Amid the rising seas of pandemic broadcasts, Football Island is now the only thing left.
That eroding strip of land is where the definitive battle for college athletics will be fought in an endless summer of fear. Part passion, part politics and part pay controls, this squabble comes down to two remaining results: six of the 10 Football Bowl Subdivision conferences (three superpowers, three tag-side) defend the island and keep trying to play; as the latest holdouts submit to the tide and plunge until 2021.
The rest of the high school archipelago disappeared Thursday. Someone who bears a strong resemblance to Mark Emmert (remember him?) Jumped his head out of the fortress of loneliness in Indianapolis and called up all the NCAA fall sports championships – all except the one he can not touch, the one which matters most, the only one that ever really matters, the one that 76 schools still follow with desperate determination.
Football. Probably the least safe sport to bet amidst the COVID-19 reality, but also probably the most important sport for American culture and fellow bank accounts.
Emmert, the NCAA president who was largely invisible for weeks, attacked a 5:30 pm ET social media message announcing the postponement of championships for men and women’s country country and football, women’s field hockey and volleyball, and men’s polo for men. “Rather than thinking of it as a canceled or lost fall, let’s think of it as a pivot to the spring,” Emmert said, pushing Football Island defenders further into a corner.
“Is the NCAA trying to push the remaining conferences by rolling out its doctors and moving other championships to the spring?” one assistant football coach hired.
With previous decisions by almost every lower-level conference to abandon bankruptcy and hope for spring, the announcements this week of the Big Ten and Pac-12 powerhouse tandem are doing the same, then it’s loss of NCAA-sanctioned championships, the Stubborn Six are against it.
“Will the fall continue with only six FBS conferences playing football and no one else doing anything?” One group of 5 athletic directors asked. “That’s where we are.”
The Big 12, Southeastern and Atlantic Coast conferences will call the shots forward, with the American Athletic, Conference USA and Sun Belt ready to ride or lie next to them. All of them have continued soldiers after playing fall sports, but the dynamic has just changed.
They can just field a football team and nothing else this fall, which looks exactly like what it is – a tight grip on money that would also base its fans. Or they could basically raise double birds to the NCAA and say We believe all bankruptcy sports are safe to bet on, so we will play them all, even if there is no national championship. This can be a principled tribune commissioned by all athletes – or it can be a shameless smokescreen to justify the continuation of football.
Speaking for the latest sentiment, one group of 5 athletic directors said: “We need to go on a crusade to not delay bankruptcy. We have to hang in there. If we do not do that, playing football will weaken. ”
If the Power 5 wants to create the least of all optics, then this would be it: teams that encourage non-revenue / forced to avoid a potentially full spring break to play a hollow fall scheme, just to support the football crusade .
“Will those ADs and conferences dig their heels over playing this women’s sport in the fall because football is playing?” A sector source asked, “Or will they go with what their coaches want?”
Earlier this month, Sports Illustrated reported on discussions at some Power 5 conferences about holding their own bankruptcy championships when the NCAA came to the conclusion that it announced Thursday. That was seen as both a potential burglary move by the much-maligned NCAA and a way to support the football crusade.
But when the Big Ten and Pac-12 both invaded fall sports, this potential power movement lost a lot of muscle. One athletic director of Power-5 called it “unlikely” on Thursday night. Would playing for a conference title be enough to form a satisfying season for nationally prominent programs?
“Obviously, our student-athletes want a chance to compete for championships,” said Alabama athletic director Greg Byrne. “But there is so much going on at the moment that it can judge what is the best way to go down at this point.”
This NCAA decision was always a possibility, but it was not expected now. An NCAA board would expect to make a decision on August 21st. Instead, Emmert stepped up and took over the situation with a blast on social media, and then followed it up 90 minutes later with a webcast. That did not sit well with some members of the rank and file.
“To learn more about the NCAA fall championship cancellation, should everyone tune in to a social TV show from 7pm?” In AD complaint. “Tens of thousands of student-athletes have just pulled the rug under them and the NCAA is looking for better social ratings? Tone deaf does not cut it at all. ”
This came while most universities are still seeking to give their athletes answers to important questions about what their future may hold without a competitive season.
“Among our frustrations with the NCAA is that they are constantly making announcements like these have first decided on the myriad of associated issues that are eligible, scholarship limits, seasons of competition, size of roster, and so on.” said one Power-5 AD. “That’s a huge service for the students.”
And in this instance, it also serves to push the Stubborn Six back into an ever-shrinking plot of land on Football Island. Is it still full speed ahead after kickoff?
“Full speed? Not sure about that, ”said one Power-5 AD. “Carefully move forward more than it.”
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