Professional sports are struggling as they try to figure out the best courses of action amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Things like bubble leagues and playing games in front of empty stadiums have been kicked around as a result, but the truth is that no one knows exactly how this is all going to happen because figuring out a course of action during a pandemic is nearly impossible.
These issues are far more complicated for college athletics, namely college football, which is oftentimes the primary way that universities are able to generate revenue to fund their athletic departments. Having no college football season would be devastating for schools nationwide, but at the same time, it is tough to keep up the bogus definition of “student-athlete” if football players are the only students on campus because they have to play games and rake in gobs and gobs of cash that they’ll never see.
As such, Chris Fowler of ESPN floated an idea that is apparently becoming popular among decision-makers: moving the upcoming CFB season to the start of 2021, but still having it play out.
“It seems unlikely, given the fact that the virus is cresting and the peak is at different places at different times, we’re suddenly going to be back to normal to get the crowd back in stadiums everywhere by late August and early September,” Fowler said to Sports Business Daily recently, per ProFootballTalk.
Fowler said that this means the idea of kicking off the season in February and running it through May is becoming popular and that “reasonable people feel like it might be the most prudent course of action.” He also said that there has to be “clarity” on how the currently-scheduled 2020 season can happen “by the end of May.”
The thought of Big Ten country holding football games in February and March seems particularly rough, but there is a case to be made that this would be a good way to save this season if it can be done safely. Holding meaningful football games in the spring would admittedly be pretty interesting, especially if they would occur while the NBA and NHL are going through their postseasons, MLB and MLS are beginning their campaigns, and college hoops is in the midst of the NCAA Tournament.
There are, of course, questions to be asked about how feasible. Can a team have any sort of lengthy winter camp in the lead-up to the year? Would the 2021 season kick off in September, giving players four or five months to rest and heal their bodies? And what of things like the NFL Draft, which would almost certainly have to change up how it operates because it would happen during the season, and questions about players’ eligibility? Oh, and on that note, how on earth could the NCAA continue to argue that these are student-athletes who do not deserve any sort of compensation for the revenue they generate when literally the entire college football season got shifted so athletic departments could be funded?
For how badly everyone wants to see one last year of Trevor Lawrence at Clemson, or Justin Fields at Ohio State, or Ja’Marr Chase at LSU, or Penei Sewell at Oregon, or Micah Parsons at Penn State, or any of the numerous other star players who are likely heading to the NFL as soon as possible, the best course of action for the well-being of athletes might be to scrap the 2020 season and bring college football back in 2021. As for whether or not that is the best course of action in general, though, is something that will not be determined by players, which is fitting considering everything we know about the business of college football.