SEC Media Days to be held in virtual format in wake of pandemic

The 2020 SEC Media days will not be a live event but rather presented in a virtual format.

If you were looking forward to heading to Atlanta for the 2020 SEC Media Days to do some star-gazing and to rub elbows with some of your favorite players and coaches you’ll need to cancel those reservations.

The SEC announced today that the 2020 SEC Media Days would be in virtual format for the first time ever, continuing the trend of major off-field sporting events being viewed on screens rather than in person.

SEC Football Media Days had been scheduled to be held in Atlanta, July 13-16, at the College Football Hall of Fame and Omni Atlanta Hotel. New dates and times have not yet been announced.

From SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey:

"“Conducting football media days in a virtual format will provide us the opportunity to manage the event in a healthy manner as we continue to be impacted by COVID-19, and will provide flexibility for our programs to adjust their preparation for the 2020 football season according to the preseason calendar that is expected to be expanded due to the cancellation of the spring football season. We look forward to returning to our traditional media days format in 2021.”"

According to the conference’s press release, the virtual Media Days will still feature the commissioner’s annual “State of the SEC” address, as well as sessions with the all 14 head football coaches, and will include select players from each school.

The SEC Network will reportedly be giving blanket coverage to the event, giving fans an even closer look into one of the biggest off-field events of the year in the conference.

SEC Media Days is traditionally a huge live event, pumping a lot of money into the local economy of the host city. Fans, media members from every major outlet and medium, as well as former players flock each year to SEC Media Days which has always marked the unofficial start of the college football calendar in the conference.

The event, which began in 1985,  had traditionally been held in the Birmingham area (most commonly Hoover, Alabama) until 2018, when it was moved to Atlanta, and then back to Hoover again in 2019.