Are collegiate cancellations inevitable?
Within the last week, results have started trickling in from COVID-19 testing around college football programs and almost everything we have heard has been negative.
Defending national champion LSU has more than 30 players in quarantine, perennial powerhouse Clemson has already had 28 positive tests and Kansas State canceled workouts for two weeks after 14 players tested positive.
While most of what is reported gives off doom and gloom when it comes to collegiate sports this fall, it isn鈥檛 time to give up all hope just yet.
There has been some positive news as Tennessee has not had a positive test yet and Michigan State has only had one out of the 124 tests given there.
Locally, West Virginia has had a few positive tests while Pitt and Penn State have yet to announce any positive results.
A lot of schools have not announced positive results, and that is understandable.
Regardless, the closer we get to the fall sports season, the steeper the hill seems to get.
There are going to continue to be major hurdles for the athletic departments to overcome.
Slowly but surely, conferences will make announcements and look for those to start trickling out a little more frequent the farther we get into the summer months.
On Monday, the Patriot League announced its protocols for fall sports teams.
The Patriot League is a part of the Football Championship Subdivision (FCS).
Patriot League athletes will not return to campus until all students do, teams will not fly to competitions and with rare exceptions, overnight travel will be excluded.
How will this affect Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) programs?
Often times, FCS teams take six- and seven-figure paydays to go play non-conference road games against FBS teams.
And speaking of games, who will be there to watch them?
On Monday, the Pitt athletic department announced a 2020 football ticket guarantee and in the release, it stated, 鈥淚f, for any reason, the 2020 season or any portion of the home schedule is not played, the value of the affected tickets, scholarship seating and parking payments will be refunded to the fans who purchased through the Panther Ticket Office.鈥�
One of the options, should the money be refunded, is using the amount towards the 2021 season tickets.
There have been rumblings from State College about similar options for Penn State season ticket holders, although on Tuesday it announced the indefinite suspension of the student ticket application process.
While WVU has not announced how it will proceed with its season tickets, it did release a statement announcing a move to mobile ticketing for the 2020 season.
Among the reasons provided were, 鈥渋mproved health and safety measures, contactless points of entry and added convenience,鈥� among others.
While speaking of tickets, let鈥檚 head back to Pittsburgh.
On Monday, Pitt Athletics also unveiled its 鈥淧anther Mobile Pass鈥� which provides a ticket to all seven home games for $135.
This option allows fans the opportunity to watch the games from distinct vantage points with different seats for each game.
Kudos to the Pitt Athletic Department for thinking ahead towards the season, albeit with no guarantee that one will take place.
Will there be sporting events? Possibly.
They could start but end up canceled, the whole season could be played or maybe the games aren鈥檛 played until the spring.
Decisions are being made daily, and with the start of the football season less than three months away, we will find out sooner than later with what the future holds on the collegiate gridiron.
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