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Poll: Will College Sports Be Cancelled for the 2020-21 School Year?

Will College Sports Be Canceled for the 2020-21 school year?

  • College sports will not be canceled & will resume as normal in the fall

    Votes: 60 31.6%
  • All College sports will be canceled for the entire school year

    Votes: 29 15.3%
  • Fall Sports will be canceled, Winter & Spring Sports will be played as normal

    Votes: 28 14.7%
  • Fall & Winter Sports will be canceled, but Spring Sports will be played as Normal

    Votes: 33 17.4%
  • All Sports will be played for tv but no fans will be allowed to attend

    Votes: 32 16.8%
  • Other

    Votes: 8 4.2%

  • Total voters
    190
FWIW, yesterday, a class action suit was filed against Liberty University for failing to protect students by inviting them back to campus during the COVID 19 crisis. I'm sure every University GC is well-aware of this suit, and their school's potential liability if they open their campus, and an outbreak occurs. With Liberty being a notable exception, colleges and universities are particularly careful about not taking steps that would open them up for liability, which is a big reason why most schools closed their doors before most other businesses closed up. While I hope to be wrong (as I have two in college that are driving me crazy at home), will be surprised if campuses open up en masse in August 2020. Then again, things change so quickly. August is still 4 months away.


4 months can be two eternities or longer in your situation. In vaccine development world, unfortunately that is about 25% (or less) of optimistic development time. I don't expect schools to re-open for in-person classes until they can give or require vaccination.
 
A friend was on a conference call with Mack Brown and Bubba last week. They are concerned about getting started in time with practice. They are also concerned obviously with the dollars involved. I can't remember the numbers he told me, but they apparently discussed a school like Alabama. Again, I don't remember the exact numbers but Alabama brings in well over $100 million from football. No football season would be devastating to that university. It was discussed playing just the conference schedules only, or even partial conference schedules. It was mentioned that Alabama plays Troy at Alabama. That game pays Troy something like $2 million just for that game. Which makes up almost their entire athletic budget. If Alabama has to cut Troy from it's schedule, it would blow up Troy's athletic budget.

These are the things that are having to be considered.
 
If pro sports resume over the Summer, but colleges decline to re-open their campuses in August, going to be interesting to see what happens if a conference breaks rank, like um.. the SEC (and/or the Big 12), and says we are playing games even if our campuses are not open this Fall, when most/all other universities decide to tie the re-start of college sports to the return of all students. The only way this happens is if the NCAA cancels its fall season, rather than delays it as some have speculated.

But if Bama, LSU, UGA, OK, Texas et al feel like they can play games under similar conditions that the NFL will start under; they have big TV contracts and would have a monopoly on the Saturday football TV market (not to mention the recruiting/attention benefits of being the only game in town). I can see sentiment where if they feel the virus is under control in their area why shouldn't they be playing football when the pro's are playing; and of course, this allows the schools to recoup at least some of the money that they would otherwise lose. This would put a lot of pressure on the other conferences like the Big 10, ACC and Pac 12, where the universities might be less inclined to play.
 
It may be as simple as red state vs blue state.

Goes without saying it’s a massive risk. It’s one thing if a grown man making millions of dollars gets COVID-19 trying to tackle another grown man making millions of dollars and both grown men live in a house with their families.

It’s a whole different issue for a college student on scholarship or a walk-on living in a residence hall gets COVID-19 so universities and TV networks can make money. Universities might win in court but they would lose in the court of public opinion.
 
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Win National Championship.
Dedicate season to those who died to make it possible.
Greatest story in sports.
 
No sports until there's a vaccine. It's tragic and depressing, but sports are close contact and the polar opposite of social distancing...and even if every player is tested every day eventually somebody who's infected gets on the field or court...infects others...

There's no reasonable way to do this. People aren't being realistic.
 
Would it help if all football helmets had face shields?
 
I doubt college will begin in the fall unless the complete virus/antibody/tracking infrastructure is 100% in place. Be tough to have the sports without the athletes on campus.

I REALLY want to be dead wrong on this. Please let those things above happen so the kids can put the little balls in the holes.
 
Only 10 day furloughs. That’s pretty minor.
 
Only 10 day furloughs. That’s pretty minor.

Minor for now, but it’s a first (to my knowledge) and I assume could be extended. Will be interesting to see if and when any other colleges do this. I would imagine that a voluntary salary reduction (like Clawson did) would be the preferred route to go. We’ll see.
 
University of Arizona did a series of furloughs for employees who make under $150K a year. The lowest level was 13 day furloughs for employees who make under $44,500. I assume all of their coaches fall in the 20% salary cut range ($200K+).

https://hr.arizona.edu/FY-2020-2021-Furlough-Program
 
A friend was on a conference call with Mack Brown and Bubba last week. They are concerned about getting started in time with practice. They are also concerned obviously with the dollars involved. I can't remember the numbers he told me, but they apparently discussed a school like Alabama. Again, I don't remember the exact numbers but Alabama brings in well over $100 million from football. No football season would be devastating to that university. It was discussed playing just the conference schedules only, or even partial conference schedules. It was mentioned that Alabama plays Troy at Alabama. That game pays Troy something like $2 million just for that game. Which makes up almost their entire athletic budget. If Alabama has to cut Troy from it's schedule, it would blow up Troy's athletic budget.

These are the things that are having to be considered.

Not to mention the money it brings into the Tuscaloosa community. There will be massive pressure to have a college football season. Starkville, Oxford, Tuscaloosa, Auburn, etc. are really dependent on that income..
 
Yeah if you don’t think the SEC is going to say fuck it, whatever the NCAA says or whatever the rest
of the schools decide, and not have football then you haven’t been paying attention to the shitshow that is the South’s pandemic response. I mean come this weekend it’s business as usual in GA, SC, and TN. There will be college football in the south consequences be damn.
 
Yeah if you don’t think the SEC is going to say fuck it, whatever the NCAA says or whatever the rest
of the schools decide, and not have football then you haven’t been paying attention to the shitshow that is the South’s pandemic response. I mean come this weekend it’s business as usual in GA, SC, and TN. There will be college football in the south consequences be damn.

I can see this happening too. Particularly, if the current decisions by the Governors in GA, FL, TN, SC, MS (the heart of the SEC) doesn't result in disastrous consequences. You can add the states of TX and OK to this. If the SEC and Big 12 say that they are going ahead and playing, going to put a lot of pressure on the rest college football as long as the outbreak appears in check by the middle of the Summer.
 
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