PAC 12 Commissioner Larry Scott spotlights how college athletes and teams were challenged by the COVID-19 pandemic this season.

Video Transcript

AKIKO FUJITA: College sports all around the country canceled as the coronavirus pandemic began. It spread across the US, the NCAA men's basketball tournament, of course, called off for the first time in history. March Madness, though, finally returns next week when 32 of the country's teams all gather in Indianapolis. For more on what to expect, let's bring in Pac-12 Commissioner Larry Scott.

And Larry, we should point out that Pac-12 tournaments already tipped off today. These events are always so carefully choreographed. But this year, you've got the added concern about how the players get to the arena, how to sanitize the basketballs, how to make sure everything is in place. What's your biggest concern right now as you look ahead to the next few days?

LARRY SCOTT: Yeah, we kicked off today, and health and safety is our primary concern. This tournament that we just started today will go through Saturday. And we've got teams playing for a berth in the NCAA tournament, playing for seeds.

And they've got to avoid any positive tests, which could take them out of the NCAA tournament. So we've now entered the first stage of a bubble. Any players that would test positive at this stage would be ruled out, and teams could be in jeopardy. So we've put in place pretty significant precautions.

There are no fans at our event. There's testing every day, not just for the student athletes and coaches, but any-- a few administrators are allowed with each team. And they're being kept separate from family and friends, who are the only ones that are allowed to be there in the stands.

SEANA SMITH: Larry, certainly, there's been a number of safety measures that have been put in place, like you were just outlining. I'm curious how the players have handled this, how the coaches have handled this, and how, I guess, if you've seen the response vary from school to school.

LARRY SCOTT: It has been a grind. So our student athletes from mid-September have been tested for COVID every single day. They've had to be very cautious in terms of who they're interacting with. Have not been able to travel home for the most part. And that rigor, that discipline, kind of the unprecedented level of restrictions that they've had has taken a toll physically, mentally, psychologically. And one of my big concerns is the mental health of the student athletes and. It's been an extraordinary effort. Some student athletes opted out, but most were really eager to play and to stick with their team.

But I think there is a level of fatigue, exhaustion, wear and tear that's really palpable. We saw it during football season as well at the end of the football season. A lot of teams that had the opportunity to play in Bowl games opted out. They said, OK, if we're competing for the College Football Playoff or a very top Bowl game, that's one thing.

But, you know, we're kind of done. And I think you'll start seeing that as well. Obviously, student athletes have a chance to play for a really big prize for us, the Pac-12 Basketball Championship, this week, and then, you know, if they're one of the 68 teams in the tournament. We expect four or five teams will be in it. That's obviously a great opportunity to be excited for.

But this whole year has really taken a toll while trying to balance, you know, the academic side and stay up with your classes in a Zoom environment. I mean, none of our schools have had in-person classes. And that's really unprecedented too. So it's been tough.

AKIKO FUJITA: Yeah, I mean, basketball, of course, one of dozens of sports in the Pac-12. And we have seen a number of universities within the Pac-12 cancel some key programs. You look at Stanford alone, they canceled about 11 varsity programs. What's your sense right now about how permanent these losses are?

What are you hearing from universities in terms of how they're able to support these programs with the revenue they've already lost?

LARRY SCOTT: Well, this year has been a disaster for the schools financially. We got through most of our football games, not all. We got through 116 of 120 men's basketball games. So a lot of the games were played, and the media revenues from those games has been paid. But we did not have fans at any of our football and basketball games this year.

And that's a significant revenue stream. So the losses for each of our schools, each of our 12 schools in our league, you know, are going to be somewhere in the $50 million range per university this year. And that's not something-- they don't have reserves to make up for that. And that's not something that's sitting there.

So there have been very significant cost cutting measures that have been put in place and economies. But even with that, it's going to take a while to bounce back from that. There's going to be some borrowing to get through that.

The good news is, you know, pro sports and college sports at the highest level is very resilient and do expect that, you know, we'll get all our games in next year and the revenues will bounce back pretty well. You know, we'll see what it's like in terms of fans coming back and what the protocols are and what the psyche of the fan base is in our markets and what the restrictions are, of course. But, you know, this is an industry that will get back to 100%.

It's just a question of when that's the case. You know, long term, I don't really see the economic carnage of this past year impacting our schools' support for sports. There are some other things going on that could present a significant threat or risk to continuing to support a lot of these sports.

On average, our schools support about 20 sports each, and only two of those at most places are revenue generating, football and men's basketball. But the revenue from those sports go to support opportunities for men and women in all kinds of sports. We've got 7,000 student athletes in the Pac-12 across our 12 universities.

And some of the things on the horizon around rule changes that might allow compensation for student athletes, depending on how those rules and those laws ultimately get written could undermine the economics of college sports and the ability for our schools to continue to have broad based opportunities. So we'll see how that goes. I think that's the more long-term existential threat for college sports.

SEANA SMITH: Larry, real quick, we got to go, but we only have about 30 seconds here. I just want to follow up on that point. Because that, of course, has been a big focus here over the last couple years. So you're saying that you do not support the fact you don't think student athletes should be paid at all.

LARRY SCOTT: I certainly don't think they should be paid by the universities. We're very supportive of student athletes being able to get compensated for name, image, and likeness from third parties as long as there's very clear guideposts they're not being paid by the universities as employees. The payments aren't made for recruiting purposes, and that rules can be enforced in this regard.

So, you know, Congress is currently contemplating how to potentially address a federal law which we encourage because there's a bunch of states that have passed laws, and it would really be the Wild West if there's a state by state approach to this. So if there are thoughtful rules written that don't undermine the economics for these universities that are trying to support a lot of different sports, I think there is a way to do that, allow student athletes to still get compensated for name, image, and likeness, and still preserve amateurism.

Those things can go hand in hand and still support all these wonderful opportunities for-- at least in our league, 7,000 male and female student athletes. If the rules are not written well and if revenues that are otherwise going to our athletics department now get funneled legally or illegally to student athletes, that could very much undermine the system and change college sports as we know it and significantly reduce the opportunities that a lot of young men and women have at the moment.

SEANA SMITH: Larry Scott, great to speak with you, commissioner of the Pac-12. Thanks so much for hopping on here and joining us today.