West Virginia athletic director Shane Lyons– present chair of the NCAA Football Oversight Committee– wrote to the board today: “Feedback has actually regularly suggested that protecting a football season in the fall in some format is highly chosen.”
Yes, but at what cost? FBS football had already been moving, in fits and begins, toward a supreme choice that might follow week or two.
Nevertheless, the Power Five has shown a willingness to kick the can down the road prior to it has to delay, cancel the season or hold off. A late start, two-semester football, even football in Spring 2021 are on the table.
The possibility of the 2020 college football season being played this fall just got in another DEFCON level. Call it what you desire– a tipping point, high alert, Judgment Day.
On Friday, the NCAA Board of Governors is scheduled to think about voting on whether to cancel fall championships. One source told CBS Sports that is the only program product for the NCAAs greatest governing body.
In essence, Friday might become that go/no go moment for the college football season.
While the vote– in the minute– would have no direct or instant influence on the FBS, the implications of such a choice are considerable, layered, perhaps awful and complex.
That corner? Well, how would it look if the NCAA isnt staging fall championships in 22 sports however those 130 FBS programs decided to soldier onward, essentially on their own?
Answer: bad.
Its enormously bad optics, for beginners. Numerous conferences and teams in lower divisions have actually currently chosen not to play at sports at all in the fall.
On the other hand, for months, the Power Five and the rest of FBS have been stabilizing the “requirement” to play– and earn the income that comes from those video games– with the knowledge of playing at all amid the coronavirus pandemic.
How would that look if big-time football kept going? Thats why Friday is ending up being an inflection point. And incorrect satisfy corporate politics.
The coronavirus has currently increased an existing uneasiness between the Power Five and the NCAA. Could this be the problem that causes those schools to ultimately break off by themselves?
If so, at what expenditure, if this becomes viewed as a sort of power play and even one player becomes hospitalized?
We might require football for our psychological well-being, but there are schools that need football to continue running an athletic department.
Amongst those 22 fall sports that might efficiently be canceled by the NCAA are FCS, Division II and Division III football. Those divisions phase playoffs, simply not ones as financially rewarding as the College Football Playoff.
You see, if there are no fall championships, there might be groups and conferences in those 22 sports that just dont play. And who could blame them?
That is controlled by the 130 teams, their conferences, their commissioners, ESPN and the College Football Playoff.
Its not like major-college football cant afford it. Football remains the monetary chauffeur of major-college sports. Football income accounts for 80% of the average FBS athletic spending plan. How would that look if big-time football kept going?
While the season most likely isnt going to disappear Friday, it soon could. Through that board– mainly presidents and chancellors from all NCAA departments– the association has more utilize than ever over major-college football, a sport of which it has actually mostly lost oversight.
The FBS– especially the Power Five conferences– has actually primarily been autonomous from the NCAA for years. The NCAA does not stage an FBS champion. That is controlled by the 130 teams, their conferences, their commissioners, ESPN and the College Football Playoff.
With Fridays vote, the board could recover some of that lost turf while backing the FBS football into a corner.
The NCAA can rest conveniently on the ethical high ground. It quickly canceled the NCAA Tournament followed by winter season and spring championships in March after the pandemic hit.
No one can refute that. The boards newest choice is about more than security. This time, the ideal thing to do not only involves prudence, principles and health but likewise football-shaped dollar signs.
” The choices that the board of governors make … will be very, extremely critical,” Emmert said Wednesday.
Blumenthal was part of a group of legislators today who grilled NCAA president Mark Emmert concerning image, name and likeness legislation. Emmert continues to ask Congress for an antitrust exemption in implementing NIL.
” Youre asking us for antitrust exemption … and time is not on your side,” Blumenthal told Emmert.
Its not like major-college football cant manage it. Football stays the monetary driver of major-college sports. Football profits accounts for 80% of the average FBS athletic budget plan. In general, it is a $4 billion business.
The gamers are still, after all, novices with little say in how theyre returning to play in the fog of COVID-19.
” We are viewing a slow-motion disaster,” Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) stated Thursday during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing.
Perhaps. A few of the games power brokers in the FBS have actually aggressively advised the board not to cancel fall sports because they know how it would look.
Before any of that takes place, the Big Ten and Pac-12 have actually already relocated to conference-only schedules. The SEC, ACC and Big 12 will apparently choose their near-term futures by the end of the month.
Few expect any of them to delay the season. Not.
” The impact of the virus can move considerably from week to week,” Lyons advised the board.
Whether hope is a strategy because regard stays to be seen.
Both the NCAA and big-time football have long been slammed for preferring earnings over academics, professional athletes rights and security. The pandemic has separated them into various silos in this minute.
