A prominent collegiate athletic conference has changed its mind about football and the pandemic.
A couple of months ago, when college football training camps normally would have been starting up for the fall season, two major college football conferences, the Big Ten and the Pac 12, decided that the COVID-19 pandemic warranted postponing football until the spring. Those decisions were made for a virtuous reason: to protect the health of players, coaches, fans and others who, in the normal course of a football season, would need to be brought into close physical proximity with one another. In the case of the Big Ten, the media announcements of the season's postponement noted that the presidents of two of its member schools, the University of Michigan and Michigan State University, are physicians.
But the nation's other three major college football conferences, the Big 12, the SEC and the ACC, have opted to proceed with their fall seasons. Two of those conferences already began their seasons last week, and major television networks have pieced together their Saturday afternoon and evening television schedules. It seems that at least some of these schools are permitting fans into their stadiums to attend the games, albeit in reduced numbers.
I am not an expert on major college football, but I believe these programs have three primary sources of revenue: television money, ticket sales and alumni donations. In deciding not to play games this fall, the Big Ten and the Pac 12 have forgone the first two of those and likely have hurt themselves in the third category. And the decision to postpone left some unhappy constituencies in its wake: players, their parents, coaches, alumni, students, fans and media organizations. That list covers virtually the entire ecosystem of college football.
And so perhaps it was not really that surprising that the Big Ten now has changed its mind. Here is Ralph Russo from the Associated Press:
Less than five weeks after pushing fall sports to spring in the name of player safety during the pandemic, the conference ran a reverse Wednesday and said it plans to open its football season the weekend of Oct. 23-24 ... All 14 teams will be scheduled to play eight regular-season games in eight weeks, plus have the opportunity to play a ninth game on Dec. 19 when the conference championship game is played. The College Football Playoff selections are scheduled for Dec. 20, which means the Big Ten's best should be back in the hunt for a national championship - if all goes well.
The Big Ten insisted that outside pressure was not a factor in the about-face:
Northwestern President Morton Schapiro, chairman of the presidents' council, said the turning point for him on giving the green light to football - even though many students have not been allowed back on his school's Evanston, Illinois, campus - didn't come until this past weekend.
"For me, it wasn't about political pressure, money or lawsuits," Schapiro said. "It was about the unanimous opinion of our experts. It evolved over the course of weeks."
Russo is a little skeptical, though:
The Big Ten will take a bow, but the conference has been battered for a month and businesses in college towns from Nebraska to Maryland have lost millions in sales. First-year Commissioner Kevin Warren was the main target, criticized for a lack of communication and not providing enough information to back the initial decision.
Among those sources of outside pressure was one who is omnipresent in both traditional and social media:
The decision to play came after sharp pressure from coaches, players, parents and even President Donald Trump, all of them pushing for a Big Ten football season. The conference is home to a number of battleground states in the November election, and Trump swiftly applauded the move ...
"I called the commissioner a couple of weeks ago and we started really putting a lot of pressure on, frankly," Trump recalled Wednesday. "There was no reason for it not to come back."
A couple of things worth noting: the Big Ten's fresh thinking takes place in the context of a sports entertainment landscape in which all four of the traditional major professional sports (Major League Baseball, the NFL, the NBA and the NHL) have resumed playing games in the midst of the pandemic. In addition, the professional golf and tennis tours are back in business. All of them have made significant changes to schedules and/or practices, incorporating enhanced testing, keeping fans away from games, and so on; and the Big Ten has promised it will adopt these best practices. Still, the professional sports haven't been infection-free; a couple of baseball franchises have had games canceled because of multiple positive COVID-19 tests among their players. But most of the professional athletes have remained infection-free, and there haven't been any instances of deaths or debilitating illnesses (that I'm aware of).
On the other hand, now that the academic year has resumed, colleges across the land, including at least one in the Big Ten (the University of Illinois), have become COVID-19 hotspots. Despite the perennial efforts of football coaches to keep their student athletes completely isolated from campus life, it's not really possible to completely control the behavior motivated young adults in college.
I think these decisions about whether or not to re-open, whether we are talking about a football season, a restaurant or a school, are genuinely difficult to make, with reasoned arguments and incomplete evidence that could take a decision-maker in different directions.
Nebraska's taking credit for it.
ReplyDelete"You’re welcome, Big Ten...The University of Nebraska and “The” Ohio State University led the charge to reverse a decision from Aug. 11 on Sept. 16. They were partners in protest. Brothers in bravado...The Big Ten leaned toward medical restriction in its plan, and maybe that’s how the vote became unanimous....Any player with a positive COVID-19 test will have to sit out for a full 21 days. When a team’s positivity rate goes over 5% and its community rate is over 7.5%, the entire team will stop competition for a minimum of seven days."
Personally, I don't care about football, and don't watch it. But I like to see people in a good mood, we could use a little of that.
One thing I don't want to see, but probably will, is Trump bragging that he "saved" the football season.
If the jocks want to risk playing games, I don't care. They have armies of minders who can keep them in a bubble and reduce their spreading bugs to us.
ReplyDeleteWhat is a bigger problem is the way East Lansing bars and restaurants are gearing up for booze-fueled watch parties.
In addition, quarantines now in effect in dozens of East Lansing frat houses will expire by the time Big 10 games get underway, which will result in more large parties, which the local cops have been unable to cope with even in "normal" times.
The frat boys will then spread the virus by traipsing all over the tri-county area--where they get groceries, buy gas, grab beer and chips, go to class, have part-time jobs, etc.
I am sorry that the Big 10 is so limited in its thinking.
The Big Ten is just trailing along behind the unfettered, unmasked southern conferences. In the South, high school football is the only community activity in town until the basketball season starts. It's pretty clear the kids and their parents have worked hard or this season when the NFL scouts will turn a few of the thousands of players into millionaires. It is hard to stop the next Tom Brady from playing. Even harder to stop the next Tom Brady's parents, one of whom (at least) went to court to get a judge to make them let his superstar show it.
ReplyDeleteBut I can't believe BEGINNING a season at the end of October in the Midwest with nothing but icy breezes and cloudy skies ahead.
Go U, Northwestern
Fight right through that snow
With your colors flying
At seventeen below...
Tom, you're right on all points.
DeleteAs for Northwestern games in October (or December) - I've been to many of them. Well, I've been to the first half of many of them. Now that Evanston is "wet", there are many warm, pleasant local places to thaw out for the second half.
Yes. They apparently built a new stadium since we used to sneak in, but it's in the same location, and when the wind comes off Lake Michigan something snug is definitely needed.
DeleteAs Jean points out the issue about all of this (playing sports, going back to high school or college) is not whether or not one can adopt a series of practices that will make it much safer. That obviously can be done, and it is well to continue living as best we can.
ReplyDeleteThe issue always is the decision of individuals and small groups to engage in risky behavior on the peripheries. No matter how well colleges and universities control the classrooms and even the dormitories they can't control very well the frat houses, off campus housing, and the bars and various other places to party. When there is a will to party they will party and spread the virus.
This is not simply a problem of youth, adults also engage in such risky behavior, and as the daylight becomes shorter more and more of this risky behavior is going to take place insider rather than outside. What has become very clear is that the virus spreads much more effectively indoors than outdoors.
You are right about risky behavior on the peripheries. Six houses in the Greek system at UNL have been suspended for not following the university's rules about gatherings. Of course outcry occurred. One student was quoted as saying "...but partying is a part of college life!". Silly me, I thought it was about education. Of course now the frats and sororities are saying that the university is prioritizing football. Which is true. Especially since the COVID count at UNL is up around 400. Lancaster county, which includes Lincoln, is the only county still in Phase 3 because of the sharp rise in cases there.
DeleteThe county where I live is in phase 2. Our positivity rate is 2.9%. Lancaster Cty NE is 7.5% and you are in phase 3? Does each state and county define the phases differently? Are your public schools open for in person classes? Ours are not.
DeleteThe governor decides what phase the counties in. He is basing it on our hospital ICU capacity not being maxed out, and the number of positive cases. Businesses and organizations are free to have their own rules in place. With all but one county in phase 4, gatherings in public buildings such as churches can go up to 75% capacity. Our pastor is supposed to announce what the parish is going to do this weekend. I sent him an email earlier in the week expressing concern about easing precautions prematurely.
DeleteNot all towns are having in-person classes in the schools. Ours is, with distancing and masks.
DeleteAnne, I think the discrepancies arise because state and local governmental entities use the phases to make different practical decisions.
DeleteFor instance, our county is part of a larger region (boundaries drawn by the state's chief medical officer), which is in Phase 4, though there is considerable variation among positivity rates within the region and even our county.
Our local schools are open with an online option. Other schools in the region are closed and in online mode only.
Governor Whitmer has lauded local health departments and city councils that have cracked down on local hot spots. At this point, though she has not taken it off the table, she seems disinclined to dial back openings.
What happens is that if you live in a deep red county like mine (Clinton), you will have far less interference in schools and businesses by local health departments and municipalities than you will just over the county line in a blue county (Ingham).
Moreover, our county sheriff has said he will not respond to complaints about covid19 precaution violations. In other areas, local law enforcement will respond to "educate" and "urge" those not complying to get with the program. In still other areas, such as East Lansing, Michigan, cops are fining people breaking quarantine if they receive complaints.
During the London bubonic plague of 1665, the local health authorities posted "watchers" outside quarantined homes. They were required to keep people inside and to run errands and bring food in.
Interesting. In Maryland, and in our county, they look at hospital beds available, ICU beds available, new cases/100,000, death rates, positivity rates. But each county is allowed to make decisions about when to move from one phase to another. Public schools are open in some counties (in person) but not in others. The county makes the decision.
DeleteIn our county there is some kind of exemption for private schools. So one local RC church's school is leaving it up to the parents - they can attend in person or virtually. Another is having everyone in school. A third local RC school made the news because a 3rd grade teacher and 3rd grade student both tested positive. The school is like a California school - all the classrooms open to the outdoors, so no students pass in the hallways. The third grade kids at that school are in quarantine at home now, attending virtually somehow. So far about 15 (private) schools in the county have reported Covid cases. Our EC parish is still only holding outdoor services on Sundays, but they have students in pre-K and K in the classrooms now. Not the 1st-8th though. I'm not sure why they haven't opened the classrooms for the older kids as many of the RC schools have done. Most of the private schools in the county(including Baron Trump's school) are only open virtually right now. Los Angeles has its positivity rate down to 3.5%, but all of the schools, public and private, are still virtual.
Katherine, maybe you should send this link to your pastor.
Deletehttps://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/idaho-pastor-who-prayed-against-mask-mandate-intensive-care-coronavirus-n1240422
Our church will tear down the ropes blocking every other pew, and resume collections (from baskets on poles) next month. Ohne mich, obviously. The story is that the Hispanic Masses have been going along cheerfully with up to 250 in a church that holds only 180 when social distance is measured, and no one is taking advantage of the streaming Mass outdoors in the pavilion.
DeleteMore troubling to me is that the large numbers of people receiving on the tongue daily and at the early Sunday Masses, which I noticed on my screen, are explained by the fact that people who can't take in the Host directly from the Sacred Fingers in other parishes have found that they can here. And, no, the celebrant is not sanitizing after each one. Only the celebrant offers his Sacred Hands up for superstition. Deacons and EMs deal only with mask wearers. Of course, deacons and EMs don't have Sacred Fingers so nobody wants their Hosts. Ahhhhmen.
Up to this point our pastor has been pretty careful about precautions for the parish. I hope that will continue, regardless of what the governor thinks is okay.
DeleteThis MRI study shows that a percentage of college athletes that had COVID showed signs of myocarditis and cellular damage. They did not yet compare them to a control group of those who didn't have COVID. If the disease turns some vigorous athletes into invalids, which it can, it will be interesting to see what the powers of denial can do. I have seen them at work with climate change and they are powerful.
ReplyDeleteThe study is covered here
https://www.the-scientist.com/news-opinion/college-athletes-experienced-heart-damage-after-covid-19-study-67929/amp
Interesting. We will likely never know to what extent "dietary supplements" and whatever other performance-enhancing substances might affect the incidence of myocarditis in athletes. These guys have a small army of doctors, physical therapists, nutritionists, etc. who pamper and coddle them as if they were thoroughbred horses. But their care and feeding remains largely opaque to he general public. These studies might bring some of its stuff to light.
DeleteThe federal model is only a model, the states are free to adapt it to their local conditions. While Ohio uses some of the federal system it has adapted it to our own needs.
ReplyDeleteIn effect the federal model and its data is a way for the feds and the states to talk about the problem with a common language and data, and here in Ohio the modified system is a way for the State to talk with county and city health and civic authorities.
Its a very flexible system as it should be. It is a good application of the Catholic notion of subsidiary pushing down decision making while maintaining a common framework
That was also my understanding. In theory, the flexibility for state and local response to the info sounds great. But not all state and local entities are bothering to weigh economic and public health considerations equally, to consider the strain on local health care facilities or ability of residents to access health care, or to contradict the president who is providing covid info from the realms of his imagination.
DeleteI get the theory. Our governor gets (I think) the theory. But he uses ever changing sets of data, some of which he says the public doesn't have access to (why?) to make his phasing decisions. And, within the phases, there is some room for local tweaks. He wants his hands on everything but responsibility for nothing.
Delete"...wants his hands on everything but responsibility for nothing." You mean kind of like Trump?
Delete