| NEWS CECIL HURT: A college football season without fans? Maybe - TideSports.com

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There is still a tremendous amount of uncertainty regarding the near-term future of college sports, questions that must be answered about the coronavirus before events can be green-lighted. Not being an epidemiologist or an economist, there are many that I am not qualified to answer.

One pattern is clearly emerging, though, in study after study, in press briefings from mayors, governors and commissioners: whenever the reinstatement protocol begins, the last step will be the resumption of large-scale public gatherings in public places. In other words, it might be possible — maybe — to have football in isolation, well before there is an all-clear given for all the pomp, pageantry and concession-stand peanuts that go with it.

So one question, among many, is this: does college football without fans, other than those sitting at home and watching television, qualify as football?

The first group to make that call will be the broadcast rights holders for those events. If the Southeastern Conference, to use one example, starts playing on the first Saturday in October and delivers 13 weeks of content, plus a postseason, has it fulfilled its side of the bargain. Would that be enough to collect the television revenue that funds a large portion of all athletic activities at almost all Power Five colleges?

Lawyers will have to settle that, through some sort of negotiation. That could satisfy the terms of the various television agreements. That doesn’t mean it would make everything whole. If one uses what seems to a fairly conservative economic impact estimate, seven silent home games would probably mean a loss of around $140 million to $150 million a game, particularly to its restaurants, bars and hotels. That’s not counting the absence of atmosphere, not a monetary loss but, in some ways, a spiritual one. (How could there be tailgating on the Quad, for instance?)

There are a hundred other questions. Here is one: what if the governors of Alabama, Mississippi and Georgia have one timetable for allowing large public gatherings to resume, but the governors in Kentucky or hard-hit Louisiana have another? What happens in the ACC if Florida says ‘play ball’ and New York says ‘wait a minute.’ What if all 14 SEC presidents cannot agree to have large gatherings on campus if students have not returned?

Again, I have no ready-made answers, just a gut feeling that caution is better than throwing caution to the wind. I have no idea if there might be a “limited-crowd” option on the table, where a game might have 20,000 in attendance rather than a jam-packed 90,000. First of all, I doubt that happens. Second, no matter what method one uses to distribute such tickets — an egalitarian lottery or raw highest-bidder capitalism — the best an athletic director can hope for is 20,000 happy fans and 70,000 angry ones.

Throwing these hypotheticals out there isn’t meant to be negative, just as proposing a lengthy postponement like Chris Fowler’s much-discussed “speculation” about playing football in spring of 2021 rather than the fall of 2020, isn’t a nefarious plot. Everyone that cares about football wants to play as soon as possible, if the right circumstances can be worked out. But no matter what, there will have to be a logical progression of steps, not an instant snap of the fingers that will bring “normal” back overnight.
 
These "no fan" theories are tiresome. Again, not much else to write about though.... Tough times.
The whole thing is tiresome but what's being written about here is being considered in more than one league/sport.

The NBA is considering this very thing this week: shortened season at a remote location among a few things.

Along the same lines the ACC is considering bringing in their athletes in isolated conditions.

The hope around campus is things are "operational" by June. Saban has suggested a 10-day camp type situation in June.

One thing I'm curious about is which league takes the lead and then how they're treated by the media. Are we going to see the "you shouldn't be doing it that way, you should be doing" sanctimony? I can see some getting on their high horses and being ratioed.
 
The whole thing is tiresome but what's being written about here is being considered in more than one league/sport.

The NBA is considering this very thing this week: shortened season at a remote location among a few things.

Along the same lines the ACC is considering bringing in their athletes in isolated conditions.

The hope around campus is things are "operational" by June. Saban has suggested a 10-day camp type situation in June.

One thing I'm curious about is which league takes the lead and then how they're treated by the media. Are we going to see the "you shouldn't be doing it that way, you should be doing" sanctimony? I can see some getting on their high horses and being ratioed.

You won't see any of that!!

If the national climate is not safe for fans, it's not safe for players. ESPECIALLY in college athletics.

It's that simple!
 
You won't see any of that!!

If the national climate is not safe for fans, it's not safe for players. ESPECIALLY in college athletics.

It's that simple!
"There's a way of doing that [bringing sports back]," Fauci said during a Snapchat interview.
Here's the plan ...
"Nobody comes to the stadium. Put them in big hotels, wherever you want to play. Keep them very well surveilled ... have them tested like every week and make sure they don’t wind up infecting each other or their family and just let them play the season out."

All I'm saying is these sports are considering these options. The NFL published their dates for training to begin ... caught a bit of a report on it this morning.
 
"There's a way of doing that [bringing sports back]," Fauci said during a Snapchat interview.
Here's the plan ...
"Nobody comes to the stadium. Put them in big hotels, wherever you want to play. Keep them very well surveilled ... have them tested like every week and make sure they don’t wind up infecting each other or their family and just let them play the season out."

All I'm saying is these sports are considering these options. The NFL published their dates for training to begin ... caught a bit of a report on it this morning.

I don't deny there are "plans" and "ideas".... It's just not realistic.

Think about the chain affect of 1 player testing positive after the league starts. A 2 team quarantine for 14 days?!

It's just not realistic to sequester 100's of people who are breathing air and eating food. Not to mention the testing associated with it.... Not just the logistical challenges but the perceptual challenges of those guys being constantly tested and the normal folks missing out.

I appreciate the optimism but don't see the path. JMO
 
People doing muscle memory in case or do they really know something? I assume the latter is what you are implying but what option do they have? Do they have anything to lose if they release lines if the season is cancelled?

I was thinking about this.

From my understanding - If there is "No Action", you'll need to keep that bet slip to get your refund. If you lose it... Tough luck.

That's a long time to hold onto some bet slips... For a hobbie that goes hand in hand with heavy drinking.... :ROFLMAO:
 
People doing muscle memory in case or do they really know something? I assume the latter is what you are implying but what option do they have? Do they have anything to lose if they release lines if the season is cancelled?
Good point. If the season does kick off they're not really re-opening, so to speak. It's bookmakers. They tend to have solid info they base decisions upon. Now, we're seeing Cuomo pushing for MLB as well?

Who knows? It's going to be interesting if we see California and NY take opposite approaches to when it all starts again.

(Heard something about Tennessee getting their final touches done on sports gambling...some N AL folks should love that.)
 
Good point. If the season does kick off they're not really re-opening, so to speak. It's bookmakers. They tend to have solid info they base decisions upon. Now, we're seeing Cuomo pushing for MLB as well?

Who knows? It's going to be interesting if we see California and NY take opposite approaches to when it all starts again.

(Heard something about Tennessee getting their final touches done on sports gambling...some N AL folks should love that.)

Colorado sports betting was SUPPOSED to open up on May 1. Heard an interview recently where it sounds like the actual implantation will be delayed for obvious reasons.

It will be cool to see how this rolls out in different states!
 
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