Stewart Mandel ($$) imagines a world where college football gets the go-ahead in November. He then comes up with a schedule that allows some preparation time before the season starts, with room to get a postseason fitted in the spring.
That results in a ten-game regular season schedule with no bye weeks. In Georgia’s case, something like this:
That awkward end results because of a conflict with conference basketball tourneys on the 13th, but my bet is that if they’re drastically rescheduling football then, they’re probably doing something with basketball, too.
Location would be something of a bear. Mandel notes that there are almost 30 indoor stadiums that could host games in cold weather, but I would imagine some of those arenas would be in huge demand. (How many teams would need access to Atlanta’s MBS, for example?) The need for scheduling flexibility would make it difficult to accommodate fans, also.
Then again, how much does that matter, if Mickey is happy and the checks are flowing to schools?
Anyway, just curious. What do you guys think of this? If you could attend, would you go see Auburn on January 23rd?
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UPDATE: By the way, here’s a quick summary of Athens temperature averages, by month.
Get The Picture 
That schedule looks surreal and brutal with no bye weeks. Imagine how cold it will be in Yankee land for the big 10.
Those Missouri and Kentucky games got a lot more interesting – if we have to play outside – well digger cold.
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Yeah. Winter is when viruses do their best work.
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Flip Florida and South Carolina and we could get a doubleheader weekend with Daytona!
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If we can attend, I’ll be there. If not, I really don’t care.
Now ask Mandel how this would work with current broadcast agreements. That’s the bigger question.
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It’s NOT like college basketball and the NBA are going to say, “sure, take all our tv/radio slots, we can just wait until you’re done.”
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And the NHL, the PGA Tour and the NFL playoffs if you want to cut across all of the networks.
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A nooner against Vandy on January 16 will probably feel more comfortable, weather wise, than one on September 16.
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Brrrrrrr……more apt to watch the BIG screen and stay in my neighborhood (avg. temp to be upper 60’s, lower 70’s) for the game against the barners, since i’ve a personal issue with those asswipes, the trip could be made…”i aaa,..i don’t care for auburn”….
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This schedule also would impact the 2021 football teams as this schedule would effectively cancel 2021 spring practice.
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I doubt that. They’ll just move it back a few weeks.
The bigger question would be whether it’s in Trevor Lawrence’s and Justin Fields’s interest to play in a shortened spring season given their draft position. For Goldilocks, in particular, the scouts have enough film of him as a starting QB to know what they’re getting … probably could say the same for Fields. When a team is out of the playoff hunt, I would bet a number of prospects will drop out of school to prepare for the draft.
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Reckon they’d refund our tickets if we didn’t want to do this? Too damn cold if you ask me.
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Rest assured, it’s all explained on the back of the ticket. We recommend arriving early as our volunteers usually run out of hot chocolate before kickoff.
#WEREALLINTHISTOGETHER #COMMITTOTHEG
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Sandstorm sans 120 degree heat is fine with me
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IF this happens the state of our minds will be a bigger question than how cold our butts might get.
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No way this works, IMO…. Other sports and the networks aren’t just gonna say, “sure, we’ll pay you the same amount of money to put your games on tv head-to-head with the NFL, NBA, CBB, hockey, golf, EPL, etc.”, not to mention there will still only be 24 hours in a day next winter… Better to just cancel the 2020 season, restart in fall 2021, and create some temporary rules for how to potentially digest 5 classes worth of recruits (i.e., increase caps and allow them to taper off over time)….
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He is skipping over the cold part a bit too quickly. I live in Boulder, and most days in January and February are warm enough in the mid day for football, but when it ain’t, it ain’t. They could easily have a game where the high is 15 degrees. Add in some wind and it’s probably impossible to play.
There are a lot of places colder than the front range of Colorado. The upper Midwest and New England can be brutal in the winter, plus their snow is wet and nasty.
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I abhor the cold. That being said, if the Dawgs are playing and I have tickets, I’m going. As a season ticket holder, it’s not a tough decision for me.
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I’ve been to a few cold Auburn games before, so I’d probably show up.
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Auburn is usually a bit warmer than Athens in January.
Rest assured, we’re looking into that.
#COMMITTOTHEG
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This is ridiculous.
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Think of all those coaching financial incentives kicking when their teams play on new year’s weekend.
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It would be nice to see Columbia, SC when it’s not hotter than the face of the sun.
Wonder where Ohio St. would play? I worked in Columbus OH from Jan through Mar 2003. Snow depth ranged from 6″ to 3′ the entire time.
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Wait… playing the NATS after the SECCG? Talk about anticlimactic.
Also, this is assuming that either the predicted 2nd wave this winter doesn’t happen, or that we drastically improve our testing and/or treatment capabilities between now & then. Pretty optimistic.
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Yes.
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Notre Dame is the problem. How do you work them in if all the conferences follow this similar strategy? It would be hard to force them into everyone’s schedule particularly in weeks 7 – 10. If there is going to be a TV only season, I’d rather just see a collection of “exhibition” games…say a 6 week slate of rivalry games that is a more glorified Spring practice deal than trying to have a “season” with awarded champions and no playoffs or bowl games. TV money, player health and fan interest are preserved while getting back to normal sooner for 2021.
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Ha. Doesn’t such a scenario presume that students will be “on campus” for the Spring 2021 semester?
Waaaaaay too soon to assume that.
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Can early enrollees participate? We’re supposed to have a good number of them this year.
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