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Over the weekend, reports percolated that major college football conferences, led by the Pac-12 and Big Ten, were about to cancel their seasons over coronavirus safety concerns. These reports have presented pushback from both players and coaches (who believe they are capable of taking sufficient precautionary measures to prevent outbreaks) and judicial politicians (who object to large-scale safety measures, by one, taken on account of COVID – 19). On Tuesday afternoon, the Big Ten announced that their university presidents had voted, in some sort of compromise, to postpone all bankruptcy sports, including football, while “considering the possibility of competition in the spring.” The Pac-12 has reported come to a similar decision.
While there has been speculation that some schools could work around these cancellations by temporarily failing to attend other conferences, this would require breaking contracts, and athletic directors at both Ohio State and Michigan – the Big Ten’s most high-profile programs. have already issued statements supporting the proposal. (This year will be the first since 1917 that Ohio State and Michigan will not play a football game.)
The decisions of the Big Ten and Pac-12 were preceded by similar moves by smaller conferences, making the Big 12, Atlantic Coast Conference, and Southeastern Conference as the only notable groups to have their plans for the fall yet. have announced. Every school in those three conferences, except for the ACC’s Boston College, Pittsburgh, and Syracuse, is in the south. While it is possible that these leagues could take their state governments and choose to plow through the pandemic, a ‘college football season’ could not really take place if about 40 percent of its main teams did not participate; Ohio State, in particular, was a leading candidate for national championship. Southern athletic directors and school presidents will now also have to consider the medical, legal and public relations implications of analogous institutions that have decided to COVID-19, and in particular the lingering inflammatory effects it seems at the hearts of some individuals who have the contract, presents an unacceptable and potentially fatal risk to athletes. (The Big 12 is, told, still at the gate, reported with the SEC waiting to see what the Big 12 decides.) (Update, August 11 at 6 p.m.: The ACC and SEC have statements issued claim that they, for now, will continue with their seasons.)
There are two factors that weigh against the possibility of football (and other college sports) happening in the spring: The coronavirus can still be in heavy circulation on campuses, and the large set of “amateur” players that aim to play pro football in 2021 want to avoid an injury in the immediate aftermath of (or even potentially after) the spring NFL Draft. On the other hand, a vaccine could conceivably be approved for distribution in the U.S. by the end of 2020, and the NFL could delay his design to meet a spring schedule for NCAA. Universities will also earn an enormous amount without football TV revenue, which could at least be partially recovered through a spring season. And if schools are willing to admit that footballers are not normal students – a business model as, sure – the fall and winter months provide time to set up individual team isolation bubbles from which leagues can be launched more safely.
As of now, the NFL plans to try its own season. For disappointed college fans who prefer a brand of football that places a heavy emphasis on regionalism and tradition, every major domestic European football competition – the leagues in the countries whose leaders took the coronavirus seriously around the months ago – is almost out to eradicate, while the richest country in the world tumbles through, infects and dies and loses more and more elements of ‘normal’ life per minute – is scheduled to restore the game in September.
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