The American Athletic Conference will require mandatory testing for all football teams at least 72 hours before each game, the league announced Thursday.
Commissioner Mike Aresco said in a statement the league is “committed to meeting or exceeding all guidelines and standards recommended by the NCAA and its member institutions in all fall sports, including football.” Those recommendations are expected to be in line with the American announcement.
The testing protocols announced Thursday will apply throughout the regular and bowl seasons. Overall operational protocols are still being finalized, and so are testing protocols for testing of Olympics sports athletes.
In a recent interview with ESPN.com, Aresco said in addition to maintaining the same testing standard as other Power 5 conferences, member schools had already begun the process of asking nonconference opponents for their testing protocols as well.
“We’re not going to play nonconference opponents who aren’t doing what we’re doing on a minimum level,” Aresco said. “We’re looking at basketball and Olympics sports as well. So yes, there will be minimum standards and they’ll be stringent. You can go above it, but you can’t go below. We’re confident it will be consistent with what the other power conferences are doing.”