This is something I read on Twitter yesterday from a former teammate of mine during Summer ball and I thought it was an interesting take on the future of college sports for this year. He quoted the NCAA President Emmert, “college athletes are college students, and you can’t have college sports if you don’t have college (campuses) open and having students on them.” Simple, no students, no sports. With the uncertainty of professional sports being even played this year, I’m sure the NCAA is facing the same problems trying to figure out a safe way to conduct a safe season. But if students aren’t allowed back on campuses then there’s little chance student-athletes would be able to compete in any sports, especially fall sports like football.
With any fall sport in jeopardy of even being played, it makes one wonder what a year without college football would be like. For many schools their football programs bring in a ton of money, from boosters, ticket sales, merchandise and concessions. Without any football, universities will be missing out on a huge portion of their revenue. So the question comes into play, if there is no fall sports, should universities look into spending more money on it’s spring sports, which are more likely to have a chance to have a season. This would mean putting money into sports that wouldn’t see big time money because a lot of money is spent on the sports that bring in more revenue for the university. These sports would include baseball, track and field, amongst others.
Football and basketball are two sports that bring in a ton of revenue for many universities, without that money we may see many universities struggle to stay afloat. The larger universities may be able to weather the storm by putting money into other sports to try and make up for the loss of revenue, but smaller universities may not have that luxury. Thankfully universities will still be able to operate and support students online if students aren’t allowed to stay on campus. Universities are education institutes first, this puts more pressure on the university to have a good virtual online class system in place in order to satisfy student needs, which could cost them a lot of money. With the value of degrees already seemingly decreasing, it’s going to be harder for university to convince students that paying high tuition for online courses is justified.
It’s going to be interesting within the coming months to see how everything plays out, but universities must start planning for the worst now. We could see positive news coming within the next couple months that would allow sports to be played in the fall on college campuses, but for now it seems that having a successful and safe fall sports season is illogical. At the moment there are just too many variables that we do not know about to ensure a safe season for everyone involved. I would hate the idea of no college football or basketball for this year, but with all the obstacles major sports are trying to jump through to have a season, it may be a likely scenario. The NCAA could move certain sports to the spring if things keep trending in the right direction, but we don’t have enough information or resources at the moment to make a right decision. If student athletes are denied their fall sports, there should be an extra year of eligibility for those athletes who missed the year. With MLB and it’s players currently in negotiations for a possible season this year, an approval of a plan would be a glimmer of hope for any sport in the future.
The Washed Up Athlete 