The Aggie baseball and softball complexes will begin the sale of beer, wine and seltzer during the 2020 seasons." />
Photo by Kaylee Cogbill
The Aggie baseball and softball complexes will begin the sale of beer, wine and seltzer during the 2020 seasons.
Seven weeks away from the one-year anniversary of the shutdown of college athletics due to COVID-19, the sports world continues to adjust to the pandemic.
In a Jan. 19 appearance on Texas A&M Athletics’ Aggie Town Hall, Director of Athletics Ross Bjork gave some updates as the Aggies head into the spring under the new COVID-19 protocols.
“In some ways it has gone by so fast, in other ways it’s been this slow churn of protocols, being as safe as possible, moving things, shutting down,” Bjork said. “Just a lot of emotion, and I know people are tired, I know there’s some weariness that we have among staff, coaches, athletes.”
As Bjork reflected on the changes over the past year, he said one constant has been prioritizing the safety of A&M’s athletes while also finding a way for them to play. These precautions included testing out the A&M engineering department’s new COVID-19 breathalyzer test over the winter break.
“We always said, if we’re allowed to, if it’s safe, it’s our obligation to move forward and put our athletes in the safest environment possible,” Bjork said. “We’ve never backed away from that. Protocols are in place, safety parameters are in place.”
Despite the advances in testing methods and the release of COVID-19 vaccines, these improvements don’t mean everything has been running as smoothly as scheduled.
Less than an hour before the town hall, which was streamed live on Facebook, A&M men’s basketball announced its Jan. 20 matchup at Vanderbilt was postponed due to COVID-19 issues within the Commodores’ program.
Though the 2020 football season concluded almost two weeks ago, Bjork said fans should expect the release of the 2021 schedule within the next few weeks.
As one of the conference’s 14 athletic directors, Bjork said he sees a model of the schedule two years in advance, and can give his input on the order of games, though the amount of say he has is minimal as any alteration “has to fit the puzzle.”
“There’s 14 teams. We’re not the only one that can say, ‘Hey, you’ve got to move that Alabama game to Nov. 13,’” Bjork said. “That has a domino effect on other games.”
Football wasn’t the only sports schedule Bjork discussed during the town hall, as the SEC has released the full schedule for baseball and the conference schedule for softball. Bjork said the nonconference schedule for softball should be released soon.
Bjork said while nothing is finalized yet, he expects capacity at Blue Bell Park will be set at 25 to 30 percent for the 2021 season, and the number of season ticket holders will “dictate final capacity.”
“We’re fortunate that we’re able to host fans in a safe-as-possible environment,” Bjork said.
The full conference schedules for baseball and softball are below:
2021 A&M baseball full scheduleFeb. 19-21 vs. XavierFeb. 23-24 vs. Abilene ChristianFeb. 26-28 @ Round Rock ClassicMarch 2 vs. Houston BaptistMarch 3 vs. Incarnate WordMarch 5-7 vs. New Mexico StateMarch 9 vs. A&M-Corpus ChristiMarch 12-14 vs. SamfordMarch 16 @ HoustonMarch 19-21 @ FloridaMarch 23 vs. RiceMarch 26-28 vs. GeorgiaMarch 30 vs. TexasApril 1-3 @ MissouriApril 6 @ Sam Houston StateApril 9-11 vs. AlabamaApril 13 @ Texas StateApril 16-18 @ ArkansasApril 20 vs. Texas SouthernApril 23-25 vs. TennesseeApril 27 vs. Texas StateApril 30-May 2 @ Mississippi StateMay 4 @ UT ArlingtonMay 7-9 vs. Ole MissMay 14-16 @ AuburnMay 20-22 vs. LSUMay 25-30 SEC Tournament2021 A&M softball conference scheduleFeb. 19-21 Texas A&M InvitationalMarch 5-7 Reveille ClassicMarch 19-21 @ LSUMarch 26-28 vs. South CarolinaApril 1-3 @ AlabamaApril 9-11 vs. AuburnApril 16-18 vs. Ole MissApril 23-25 @ Mississippi StateApril 30-May 2 vs. KentuckyMay 7-9 @ FloridaMay 12-15 SEC Tournament