, you at least have scenarios and at least have some idea how you might attack these things. And that, I think, is really important. We all know we are in unchartered territory and want to be as prepared as we can be.”

Aresco’s comments echoed those of Big 12 commissioner Bob Bowlsby and others recently. Bowlsby said games played without fans or an abbreviated or canceled football season were all on the table in his conference because epidemiologists have not yet been able to rule out the potential of a COVID-19 “reoccurrence.”

“It’s a whole new ballgame if we find ourselves not playing football,” Bowlsby said. “It affects everything we do.”

In a nearly two-minute video posted on social media this past weekend, UH coach Dana Holgorsen remained optimistic football will be played in 2020.

“This sports hiatus that we’re going through is something like we’ve never seen before,” Holgorsen said. “I’m optimistic it’s going to end at some point here, especially going into the fall of 2020. We need football to bring everybody back together. I’m optimistic that’s going to happen.”

joseph.duarte@chron.com

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