LOS ANGELES — Pac-12 Conference schools like USC and UCLA have been hard at work over the last couple of weeks, gearing up to return to the field. 

The Pac-12 will become the last of the Power Five Conferences to make its return to the field on November 7 amid the ongoing the coronavirus pandemic. 

While players across the conference's 12-member schools are eager to kickoff, their parents, including USC Football mom Sahaja Douglass, are anxious that they may not be present to see it all unfold. 

"Football is a big family," Douglass said. "It really is a way of connecting and expressing love and being together as a family. And it's just a tradition we've had for most of us since our kids were three."

It's a tradition she hopes will not be upended by the coronavirus pandemic. Because although the conference will not allow fans from the general public to attend games in person until at least January, it did release a statement regarding parents and other family members. 

"The Pac-12 confirms that the Pac-12 CEO Group on September 24 approved student-athlete families to be able to attend football games this season, subject to local public health authority approval and in accordance with NCAA guidelines," the conference said in a statement. 

It's been a hot topic of conversation among USC football moms and parents and family members across the conference. 

"The football moms, we have a chat group, and we're pretty active in it," Douglass explained. "One mom said, 'Hey, why don't we write a letter?'"

So Douglass put pen to paper, crafting a letter to go along with an online petition written to governors from all six states represented in the Pac-12, along with Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti, asking to be allowed inside the stadiums to watch their sons kickoff. 

The petition now has more than 4,000 signatures, all from people who believe it can be done safely. 

"I don't want to be callous. We understand COVID is a really serious disease," Douglass said. "But we feel like it can be done in a way that doesn't increase the risks that are already there for people."

In outdoor stadiums like the Coliseum, which seats about 77,000 people, she said family members would have plenty of room to socially distance, wear masks, and agree to temperature checks. 

However, because L.A. County still sits in the state's most restrictive coronavirus tier, the purple tier, Douglass knows it will be an uphill battle. 

"I just have to believe they have the best interests of everyone and their plates are really full, but I'm hoping they make this a priority, that we get the approval," she said. 

USC head coach Clay Helton made clear in his post-practice press conference last week that although he understands the parent's concerns and desires to be there in person, the decision lies ultimately with the state. 

"We're fortunate to be in a situation right now where we're gonna get the opportunity to play, and I know right now that is a city and state decision," he said. "It's not a Pac-12 or a USC decision, and the city and the state have done what's best for the community."

"Hopefully, it will change," Helton continued. "I know I'm a parent, I've got a son that's in high school, and I would love to see him play, as long as it's safe."

Douglass said she and the other Pac-12 moms are willing to do whatever it takes to make that happen. For now, she's holding on to the faith that a decision will be made soon. 

"Football has been reinstated, I've got the shirts," she said. "Now, I just need to be in there cheering on my son."