Impending domino effect for college sports
Last week the NCAA announced that it was allowing all football, men鈥檚 basketball and women鈥檚 basketball programs to return to campus on June 1 to start working out, albeit with social distancing rules.
The move was questioned as to why it was just for those three sports, and the NCAA altered its decision allowing all student-athletes to return to campus.
This move is seen as a positive by some and questioned by others with there being internal hope that college football will be able to take place on time this fall.
As is public knowledge, college football is the cash cow for almost every athletic department that puts a team on the gridiron.
With the return to campus decision being made, a domino effect will begin, and time is going to tell which route things go.
Will the season be played on time, in the spring or not at all?
For financial reasons, there has to be a college football season at some point.
On Thursday, ESPN鈥檚 Mark Schlabach and Paula Levigne reported that a lost season would result in a $4 billion loss for college athletic programs across the country.
Many athletic programs could go belly-up if the football season is not played.
And if games are played this fall, there is a better chance that the games will be played in empty stadiums as compared to packed houses.
But how about playing games with some fans?
Last Wednesday on a conference call, Ohio State Athletic Director Gene Smith shared that OSU is modeling a concept that would allow approximately one-fifth of Ohio Stadium to be occupied during home football games for the 2020 season.
Previously, Smith said the OSU athletic department could lose as much as $50 million if the Buckeyes had no fans for its seven games, and the number is just shy of the Penn State number shared in this column a month ago.
If this option takes place, who decides which fans are allowed in the stadiums?
Again, it is about money and it is a safe bet that the big-time donors will be there with a potential alienation of other fans due to not having access.
Could a random lottery be held? What about donation levels dictating who gets first crack at picking which game(s) go to which season ticket holders?
With the season as a whole, there is also the aspect of some universities saying that they will not allow their athletic programs to play games if students are not taking classes on campus.
This past weekend, University of Michigan president Dr. Mark Schlissel told the Wall Street Journal where he and the school stand.
鈥淚f there is no on-campus instruction then there won鈥檛 be intercollegiate athletics, at least for Michigan,鈥� Schlissel told the WSJ.
An immunologist, Schlissel also expressed doubt if there would be collegiate sports anywhere this fall.
With all due respect to every other sport, this train is being driven by football.
So, what happens if some schools decide to play football, but others don鈥檛?
It wouldn鈥檛 be the first time that a college football season would be played with limited participants.
The precedent was set in 1918 when many schools did not participate because of World War I and a flu pandemic around the world.
A flu pandemic shut down college sports in 1918? Sounds familiar.
Just a few days ago, a picture was shared online of fans in the stands at a Georgia Tech football game in 1918 with fans wearing masks.
If there is football this fall with fans, masks are all but a given.
While 1918 was the first time some schools did not play their respective football seasons, it was not the last.
Fast-forward 25 years to 1943 and almost 200 colleges and universities dropped football because of World War II.
The game had grown in popularity in the quarter century between the 1918 and 1943 seasons while surviving the Great Depression.
Things are different today. College football was more popular than professional football back then, but that doesn鈥檛 change the fact that there is a cloud of uncertainty over collegiate sports.
Yes, the first domino dropped with student-athletes being allowed back on campuses.
But when the next domino drops, which direction and path will it take?
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