Utah AD Mark Harlan Says Date Of June 1 Is Goal To ‘Reopen Our Athletic Facilities’

SALT LAKE CITY, Utah – Utah athletic director Mark Harlan said that June 1 “is really looking like the opportunity” when the University of Utah could reopen athletic facilities.

Harlan discussed the timeline to get student-athletes back on campus for volunteer workouts with former Utah Governor Mike Leavitt during the “Schools & Sports – When and How Do Large Groups Return?” forum broadcast via the U of U Executive Education YouTube account on Friday, May 15.

“We are approaching a really exciting time. June 1 for the NCAA is really looking like the opportunity where we could reopen our athletic facilities,” Harland said. “We’ve been working very hard on that. So once we get the students back and they start working on a volunteer basis with our strength coaches, I think we’ll begin the process, so to speak, of bringing them back.”

Getting student-athletes back on campus for voluntary workouts is a step in the right direction for college football to take place this fall and some Harlan said is the first step in the process.

“The first step in all of that, of course, is getting our student-athletes back on campus,” Harlan said. “Not only at the University of Utah but elsewhere and really trying to figure out how many weeks does a young man need to be prepared to come back for a football game.”

According to Harlan, the current national standard for getting football players ready for a game is “around six weeks.”

“We really are planning in all regards to be able to stage football. We understand not only in the state of Utah but also in this country the place that college football has,” Harlan said. “Passion reigns in that sport and we see that time and time again. We certainly are planning and preparing for that and that is ongoing.”

. @MarkHarlan_AD says a June 1 opening of athletic facilities is looking hopeful.#GoUtes

— KSL Sports (@kslsports) May 15, 2020

In addition to getting Utah’s football players ready for the season, adjustments are being made by the University of Utah to accommodate fans at Rice-Eccles Stadium.

“The one thing that’s really important to me and all the folks working on this is we need to make everyone comfortable when they come into the stadium,” Harlan said. “Anything that we can do to achieve that, we’re looking at.”

Some of the things Utah Athletics is looking at doing for football games include:

• Spacing out the crowd
• Having different entrance times
• “Doing away with the hard ticket” and moving to digital tickets

Harlan said that Utah is “turning over every stone” to focus on safety and the ability to do it “the best possible way.”