The cost of testing effectively and frequently enough will be the driving factor in institutional decision-making
Athletics Veritas is a weekly series aimed at helping higher education executives, faculty, and other stakeholders stay tuned in on trending national issues impacting college athletics, especially NCAA Division I. Athletics Veritas is created by senior DI athletic administrators around the nation.
How Much Could Division I Athletics Departments Spend on COVID Tests?
The range of price points for COVID testing is murky
NCAA rules permit a wide latitude for schools to provide medical care (including COVID testing) to student-athletes
The NCAA has not created universal testing standards, instead deferring to institutions to make local healthcare decisions
The cost of testing effectively and frequently enough will be a driving factor in how institutions attempt to restart athletic activities for its student-athletes
Some NCAA Division II and III schools have already decided to cancel or postpone fall sports, and the Ivy League will announce this week
The range of price points for COVID testing has become its own bank of fog, with the unofficial benchmark seeming to vary from about $80-$100 per test depending on who you ask.
As the Richmond Times-Dispatchreported, if tests were priced at $90 each, the costs for athletics departments could add up quickly: “Conservatively, football athletes, coaches and support staff number 120. Some Power 5 officials have suggested two to three tests per week during the season, which on the low end would cost $21,600 per week. Multiply that by the regular season’s 13 weeks and you get $280,800 -- for football only. Ratchet up testing to three times a week, and the tab becomes $421,200 -- again, for one sport.”
Newer COVID-19 tests that give results more quickly may cost providers more than the early tests. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services announced earlier this spring its intent to reimburse providers up to $100 for certain lab tests that use high-throughput technologies to rapidly diagnose large numbers of COVID cases.
Are NCAA rules standing in the way of providing sufficient and frequent COVID tests to student-athletes? The short answer is no. From an NCAA rules perspective, member institutions are permitted to cover the costs of medical care with great discretion to support the health and well-being of student-athletes. Specifically, an institution, conference or the NCAA may provide medical and related expenses and services to student-athletes.
When it comes to a student-athlete becoming injured or ill (including exhibiting symptoms of COVID), NCAA rules state “[a]n institution shall provide medical care to a student-athlete for an athletically related injury incurred during his or her involvement in intercollegiate athletics for the institution. The period of care for such an injury shall extend at least two years following either graduation or separation from the institution, or until the student-athlete qualifies for coverage under the NCAA Catastrophic Injury Insurance Program, whichever occurs first. Each institution has the discretion to determine the method by which it will provide medical care, the method by which it determines whether an injury is athletically related and any policy deemed necessary for implementing the medical care.”
The NCAA has adopted a hands-off policy when it comes to creating universal testing standards for the entire membership, choosing instead to defer to the institutions themselves. Consequently, a student-athlete parents advocacy group, led by a former NFL player Chris Hinton who has two sons competing for Division I FBS football programs, is leading the charge and calling on the NCAA to create uniform COVID testing standards.
Since a uniform COVID testing standard is unlikely to be implemented by the NCAA, institutions across all three divisions are assessing and developing their own testing plans and protocols. This quickly becomes a funding question. For any institution, including higher-profile FBS institutions with lucrative TV rights money flowing into their coffers, the testing equation equals a lot of money. For non-Power 5 institutions along with Division II or III institutions with smaller athletics budgets, this weekly price tag can be untenable.
As one Division I athletic director noted, even with buying COVID tests in bulk at $65 per test, that price point remains beyond reach of their athletics department budget.
Decisions by most Division I institutions on the prospects of having fall sports seasons may remain in the “wait and see” mode for the month of July. With the 4th of July holiday weekend being its own test with groups convening to celebrate Independence Day, there is keen interest in what the testing data looks like over the next two to three weeks, including any spikes in COVID positives. More will be learned by early August.
Some schools are not waiting until August to decide their fall fate. Some Division III and II colleges have already announced the cancellation of fall sports altogether, citing, in part, the cost barriers to effectively test each fall student-athlete.
One question becomes if and when Division I institutions start announcing the cancelation of their fall sports citing not only health and safety, but also costs. The Ivy League, which was the first to cancel their conference basketball tournament due to COVID outbreak in March, intends to announce this week its decision on fall sports.
One silver lining to making the difficult decision now to cancel, or at least postpone, fall sports is that it gives fall sport student-athletes and coaches clarity on what their late July and August looks like. Some student-athletes, especially international student-athletes who went back home in the spring, are trying to navigate the COVID-influenced travel restrictions that may impact their ability to return to campus later this summer. International students --whether athletes or not --are projected to return in fewer numbers this coming academic year. Decisions on fall sports made in July also bring clarity, albeit difficult, to continuing furloughs that may need to be extended by an athletics department under the increased financial strain.
For Division I athletics and namely college football, July could be the month where dominos start to fall. If one Division I conference (like the Ivy) or specific institutions decide not to play any sports this fall, the causal-effect begins with schedules being contracted for other the institutions still hoping to play.
And for any school forging ahead to play sports this fall -- when it comes to the affordability and predictability of COVID testing for your student-athletes -- caveat emptor.
Athletics Veritas is presented for information purposes only and should not be considered advice or counsel on NCAA compliance matters. For guidance on NCAA rules and processes, always consult your university’s athletics compliance office, conference office, and/or the NCAA.
