UTEP Athletic Director Jim Senter remains hopeful 2020 football season will be played
EL PASO, Texas -- In the era of Covid-19, college athletic directors have had to grapple with the possibility that a college football season may not happen.
For them it's about preparing for the unexpected, and that's exactly what UTEP Athletic Director Jim Senter has had to do.
"Everyday something is new and changing in the world of collegiate athletics," Senter said. "We continue to get news on all kinds of things, so we're closely monitoring all those different activities and decisions other institutions are making."
Those decisions came last week after the Big Ten and Pac-12 conferences announced they would be playing a conference only schedule for all fall sports.
This has UTEP watching closely to see whether the Big 12 Conference decides to follow suit.
The Miners have two games scheduled in 2020 against schools from the Big 12 Conference.
UTEP is scheduled to kickoff their season at home against Texas Tech on Sept. 5, and then a road game at the University of Texas on Sept. 19.
Senter estimates the Texas Tech game could bring in a little more than a million dollars in terms of ticket sales.
The game at the University of Texas would net UTEP $1.4 million in guaranteed money.
Money that could be lost if the Big-12 decides to play a conference only schedule.
"If we were to lose our two non-conference games against the Big 12, in Texas Tech and the University of Texas, that would be very disappointing, but we'll certainly be prepared to make whatever decisions we need to make to move forward," Senter said.
Senter can only take on the obstacles as they come and with so many unanswered questions at this point, he can only hope for the best.
"I am confident. I continue to be one of the more bullish people in our conference talking about we need to move forward," Senter said. "It's all hands on deck. So I am very hopeful, and feel very positive and encouraged. But I'm not being naive in thinking that we won't have some hiccups and some challenges because inevitably I think we will."
