Talk is starting about college football possibly moving to a spring season
With coronavirus cases on the rise and Dr. Anthony Fauci claiming the numbers could climb even higher — “100,000 a day,” the good doctor told Congress — there’s talk of pushing college football back on the calendar. Way back.
Orlando Sentinel columnist Mike Bianchi writes the the powers that be should consider shifting the sport to the spring, especially now that outbreaks have us thinking we might not see football at all.
Excerpt:
Which is why college football athletic directors and conference commissioners need to start seriously thinking about pushing back the season to spring. A decision doesn’t need to be made today, but as Nebraska AD Bill Moos told the Lincoln Journal Star recently, a decision is going to have to be made by the third week of July.
“I’m holding out hope that we’ll play,” Moos said. “But every time I turn around lately, it seems like the pandemic is spiking somewhere, and that’s concerning because it starts pushing our backs against the wall.”
SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey has also said it could be late July before we know for sure whether college football will start on time.
Meanwhile, the Ivy League is seriously considering skipping fall ball in favor of seven conference-only games in the spring. And you know if the Ivy League is considering it, those folks are taking the situation seriously.
So is Oklahoma Coach Lincoln Riley. The Sooners leader was critical of schools bringing in student-athletes for voluntary workouts on June 1, saying that date was too early and too risky. Now Riley has told Yahoo’s Pete Thamel that he doesn’t see a problem with a spring season.
Excerpt:
For Riley, he said the option to play in the spring is becoming “more real,” while his preference remains playing safely in the fall. Riley and OU officials have been cautious about players returning to campus, as the Sooners report July 1 for voluntary workouts. (Big 12 teams were eligible to return June 15.) Riley points to the potential of medical advancements such as treatments and vaccines as a primary reason to consider waiting.
“It’s very doable,” Riley told Yahoo Sports about playing football in the spring. “This can happen. We’ve been a part of putting together models of what that would potentially look like. This season is going to be different, we might as well come to terms with that. If we do decide that the spring is the best option, if we get to that point, we shouldn’t be scared of it. It’s very doable.”
I wrote Tuesday about the possibility of not having fans in the stands this fall and what that would do to the home-field advantage dynamic. But if it is unsafe for the players and the fans in the fall, why not wait until spring when hopefully we will have a vaccine or a therapy? Then maybe we can have full stadiums, as well.
That is, warns Fauci, if people are willing to get the vaccine.
In the meantime, wear a mask.
Update: Brandon Marcello of 247Sports says he was told by a source that the SEC has had no formal discussions about possibly moving college football to the spring of 2021. (Maybe it should start.)
This story was originally published July 1, 2020 at 11:38 AM.
