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Interview: Chris Plonsky Discusses Texas’ Plan For Bringing Sports Back

University of Texas women’s Athletic Director Chris Plonsky talks about Texas’ reasons for staying with the Big 12 athletic conference with 10 teams after last week’s departure of Nebraska and Colorado to the PAC-10. (Photo by Robert Daemmrich Photography Inc/Corbis via Getty Images)

Chris Plonsky is the Chief of Staff and Executive Senior Associate Athletics Director at the University of Texas. She previously served as the Women’s AD at Texas, and has worked in college athletics for over 40 years. Below, she spoke with Just Women’s Sports about how UT is working to come back, the importance of reviving college football, and what comes next. 

What is Texas’ plan for reopening? And how has the university handled going virtual? 

We’re hoping to bring back some of our athletes by July 1st. That is the plan, but it could change. We’ve been in online learning for a while now, like most campuses, and it has been a difficult adjustment. Texas is not one of those campuses that had a massive online course offering beforehand. We’re a real big, touchy-feely campus. I hate to say that, but we really are. The humanities and the personal presentation part of teaching here has been at the heart of our institution forever. I think it’s why our education is so good.

Kids are now digital natives so they’ve really managed it well. From a sports perspective, it’s been devastating mentally because it was so sudden. I think kids are more resilient than us old people, but our coaches, they’re almost stir-crazy. We have a coaches’ Zoom meeting once a week and they’re so pent up right now. They want to be able to do more. We hope there’s a way that some sort of normalcy can be approached. But it’s certainly going to be in waves because as we know, even with little baby openings, we’re not ready yet, and we won’t be for a while.

The state is starting to reopen. What are some of the sanitation measures that have been put in place? 

Starting on Monday, there were 30 essential football-related staff employees who were permitted to go back to work. At the front of our North End Zone, we have a screening station, and employees had to pre-submit a questionnaire. Do you have any symptoms? Have you been in contact? There’s temperature-taking, boom, right there done by two sports medicine personnel. You get a wristband if you pass muster, and then you go to your socially distanced area. You have to wear a mask. And it’s very likely when we have student athletes back, they’re going to probably have to wear a mask to work out.

So much of the national conversation revolves around whether football can come back. Could you explain why that sport is so important to the bigger picture? 

The economic driver for those of us in the Power Five conferences is football, and the donations, ticket purchases and television that are tied to football. Right now, we’re slashing budgets just like the other schools you read about. We haven’t spent much at all. We’ve turned off the spigots, except what we need to keep our kids on scholarship and people on payroll and services through remote means.

But we literally have to have that sustaining economic engine of football in some form. Even if it’s football with limited fans, or football on television only — can you imagine the TV ratings? We saw that the WNBA and the NFL virtual draft ratings were some of the highest ever. So we’re hoping and crossing our fingers.

If you sat in our coaches’ Zoom meeting with us Wednesday morning, you would have seen every coach from golf to volleyball to softball to baseball just saying, “We understand it. You guys have to prepare first to see if the football staff and students can return in graduated ways, at whatever time frame the leadership of local agencies, health agencies, and our conference set.” Because if we can keep people healthy, socially distanced with hygiene and sanitation practices in place, and if we can keep the football team healthy in whatever six week period they say they need to train before a season starts, then we will have a blueprint for the other sports. That’s sort of the Texas plan right now, if you will.

So if some type of adjusted football season happens, let’s say no fans, but broadcast money is there, do you guys think that’s enough to support the rest of the programs for the year?

It would be enough if we have some football, but it’s certainly going to be adjusted. Our non-conference schedules are likely to be continually adjusted as we lead towards September. Sports whose competitive seasons are in the spring but do a lot in the fall might have to sacrifice a squeeze in the fall in order to have their spring season. We’re already having schools call us to say they can’t travel to Austin in the fall. As we go forward, there might be a surprise a day.

We can regionalize. We’re lucky, because we’re in Texas, so most of our conference opponents are nearby. The beauty of conferences is you might keep your regular season schedule. It just might need to be compressed to save money. But being in a geographically proximate, busable location, as Texas is, could be really helpful in this COVID environment.

This is where you really find out about your culture and your fabric. You’ve got to plan for every extreme. We’re going to prepare for all possibilities, but we need to stay positive.

How would you describe the overall outlook of your group given the uncertainty surrounding the situation? 

I think there’s a fighter’s spirit in all of us that are involved in athletics. We’ve all learned to deal with adversity, because that’s what sports are about. We love to learn. We love to compete. And when you lose, you learn from losses and you recover to try to get ready for the next win. You know there’s going to be another opportunity. So trying to get this done and achieve in some fashion is where we’re going to start. And then we’ll face whatever comes to us and we’ll be ready for that.

At the heart of all of this is who we’re serving. We desperately want to give our student athletes, both men and women, the opportunity to represent our school and to compete. And to do anything less than that, it would be heart-wrenching for us and them.

At some point our national health experts are going to get their arms around this and they already are making incredible progress. The question is when and how. The tough part of this will be keeping ourselves self-sustaining. If certain avenues of revenue do not appear, the next natural thing will occur. And that I think is very applicable to what all athletic departments are going through right now. It’s collaborative, it’s transparent, it’s good communication, but it’s also very hopeful. And I think what we can count on is that we’ve got really creative, incredibly intense competitive minds here that care about young people.

USL Super League Champs Tampa Bay Sun Plan 15,000-Seat Stadium for Ybor Harbor

A rendering of the proposed 15,000-seat stadium for the USL Super League's Tampa Bay Sun FC.
The 15,000-seat stadium will be the first of its kind in the USL. (The Beck Group)

The Tampa Bay Sun became the latest team to announce plans for a purpose-built women's soccer stadium this week, with the 2025 USL Super League champs looking to construct a 15,000-seat venue on the Ybor Harbor waterfront.

"We believe in the power of sport to inspire, unite, and drive meaningful change," said Sun majority owner Darryl Shaw in the club's Tuesday announcement. "By anchoring this historic neighborhood with a vibrant home for women's professional soccer, we're investing in our city's future and honoring the community that makes it thrive."

The state-of-the-art stadium for the top-flight USL club is the star of the proposal, though the 33-acre mixed-use development project also incorporates retail and residential spaces, as well as hotels, restaurants, and offices to house the United Soccer League headquarters.

While the new development has yet to announce a construction timeline or overall cost, the project comes as the USL Super League moves into its second season following a successful inaugural year.

"We're accelerating the growth of women's soccer while creating lasting benefits for Tampa Bay," said USL CEO Alec Papadakis. "The stadium development will be a place where fans and community come together and celebrate our sport."

"Tampa is a city of champions — and now we're dreaming even bigger," remarked Tampa mayor Jane Castor. "The stadium would deliver a place that captures our city's energy, inspires the next generation, and stands as a national symbol of what happens when cities invest boldly in women's sports and inclusive economic growth."

NWSL Stars Headline USWNT Roster Drop Ahead of Summer Friendlies

USWNT star midfielder Rose Lavelle looks on during a match at the 2024 Paris Olympics.
Star midfielder Rose Lavelle is back on the USWNT roster for the first time since 2024. (Alex Grimm - FIFA/FIFA via Getty Images)

The USWNT announced a few welcome returns on Wednesday morning, tapping a roster heavy on NWSL talent for the world No. 1 team's upcoming friendlies against No. 25 Ireland and No. 8 Canada.

Veteran midfielder Rose Lavelle is back in the fold, with the Gotham standout coming off ankle surgery to join her first US camp since November 2024.

Spirit midfielder Croix Bethune is also making a return, as she continues her recovery protocol following an August 2024 knee surgery.

The roster's lone European club player is star center back Naomi Girma, with head coach Emma Hayes opting to give most of the team's Europe-based stars a crucial break.

"[Girma] felt really strongly that she needed the minutes," Hayes explained, referencing the defender's recent months off the pitch due to a calf injury. "She wants to be involved with the national team because she felt she's missed a really key camp for us."

The Europe-based absences carved space for some new faces, with Gotham defender Lilly Reale, Seattle defender Jordyn Bugg, Kansas City defender Izzy Rodriguez, and Seattle midfielder Sam Meza all earning their first senior team call-ups.

With an average of 18.4 caps per player, this NWSL-heavy roster marks one of the least-experienced friendly lineups in the modern history of the USWNT.

"This is a uniquely different situation, different window, where so many senior players will not be with us in this camp," Hayes told reporters. "This is probably the last time I'll be able to do this in the lead-up to qualifying for the World Cup."

With much of the USWNT's trusted core resting during this window, Hayes will snag a critical — and possibly final — look at how lesser-known NWSL players size up against international competition.

The June/July 2025 USWNT roster

  • Goalkeepers: Angelina Anderson (Angel City), Claudia Dickey (Seattle Reign) Mandy McGlynn (Utah Royals)
  • Defenders: Kerry Abello (Orlando Pride), Jordyn Bugg (Seattle Reign), Naomi Girma (Chelsea), Lilly Reale (Gotham), Tara McKeown (Washington Spirit), Avery Patterson (Houston Dash), Izzy Rodriguez (Kansas City Current), Emily Sams (Orlando Pride), Emily Sonnett (Gotham), Gisele Thompson (Angel City)
  • Midfielders: Croix Bethune (Washington Spirit), Sam Coffey (Portland Thorns), Claire Hutton (Kansas City Current), Rose Lavelle (Gotham), Sam Meza (Seattle Reign), Olivia Moultrie (Portland Thorns)
  • Forwards: Lynn Biyendolo (Seattle Reign), Michelle Cooper (Kansas City Current), Yazmeen Ryan (Houston Dash), Emma Sears (Racing Louisville), Ally Sentnor (Utah Royals), Alyssa Thompson (Angel City)

How to watch the upcoming USWNT friendlies

The No. 1 USWNT will kick off their summer friendlies in Commerce City, Colorado, taking on No. 25 Ireland at 9 PM ET on June 26th before the pair clash again in Cincinnati, Ohio, at 3 PM ET on June 29th.

The US will close out the window against No. 8 Canada, facing their longtime rivals in Washington, DC, at 7:30 PM ET on July 2nd.

Live coverage of the first match will air on TBS, with TNT set to broadcast the following two games.

Fever, Lynx Advance to 2025 WNBA Commissioner’s Cup Championship

Connecticut Sun guard Saniya Rivers guards a three-point shot from Indiana Fever guard Caitlin Clark during a 2025 WNBA Commissioner's Cup game.
Three ejections were issued in Tuesday's Indiana Fever win over the Connecticut Sun. (Brian Choi/NBAE via Getty Images)

The Indiana Fever advanced to the 2025 WNBA Commissioner's Cup championship on Tuesday night, clinching their franchise-first Cup final berth following a tense battle with the Connecticut Sun that saw three ejections and two flagrant fouls.

In the game's first half, Sun guard Jacy Sheldon committed a Flagrant 1 on Fever guard Caitlin Clark, with Sheldon and teammate Marina Mabrey receiving a pair of technicals for shoving after the call.

With Indiana dominating late in the matchup, Fever guard Sophie Cunningham committed a Flagrant 2 on Sheldon, spurring a scuffle that ended with Cunningham, Sheldon, and Sun guard Lindsey Allen all being ejected.

The rest of Tuesday's Commissioner's Cup action played out mostly as expected, with New York securing an 86-81 comeback victory over the Atlanta Dream. However, because of the Fever's victory, the Liberty fell just short of returning to the Cup final.

The Minnesota Lynx also launched a comeback to take down Las Vegas 76-62, successfully punching their ticket to defend their 2024 Cup title — despite star forward Napheesa Collier exiting the showdown with an apparent back injury.

Ultimately, while on-court performances should have driven the narrative, lack of referee control overshadowed the night.

"Everyone is getting better but the officials," Indiana head coach Stephanie White said after the Fever's win. "We need to remedy that. I mean, we've heard every coach talk about it. I don't know what the answer is."

How to watch the WNBA Commissioner's Cup Championship

The grand finale of the 2025 WNBA Commissioner's Cup between the Indiana Fever and Minnesota Lynx will tip off at 8 PM ET on July 1st, with live coverage on Prime.

FIBA EuroBasket Tips Off with WNBA Stars Headlining European Teams

Great Britain center Temi Fagbenle watches a shot during a 2023 FIBA EuroBasket game against Germany.
Valkyries center Temi Fagbenle is one of several WNBA players participating in the 2025 FIBA EuroBasket tournament. (Nikola Krstic/MB Media/Getty Images)

The FIBA Women's EuroBasket 2025 has arrived, with the 16-team regional tournament tipping off its group stage on Wednesday before the knockout stages begin on June 24th.

Hosted across the continent with games in Czechia, Germany, Italy, and Greece, the 40th edition of the annual competition carries the additional weight of serving as a qualifying event for the 2026 FIBA World Cup Qualifying Tournaments.

As a result, the top five teams in this month's EuroBasket contest will earn automatic spots in one of the March 2026 qualifiers.

Leading the charge to this year's trophy are 2023 winners Belgium, who enter the EuroBasket tournament as reigning champions.

However, 2024 Olympic silver medalists France have since stepped into the spotlight, with the always-dangerous Spain also threatening a podium finish.

Familiar faces to WNBA fans will feature on the 2025 EuroBasket courts this month, as several WNBA players have temporarily departed their US clubs to join their national teams in Europe, including Belgium guard Julie Allemand (LA Sparks), Great Britain center Temi Fagbenle (Golden State Valkyries), and Germany forward Leonie Fiebich (New York Liberty).

As a major international tournament, the 2025 FIBA EuroBasket is exempt from the WNBA's prioritization rule, meaning eligible players can miss regular-season league play to compete in the overseas contest without being in violation of WNBA protocols.

How to watch FIBA Women's EuroBasket in the US

The EuroBasket group-stage action tipped off on Wednesday morning, with all games streaming live on Courtside 1891.

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