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"I believe that it's in everyone's best interest, when it's safe and right to do so, that we play a football season," she said. "We've already talked about the emotional and morale piece for commu- nities across this country, and then cer- tainly there's a revenue and a financial piece to it. If our return fits into a time- frame where we have to do it in a non- traditional part of the year, I think we'll all look to try to make that happen." Barbour isn't alone. In an interview in Sports Business Daily, longtime ESPN commentator Chris Fowler said that he sees momentum building behind an ef- fort to push the season back to the spring semester, starting in February and ending in May. There would be a number of logistical hurdles, including the short turnaround between a season that ends in the late spring and a fall 2021 season that begins in September. But, he said, "reasonable people feel like it might be the most prudent course of action." Barbour has said that safety is the paramount concern that will guide Penn State's approach to any decisions about when to restart sports activities. But she's mindful of the importance of the university as an economic wellspring for the State College area and is eager not just for sports to resume but all of cam- pus life. "There's a symbiosis here between the university and the community in ways that go way beyond athletics," she said. "Certainly, athletics is a big part of it, and football is a big part of that. But it's truly a partnership [built] around close to 40,000 students when we're fully populated. Those students are a big part of this community. That's just another reason why we're going to do absolutely everything we can to have a football season in some way, shape or form. I know I sound like a broken record, but it's really, really important that it's clear where we're taking our advice from, which is from the experts and from a medical perspective. When it's time to do so, when it's safe to do so, we're going to do it, and we're going to do it in a big way." ■ t times, tracking my emotional swings through the course of the ongoing COVID-19 pan- demic has been more difficult than following the news itself. By its very nature, the coronavirus has made news difficult to follow. Surely, that's in part due to the tragedy unfolding in every corner of the globe, but it's also tied to the sheer uncer- tainty of circumstances that are evolv- ing in real time. How long will this last? Can a vaccine solve this? How many people will be impacted? When will life return to normal? The answers to many of these ques- tions are being directly impacted by the choices we make now. Ironically, at a time when we're all being asked to isolate ourselves into our own separate worlds, our success or failure in de- feating this virus has created an un- precedented global community. In our community, one that is tied to and deeply invested in Penn State football, the bottom-line question we're asking is this: Will there be a season this year? Maybe I'm an optimist, or just pick- ing out clues where none exist, but early indications appear positive. We're just all going to need to get com- fortable with the notion that the tim- ing might not, and probably won't, be as presently scheduled. Furthermore, the format and elements of the season might look drastically different, and in some circumstances unrecognizable, from what we've understood college football to be. But if we're listening to the power brokers of the sport, both at Penn State and beyond, they're largely de- livering a consistent message. The foundational element to any re- sumption of football activities will be an emphasis on the health and safety of the student-athletes, coaches and personnel that drive the game. If they can't be kept safe from this outbreak, everything else is a nonstarter. But if and when that standard is sat- isfied thoroughly, be it three months from now or nine, there will be some form of a college football season. "I believe it's in everyone's best in- terest, when it's safe and right to do so, that we play a football season," Penn State athletic director Sandy Barbour said. Barbour noted the importance of the game in boosting morale through- out the country, but she didn't shy away from acknowledging the second, equally significant "revenue and fi- nancial piece" of the equation. While the timing and format will be debated in the months to come, get- ting the economic locomotive of all NCAA sports on the tracks is of para- mount importance. Without a more definitive timeline in place, Penn State and its fellow Big Ten institutions have readied themselves for a wide variety of possible return timelines, all with an eye on producing some level of competition in the next academic year. With both Barbour and strength coach Dwight Galt reporting that a 60-day runway is likely needed to have players back on campus and par- ticipating in "normal" team training and activities, the math doesn't add up for a fall season. Penn State left a crack in the window when it announced that campus would remain closed through the first summer session, putting all of its courses online for remote learning, while leaving open the possibility of in-person instruction in June's second summer session. But RETURN GAME Amid dark days, there's still a ray of hope for college football JUDGMENT CALL A

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