There’s a chance James Madison’s 2020 football schedule is played out as planned and there are other scenarios in which its slate for this fall is altered slightly or varies drastically, according to Colonial Athletic Association commissioner Joe D’Antonio.

Either way, nothing will be decided until at least next month, D’Antonio said.

“We’re still trying to get a final determination about what scheduling will look like across the spectrum,” D’Antonio said Monday. “Not just in the CAA, but across FCS and across FBS. I continue to maintain that a final answer as to what that could look like is still probably 20 to 30 days away, maybe longer. I don’t know if anybody has that exact answer right now.

“I remain optimistic, but we’re still a little bit away from having that answer.”

The fifth-year commissioner told the Daily News-Record the league and conference members have developed possible scheduling formats in order to use the one most appropriate for this fall while attempting to bring football, players, coaches and support staff back safely in wake of the coronavirus.

JMU has a Sept. 5 CAA contest against Delaware in Harrisonburg to open the season, which still could happen, D’Antonio said, before he explained the different models the conference is concentrated on and has shared with its athletic directors and head coaches.

The first option is simpler than the others.

“I would hypothesize that the entire country could play their schedule that’s in place,” he said, “but the starting date could shift a couple of weeks.”

Another alternative involves CAA members playing a conference-only schedule, D’Antonio said. JMU has non-conference home contests scheduled with Chattanooga (Sept. 12) and Merrimack (Nov. 19) and a road date at FBS North Carolina (Sept. 19), which all would be eliminated as part of this particular circumstance.

“We’ve talked about a situation where you have a compressed conference schedule,” D’Antonio said, “meaning potentially your non-conference games go away, but you play the same home-and-away opponents that you were already going to play in the conference.”

JMU’s home CAA opponents for 2020 are Delaware, William & Mary, Maine and Elon and it conference trips are to Albany, Towson, Villanova and Richmond. He said dates of those eight games would likely be reshuffled due to a possible shortened season, but that the opponents would stay the same.

Then, “there is a straight regional type of model that has definitely been discussed,” he said, “and is being looked at. And that may or may not involve trying to play a couple of non-conference games regionally depending on the circumstances other conferences find themselves in.”

The regional model would feature home-and-home contests between league members nearest to each other. For JMU, think Elon, Richmond, Towson or William & Mary.

Regardless of whatever decision is made, it will be based on how to keep coaches and players safe.

D’Antonio said whether or not fans can attend games won’t be determined by the conference.

“My gut tells me that probably isn’t going to be a league-wide decision or mandate,” he said, “simply because we have schools placed in different geographical regions of the country and in many cases the answers to the questions as it relates to fan attendance are going to be dictated not only by the rules of the institution but also by the rules of local and state governments. We’re certainly not going to do anything at the conference level to override any of those scenarios put in place.”

The Dukes averaged a home crowd of 18,108 at Bridgeforth Stadium last season.

He pointed out an important juncture in a return to football the CAA and its members will pay attention to comes Wednesday when the Division I Council meets. The organization is expected to review the proposal the Football Oversight Committee put together regarding what the preseason – training camp, practices, meetings – might look like.

“Assuming that’s adopted,” D’Antonio said, “I anticipate that our institutions will analyze that plan and make a determination about how that plan fits into their individual scenarios based on what’s happening on their campus and with their state and local regulations associated with resocialization. That’s step one.”