SEC presidents and chancellors are scheduled to vote May 22 on whether to allow their schools to open athletic facilities to athletes for voluntary workouts in June.
Multiple SEC athletic administrators publicly discussed the upcoming vote on Thursday. Missouri athletic director Jim Sterk acknowledged it during a video conference with local media, according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. LSU executive deputy athletic director Verge Ausberry also discussed it in a video conference with the Louisiana Economic Task Force on Thursday, according to the Baton Rouge Advocate.
The vote would allow players to access facilities on June 1 or extend the currently imposed suspension on athletic activities further.
SEC commissioner Greg Sankey would not confirm the vote, but he did acknowledge that league members must decide soon. In March, the conference halted all athletics activities through May in response to the coronavirus pandemic.
“At some point prior to May 31, we’re going to have to make a decision,” Sankey told ESPN. “You’ve seen information comes out when decisions are made, as opposed to prospecting about what may or may not happen. I think that those who suggest that this particular date or that particular date miss that we’re meeting regularly with our membership to make decisions.”
“That’s the timeline. … On any occasion we meet, certain decisions can be made.”
The SEC presidents meet weekly on a conference call. The next scheduled call is Friday, followed by another on May 22.
June 1 has been a frequent date of discussion among SEC members. Earlier this month, Arkansas athletic director Hunter Yurachek told the school’s board of trustees that the department was working on a plan to open its weight room and training room on June 1 for voluntary workouts to athletes who lived near the school.
“We’re now experiences states reopening,” Sankey told ESPN. “We knew that could be on different time frames. Our decision making, wherever that may occur, will take those realities into account.”
It’s still too early to determine a timeline or path to supervised summer activities like walk-throughs or practices, a league source told ESPN, but the ability to host voluntary workouts is a key first step for the schools hoping to get to that point.
ESPN’s Heather Dinich contributed to this report.
