, to
Hot Takedown looks at the switch to college football for conferences only and the good day at court for Manchester City.
We start with the news that at least two of the Power Five college football conferences, Big Ten and Pac-12, will limit their hours to conference-only games due to the coronavirus. It is a movement that has far-reaching implications, from the possibility that the College Football Playoff will have to choose between five or six undefeated teams for its four places, to the very real financial implications for smaller schools relying on non-conference games with Let’s say Alabama or Oregon to keep their sports programs afloat. In many ways, the decentralized and semi-regional nature of college sports reflects the federal response to coronavirus in the United States as a whole; Certainly, the football season would have already been canceled if it weren’t a great source of money for universities. We’re not sure what could happen if there are no conference-free games this year, but the prospect of Notre Dame finally having to join a conference is at least fun.
Below, we discuss what it means that Manchester City won its appeal at the International Court of Arbitration for Sport, with its two-year ban on the European competition now revoked. While the glitch came more or less on a technicality, and Man City has certainly not been exonerated for cooking its own books, the team can now do whatever it wants, and UEFA may not have a leg to deal with the enforcement. of the Play Financial Fair. But is that a bad thing? The FFP rules on how clubs can use their revenues are not entirely straightforward, and they certainly do not level the playing field as do salary caps in the US since European football seems unlikely to adopt a model capped in the short term, perhaps what small and mid-level teams need are more billionaire owners ready to spend unbelievable sums of their own money, not less. Southampton is waiting for you, Bill Gates.
Finally, Neil exposes the history of the teams that have changed their names for one reason or another. While it seems weird these days, it’s actually been a very normal part of sports, and there are plenty of old team names that the Washington football team could draw inspiration from when choosing a new one. Looking at you, Nebraska Old Gold Knights-Antelopes-Bugeaters-Rattlesnake Children-Cornhuskers.
What we are seeing this week:
