Notre Dame Fighting Irish coach Brian Kelly is threatening not to play in the college football playoffs

Notre Dame manager Brian Kelly said Friday that if the Irish were selected for the college football playoffs, they would consider not playing if families are not allowed to play the semi-finals.

During a Zoom call to preview the ACC championship game, Kelly made strong comments about the need for families to participate in the games.

“I’m not sure we’ll be in the playoffs if the parents can’t be there,” said Kelly. “Why should we play when you can’t have families playing? If you can’t have families playing bowls, why go to a game your families can’t play? What’s the point of playing ? a game in an area of ​​the country where nobody can be present? “

The topic of attending the semi-final locations came to the fore this week after the College Football Playoffs announced they would keep one of the locations at the Rose Bowl as planned.

“Maybe you [CFP] You have to spend a little less time finding out who the top four teams are and figuring out how to get parents to play these games because it is an absolute shame and a scam when parents cannot watch their kids play. ”

Notre Dame trainer Brian Kelly

The problem with this website in particular is that Dr. Los Angeles county director of public health, Barbara Ferrer, told ESPN last month that sporting events, including professional and college football, will “remain viewer-free” after the county announced a home stay contract.

Kelly said he would be in favor of having the Rose Bowl completely relocated.

“Why can’t it be the Rose Bowl in Las Vegas or can it be the Rose Bowl in another city?” Kelly said. “Where’s the flexibility for the student-athlete? I’m just saying that these kids were incredibly flexible, and on the other hand we can’t be flexible? It’s hard to imagine.”

CFP executive director Bill Hancock said earlier this week that they hope the state of California will relax its COVID-19 stadium restrictions and allow players’ families to play the game in Pasadena, California.

“Maybe you [CFP] I have to spend a little less time figuring out who the top four teams are and how to get parents involved in these games because it’s an absolute shame and a scam when parents can’t watch their kids play, “said Kelly Kids have been on campus since June. They haven’t seen their families much at all. They had to fight their way through COVID, some of them had COVID. You can’t be with their families for Christmas and you will tell me we have a playoff and maybe one side can have families and the other cannot? Please.

“Somebody has to wake up in this room and find out, or you can call this the professional league. I’m so sick of this playoff committee talking about places you can’t have parents and their families. It is ridiculous.”

Kelly said the final decision on what to do would come from his players.

“The players drive this,” said Kelly. “I don’t ride it. I agree with your concerns. I’m not the guy out there who made this up because it’s not about my family. It’s about your family, so I’m a voice for our team and they are you are concerned. They are focused on the ACC championship, that is where their focus is, they are not going to talk about these things.

“But if we’re actually chosen to be a part of it, this will be number 1 on their radar, so I’ll have to discuss with our leaders how they feel about it.”

Kelly said Notre Dame sporting director Jack Swarbrick was involved in talks with the CFP management committee and clarified her position.

Kelly explained why the game wasn’t rescheduled for Sunday’s CFP Selection Day (12:00 PM ET, ESPN) from California: “We revere the ashes of tradition. That may be the only reason.

“Nobody’s going to swap this year for next year. Next year is going to be a profitable year. I’m not in this meeting. I can’t imagine what push was used, but they don’t think of that like student athletes, and that’s that Problem. I’m just making it clear that if our team is chosen, the next issue is making sure the student athletes get their families to watch them play. “