I couldn’t agree more with Andy Staples ($$) on whether there’s going to be some sort of 2020 college football season when he writes,
… a school year without a football season would wreak all manner of havoc. Departments have spent decades trying to spend every penny they make (so they don’t have to give more to the players or any to Uncle Sam), and most aren’t equipped to handle a year with no football season ticket revenue, no football booster donations and no football TV money.
Employees would get furloughed — or outright laid off — and sports would get cut. Some of those non-revenue sports wouldn’t come back. Football would come back, but not without considerable damage to each athletic department and a constriction in the number of available jobs.
Because of this, the people who run college sports will do everything within their power to get this season played. If it means moving the season to start in October, November, December or January, they’ll do it. If it isn’t safe at any point between now and next April to have huge crowds gather, they’ll play in front of no fans to get the TV money. That still would require massive budget cuts, but it probably would at least keep Power 5 programs afloat. They would have to find a way to play a season between September and the end of April 2021. The economic model they’ve created simply cannot function without a football season.
It’s the world they’ve made and they don’t know another way.
Which is why we’re bound to see all sorts of suggestions to reboot the season, including plenty that would never see the light of day, or at least polite conversation, if we were still in normal times.
Here’s a sampler:
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- From the Congressman who represents Knoxville: “I’ve actually got some legislation prepared dealing with encouraging folks to continue supporting their athletes through some tax breaks that they used to get but have done away with in years past,” Burchett said. “Maybe there could be a one-year reprieve on that to encourage people to get back involved in their college sports. During World War II, our leaders realized that we love our sports and love our sports figures.
- A new survey of major-college athletic directors “… showed that nearly 90% of the respondents said that academic progress is one of their top three concerns for their athletes over the next three months, an outcome that shows possible sentiment for a temporary change in the NCAA’s academic-progress regulations as campus closures have moved all students into distance learning.”
- And my favorite— while students would not be allowed to return to campus…
In this scenario, the student-athletes — only if cleared by health and safety officials — would be allowed on campus to take online classes and, yes, compete in athletics. They could be tested daily to guarantee they don’t have the virus (if we’re still at that point) and would play their games in empty stadiums.
“We’ve actually had discussions about this possibility,” a Power Five AD said.
It’s a war, doncha know?
On the broader financial picture, McMillen said: “Folks are torn between the mission of college sports — providing as many broad-based opportunities to participate as possible — and the business side, relative to making budgets balance. Some of them are saying, ‘Sixteen sports — can’t we have a break on that for a while?’ Everything is dependent on football.”
There are always casualties in a war.
Get The Picture 
Even if they get tested daily, doesn’t it take some time to get the results back? So by the time the results come back and confirm that someone has the virus, they would’ve already exposed their teammates right?
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I would dismiss the whole thing as nonsense, except they really, really want the money.
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Mddawg, if I wanted to treat that idea seriously (though I want to roundly mock it) I would start testing everybody 4-5 days before they come tom campus and keep testing every day, so I always have a mature result. I’d have to send people all over Hell and half of Georgia to get everybody tested, but hey, it’s for the kids.
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Oh, you think their concerned about the kids…
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Oh no, I have no illusions on that front. I was just questioning the logic of the comment regarding daily testing. Then I remembered we’re talking about athletic directors, the NCAA, and big-money sports in general, and I wondered why I ever thought logic would apply.
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Abott has a test with results in 5-15 minutes.
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The testing everyday idea is less about how long it takes to get results and more about false negatives. My wife was tested on a Tuesday and got the results back the next day. She tested positive but has since been cleared by the State Health Dept. Thankfully, she only had mild symptoms and never really felt that sick. She thought she had a sinus infection but lost her senses of taste and smell so her doctor wanted her tested at that point. She never had issues breathing or a fever and we are thankful for that. Our two boys and I have never shown any symptoms so our family has been very fortunate.
I mention the issue being false negative test results because, according to the healthcare providers and Georgia Health Dept. representative we spoke with, unless you are showing symptoms it is common to test negative. There has to be a high enough concentration level of the virus in your system to get a positive test result and that typically doesn’t occur in cases where symptoms aren’t being displayed. My wife was told she wouldn’t be retested because now that she has completed her quarantine period and is symptom free So, if you seemingly have a bunch of healthy football players you won’t likely know you have players who are contagious until it is too late because there is a good chance they can be contagious before they test positive. Until they have a high enough concentration level of the virus, they can get a false negative test result and once you have a player or players displaying symptoms you likely would have a team outbreak at that point I would think.
Obviously, I am not a doctor and I did not stay in a Holiday Inn Express last night but, I do play one online. In all seriousness, I am just passing along what I have learned or been told from my wife testing positive applying it to this hypothetical situation.
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I’m glad your wife and family are okay! Must have been a scary situation for you all.
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Thanks. I appreciate it. My wife never felt that sick. If it weren’t for losing her senses of taste and smell and the Rudy Gobert story she wouldn’t have thought she had it to get tested. Gobert lost his senses of taste and smell as well.
We never had major concerns about her getting really sick by the time she tested positive because she had been sick for about a week at that point with what she thought was simply a sinus infection and issues with the pollen. The bigger issue for us was her isolation from the rest of us which took its toll mentally. We consider ourselves very fortunate because we know others are dealing with much worse.
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You and your family should be tested to make sure you aren’t an asymptomatic carrier. Moreso, it would be interesting that your wife (plus you and family?) has had a mild form of infection that could be isolated for the fight and used like “milkmaid’s syndrome” was used to fight the deadlier smallpox. Earlier, it was thought Corvid-19 had two strains, one that is deadly as hell. There may be other strains that run the gamut of infectiousness that could be used earlier than the specific vaccine sought.
You are spot on about the players and testing. There are some forms of stupid reasoning concerning isolating small, noninfected groups and expecting them to play and live inside a bubble that are downright unhealthy to all people who live near.
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We have been told it is basically pointless to be tested when we are asymptomatic. My boys and I are staying quarantined until Monday as instructed.
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If the test is for the virus, it should show, no matter whether you have the symptoms or not. And yes, it is pointless to go running for a test if you are asymptomatic, except, in your case, there is a good reason to do so.
Stay well and thanks for sharing.
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That isn’t what the Health Dept./ medical community communicated to us. If you don’t have a strong enough viral load you can/will test negative even if you have it. We were told our two boys and I likely had it and fought it off. The told us not to get tested because it would be a waste. We are just following the quarantine/ isolation guidelines.
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Make absolutely no mistake – the last thing I want to see is a college football season canceled. However, part of me is almost hoping in a sense this happens so that, for once, these administrators have to deal with a little bit of the pain the majority of the rest of us have.
All of them have lived in this extravagant bubble for so long that it’d be nice popping of that bubble for once. While a majority of Americans are facing some sort of austerity measures if not outright unemployment – not to mention wages over the years barely keeping up with inflation during the best of times, they have bathed in absurd level salaries and spending, all while pointing the finger at their unpaid labor, stating that there is no money leftover for them.
So yea, I would be disappointed…but not terribly. I suspect I’m in the minority with such sentiments. With that said, I highly doubt the season will be canceled, and expect – worst case – the season takes place with no fans in the stands.
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3&G, will you watch if they have a season with no fans in the stands or will you say no thanks? Just curious.
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Like you I’d suspect, I definitely would, but it obviously wouldn’t be the same. An empty Sanford with no noise other than cracking of helmets and coaches yelling would be just…weird. And honestly, I think ratings would take a tumble as a result, but who knows.
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If you read my comment below, I won’t.
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Great thoughts, and you just swayed my opinion. I was thinking previously that, given the players are young and thus overwhelmingly not in harm’s way, we should let them play if mostly safe to do so. But again I think you just made me rethink this a bit.
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If they can figure out a solution where fans and students can be accommodated (and not just by distancing), I would support that. A delayed start to the season (for instance, shortening the season to 10 games) or moving the season to the spring (although I think this is practically impossible for many reasons) is an alternative I would be happy to support.
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Until the epidemiologists see daylight and can call the turn, no one should be thinking of forced scenarios for cfb or other activities under any circumstances. For every situation that anyone can imagine that would allow sports in a public venue, I can think of several epidemiological reasons not to do so.
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I can hear the daily gator fans already screaming and crying…the one year they’re expecting to own UGA and win the East (yeah right) and the season gets cancelled LMAO. How you like dem apples
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I cannot bring myself to support a football season with no students and fans in the stadium. I will not support it with my viewing. I’ve watched Georgia football for almost 50 years as a fan, student and alumnus. I will do without it in 2020 if this is the answer.
If it isn’t safe for fans to participate (or it isn’t safe for students to attend classes), then it isn’t safe for 100 guys to be in close quarters in workout facilities, locker rooms, practice fields, meeting rooms, or the field of play. The college sports apparatus should feel the exact same pain from this scourge that every other entity is feeling.
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Preach, agree with every damn word of this and you brought up some points I didn’t even think about.
I would miss having no cfb season but for once these greedy assholes need to actually do what’s best for the kids. I say this as a self identified greedy asshole.
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We all know when idea$/issue$/marriage$ are pu$hed forward in the name of checking account$, bad results will happen….not a good idea for seasonal spring games, the G-Day game needs to take place so i can assess the QBR for that day and consider who the starting qb will be at UGA next season
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All three of y’all are my favorite reasoning Dawgs. We should not tear our hair (and hearts) out over whether there would be a season or not. We can’t afford to think like others who put the economy ahead of people until we fight this pandemic to the finish.
Food for thought: We can see the deadliness of this virus all over the world and look at ratios of survivors by age, etc., but now the picture is beginning to show enough data that comparisons can be made to survivors vs deaths. Those that have survived worldwide approximate twice the number of those who have died. If you view the kill ratio at 33% of those who have contracted the virus, the picture becomes clearer that this non-living entity has no bounds.
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Cojones, I do believe that the medical professionals and the economic professionals should be working as a team to balance and address the risks on both sides of the coin. There should be healthy debate on what we should do next. If the virus rages out of control, the economy is going to suffer no matter what the government or the Federal Reserve do. If we lock down the economy for an extended period, we’re going to have other health problems (think mental illness and other physical ailments from extended unemployment) in addition to the financial impact.
This is NOT an either/or solution … we need to be acting like this is a both/and solution.
On the topic at hand, Kirby and pretty much every athletic coach at UGA isn’t going to suffer much financial stress. The equipment managers and the maintenance guys are going to be the ones that get hurt if there’s no season.
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Except the economic factor is moot if the virus isn’t gone and away from host material.
Pasteur’s statement about bacteria applies here: “Le bact’eries; ils ont toujours le dernier mot.”. Loosely translated to apply to this virus: “The bacteria will always have the last word.”.
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You don’t get it, and I’m not going to try to convince you. Go back and read what I wrote. Sensible health and economic policy can deal with both issues.
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The kill ratio is not 33%. The percentage of confirmed cases to deaths is well below 10%. The percentage of people exposed to the virus and deaths is much much lower. Covid 19 is not smallpox pre 1900. We have to decide on living in a bubble or going back to living life before March 1st.
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Please read my words carefully since I allude to that stat before venturing another way to look at the stats. Your second sentence is absolutely correct from the data thus far. My point was to look at the survivors versus the number of deaths, i.e., when the number of deaths hit 2600 in the U.S., the number of people who had been exposed and cleared as survivors were below 7000. The two together show approx. 9000 infections with around 2/3 survivors and that made the death around 1/3 of survivors or approx. 33%.
You speak of the ratio of infections to deaths while my point is to the ratio of survivors to death.
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Your snapshot of 33% is skewed. To have a true death or survival rate the affected sample size needs the full time for the virus to run it’s course.
I arbitrarily typed death rate (inverse of survival rate) with no bias.
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This morning’s updated results of survivors/death of those infected went to over 40%. I don’t want you to have to do the math, just reason out the resulting data thus far. It doesn’t mean that this ratio won’t go lower, it just means that this is the reality we face when trying to hitch economics to a virus that doesn’t give a shit for any rhetoric anyone throws at it.
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Greg McGarity beams with pride at his reserve fund.
We need to see some of what John Keegan termed “The Americans’ marvelous gift for improvisation”.
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I’ve always felt the football arms race was approaching unsustainable levels (a point where fans say enough) I never considered a bug from China could collapse the whole thing. Amazing times indeed.
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If the football season does get cancelled shouldn’t we be expected to see our cable bills go down significantly? Every Comcast subscriber pays a $8.25 regional sports fee. And that’s on top of the huge percentage of our cable package that supports ESPN. If the football season get cancelled, ESPN’s costs will drop astronomically while they’ll still be collecting their normal revenue.
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David, I bet you a dollar (all I can afford now) that cable companies won’t discount a penny.
I keep satellite for 2 reasons. 1. Sports. 2. Intertia. The virus has removed reason 1. That gives me motivation to overcome Reason 2 and explore streaming options.
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Right, because ESPN or FOX is not going to discount what they are charging the provider.
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Sure. They have reruns and will use them sickenly and unapologetically.
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I posted an article by a 2012 Olympic gold medalist (swimming) who is still competing. Virus knocked him out completely for a month and left him out of shape.
If they had a season, it would come down to which team somehow managed to not lose key players to getting ill.
And how do you protect coaches and the older people who have to interact with the players?
At some point, the people in charge across the board are going to have to get their head out of their ass and stop trying to figure out how to get back to pre-virus normal.
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It would be interesting to see a light shined on the problems with Title IX if Congress were to give them a waiver to play football this year without balancing those scholarships out on the women’s side.
Sincerely,
A college wrestling fan
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Fisheries, there is nothing preventing UGA from adding a wrestling team. It could replace another men’s sport or UGA can afford to add wrestling plus another women’s sport.
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That’s true. But they don’t add one. Yet they added a horse team, which is far more expensive, far less in demand among high school students in Georgia, and far less popular, when I was in school to help with Title IX numbers.
I’m not trying to be anti-women’s sports. But the women’s sports advocates are quick to trumpet the benefits of Title IX while handwaving away any costs. If we want to talk about wrestling, there were far more programs out there prior to Title IX. The same can be said for a lot of men’s sports.
Hell, softball gets more scholarships than baseball, which makes zero sense whatsoever when you think about roster needs. My point was that if Congress and/or the NCAA are going to make the argument that we need a football exemption this year to keep college sports alive, perhaps all NCAA supports ought to start making the case on their own merits.
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Torn? Nah, they’re all in on the business side. I don’t want to lose football but I’d love to see these fools get their comeuppance. Unfortunately, these greedy administrators won’t suffer as much as the non-revenue athletes.
I should feel good about our reserve fund, but I don’t since I expect McFrugal to screw over the fans and non-revenue athletes before he dips into the reserve fund for exactly the reason it exists.
If things get real bad, Kirby should donate his salary before we start cutting sports.
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I had the same thought as you regarding the reserve fund. That’s what it’s there for, but they’ll want to leave it untouched anyway.
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I think the wise play would be to use the reserve fund, get the associated public goodwill of using the reserve fund and then ask for help in replenishing the reserve fund when everything is back to normal.
Seems the reception would be a lot better if, down the road, you can point out all the things you saved, from scholarships to the maintenance guy, by using the reserve fund. Add a little paycut at the top as your cherry and you’ve got your entire sales pitch.
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Bring back the donation tax deduction at a federal level.
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I know this post was about the $$ but the avalanche coming down the tract regarding coronavirus and football is going to engulf the high school season too. So we loose the season, then we loose the recruiting season. Remdesivir or another antiviral compound might make a difference, however timeline to having it rolled out to the public is problematic.
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The “cure”, IE shutdown of commerce, is looking much worse than the virus…JMHO.
Not just talking football here..
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So, in your humble opinion, given that the WH is now projecting more than 200,000 deaths if we practice social distancing, what’s the acceptable number of dead we should tolerate in the name of curing the economy?
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I don’t know the answer, but what temporary and permanent economic destruction are we willing to accept with the virtual shutdown of the world’s economy?
I don’t have access to the data, but as a society, we have to find a balance between the public health impact and the economic impact. Is that 30 days? Is that 60 days? Is that 6 months? Is that a year? Is that until a vaccine and appropriate therapies are approved?
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The problem I have with the way you frame this is that had our government taken this problem seriously from the outset, as many urged, we would be looking at a much different country and economy right now. Hell, South Korea, which reported its first case the same day the US did, is letting schools reopen next week.
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Did South Korea change their mind again? This was from 4 days ago.
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-southkorea-toll/south-korea-puts-off-school-opening-again-goes-online-idUSKBN21I05Q
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That’s a fair statement and a topic that can be fairly debated.
The question is what are we going to do now. We can’t continue to run the government printing presses to stimulate the economy. We can’t tell small business owners to go with the flow indefinitely. We can’t tell people they need to stay home indefinitely. Eventually, that saps the hope out of society. That was the Great Depression. It took a world war to restart the economy in its aftermath.
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We can, until the bond market tells us otherwise.
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True … but how much longer is quantitative easing going to be a viable response?
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The only acceptable answer is to stop the virus and until we see no more infection. That, or stop and start the economy two-three times a year, making it worse. The longer you drag it out, the greater expectation for a randomized variation that can be more deadly. We have to control and get on top before the vaccine can be made.
Then, there is the view that other pandemics will occur as was thought after SARS, MERS, bird flu, EEE and WEE outbreaks. Keep the politician’s minds and hands out of the scientific areas and reestablish the well-thought-out Pandemic Task Force as quickly as possible and stop this Voodoo politician approach to worldwide infections. People are dead because of that 3rd-world manipulation shit.
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If China had not lied to the world we would all be better off. Directing blame the politicians is not the answer – the real blame should be directed at the dog,cat,monkey bat eating Chinese
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That the first is true doesn’t absolve the US government.
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We had tons of warning. Hong Kong epidemiologists who were called into Wuhan gave us tons of accurate info way back in early February.
Whatever lies the gov’t in China put out are no excuse for anything. Anyone gullible enough to base their policy off the official word of the Chinese Community Party needs to put on a dunce cap and spend the rest of the year in the corner.
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The 100,000 to 240,000 people who are projected to die, and their families, disagree. Now, if you and your loved one are guaranteed not to get it then any solution is not worth any cost to you.
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One thing that amazes me is how powerful the world media is. I mean, they convinced basically every world leader to shut down their countries. They convinced the US Navy to send hospital ships to each US coast. They convinced the US Army to send field hospitals to some of our major cities. They even got hospitals to set up temporary morgues in parking lots and hockey rinks. Heck they even bamboozled Putin! Amazing!
#dieforthedow
/s
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I don’t know of many institutions, nonprofit or for profit, that could withstand a year of less half revenue and survive.
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PTC commerce gets shut down in any COVID-19 scenario. If we go about our business without shelter in place millions of people die. Huge numbers of businesses, consumers and employees disappear forever. If we shelter in place commerce gets shut down for a while but the vast majority of businesses, consumers and employees survive. Painful yes but not nearly as destructive as the first scenario. Inexcusably stupid and irresponsible for those in authority to advance the narrative that the solution is worse than the problem
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Amen, Paul.
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We’re doing about 100,000 tests a day in a nation of over 330 million people. So of course we can shift these priceless testing kits to cfb teams so they can test players, staffs, and various support people multiple times as they enter and leave campuses, before and after games, etc. And if just a few players test positive the game is likely to be cancelled anyway. We already have a leader talking out of his ass all day, so that gives license for everyone to do it? Something tells me this pandemic is going to last a looong time.
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Bill Gates (not my favorite person) did a presentation on TED back in 2015 that addressed this very issue. Obviously nobody listened.
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Perhaps if there is a rainbow bow ever at the end of this and call it what you want Covid-19…… born most likely in a biochemical lab in China in ( I can’t remember the specific species of bat that was infected and loosened by error) eight doctors noted such but the first is dead of the disease supposedly the others are in prison supposedly. Why in the HELL do our corporations feel the necessity to deal monetarily off the US citizens for drugs, clothing, TV’s, electronic chips, cell phones.
While on the other hand explain this to me oh more intellectual gifted than I. Why in the hell are they pouring 30,000 gallons of milk away daily from a dairy. Look it up they are getting paid to pour milk out. Our good natured corporations agreed with foreign countries to create shortages in oil for pure glut. I myself farmed soybeans till I could no longer afford the expense of lime and fertilizers cause the Great Government of our States was purchasing soy beans from South Frickin’ America at the tune of $34 dollars a bushel and I was lucky to get to market for $17.50 – $18.00.
So now productive farms lands turn into pine farms where we sell the best grades of lumber overseas. What about the grocery? You remember every where growing up every mom and pop grocery had their own butcher. How the hell has that gone. Corporate Ingles, Publix ( better than most ) WalMart and Kroger ( name the rest ) where by the time your lettuce gets here from Mexico or Damn California it’s brown in 2 damn days. We had Sunbeam bread factories, Pet Milk, Biltmore dairies ( which don’t own a frickin’ cow now but a tourist trap in Asheville,NC.
McDonalds has 53,000 restaurants in China. It’s time we made American stuff in America. Yes Americans deserve a decent wage ( yes unions are corrupt but I’d rather deal with them than Black Rock C.I.A. arms deals to shoot our US service men ) that will allow them to afford a car, a house payment and pay utilities. You ask why we have a homeless population. Damn insurance companies and corporate health corporation saw gas take the lead and say let’s bleed these SOB’s dry.
Sports my ass. We need to wake up as what’s important in our lives. Look it up. Tell these premier athletes to go screw their selves. Did you happen to see what the NFL is paying these idols. It’s coming the a House of Cards is on edge to fall.
True story Walt Garrison played FB for the Dallas Cowboys so many years ago you don’t remember. He signed a pro contract for a pickup and a horse trailer.
We have totally lost all perspective of life. He who dies with the most wins. Hell, your still dead. Sickening, just totally sickening our politics, our attitudes toward each other. I read today that our availability to contend with this damn virus throughout all our advanced technologies and advanced medical facilities are equal to what We had in 1962. It doesn’t matter much if your great grand children will never work because of your trust fund….. your dead.
Profiting of the weak. America wake up. Quit bitching at your fellow man. Join hands and like my grandfather did in WW2 pull the the guy of the foxhole next to you. He might be the guy that saves your ass in the end.
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May I add. It’s not just administration that has cut off your balls it’s been happening since the 70’s so what your facing is 50 years of total total screwing of the American jobs, families and structure. Don’t blame 4 years on this travesty. Be you liberal or conservative. The greatest con game in history is laying at your doorstep.
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