MADISON, Wis. – Out of the roughly 250 questions submitted for athletic director Barry Alvarez and deputy athletic director Chris McIntosh to answer, it’s no surprise that the first question selected was likely the biggest one facing the UW Athletic Department.

“When do you expect to make a decision on how game day will look at Camp Randall? What scenarios are you contemplating and what are you relying on helping to inform you decision?”

Unfortunately for football-starved fans, and for the athletic department who would like to nail down concrete answers, the unknown is still too great to say for any certainty.

“It is fluid,” Alvarez said. “It seems like every day there is a different announcement and things we have to adjust to. We have to be getting closer because our kids are going to be reporting for camp in a few weeks. So, I think we’ll have some answers after the Fourth of July. We’re going to have to. A lot of discussions, a lot of areas we’re going to have to make tough decisions on.”

Taking part in a 30-minute video town hall for football season-ticket holders Thursday, Alvarez said he starts his day with a video conference call with the other 13 conference athletic directors and Big Ten commissioner Kevin Warren. While everything imaginable has been discussed as it relates to fall sports, Alvarez said each meeting begins with a medical report.

And while some areas of the country have seen positive cases diminishing, hot spots in Arizona, Florida and Texas have seen case numbers and hospitalizations rise rapidly as reopening plans have gone into effect.

On Thursday, Dr. Anthony Fauci, the Director of the National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said it would “very hard to see how football is able to be played this fall” unless players were isolated from the community and routinely tested. It’s a hard ask of a professional athlete, let alone a college student.

“It’s impossible to sit here on June 18 and predict what the world will look like and what will be appropriate in September and beyond,” McIntosh said. “As frustrating as it has been since the second week of March to be reminded of how we have very little control over the COVID situation, it’s humbling. It’s out of our control. We’ll make those decisions in the interest for the safety of our players and our fans.”

Wisconsin athletes began returning to campus June 8 for COVID-19 testing by doctors and trainers, a process McIntosh described as “meticulous.” UW players started voluntary summer workouts on Monday. This week the NCAA approved voluntary workouts beginning July 12, and teams would transition to the beginning of training camp at the beginning of August.

McIntosh said the length of time would allow the football program to build a preseason calendar that would be in the best interest of the student athlete’s health and performance.

“Our athletes are probably more fired up than they’ve ever been to get back to campus and get working on the season,” McIntosh said.

Not only do questions linger about whether the sport will be played but will fans be allowed in the stands. Wisconsin is scheduled to play six home games, five road games and a neutral site game against Notre Dame in Green Bay (the latter Alvarez said is still scheduled to be played at Lambeau Field, contrary to other reports).

UW has already been proactive in installing hands-free faucets and paper towels in restrooms, revamped the concession stands and made other strides to change with the times. The athletic department also recently announced season tickets were renewed at an 85 percent rate.

“There’s nothing like 80,000 people in this stadium on game-day Saturday,” Alvarez said. “It’s been called one of the greatest game-day atmospheres in the country. That’s our ideal. Where we will be, the number, the percentage, the social distancing, that’s up in the air.”

“The scenarios we could be faced with we’ve never been faced with, and that will require flexibility on all our parts, but the guiding principle here will be that we’ll be fair with our fans,” McIntosh added. “We’ll only put forth options that treat them the way they’ve treated us … It’s likely that we’ll have to put forth some creative solutions that will likely be impossible to make everybody happy. We’ll do the best we can. That’s our vow and pledge to those who have supported us.”