Paul Finebaum has some sobering comments about potential of 2020 football season
By SDS Staff
Published:
As coronavirus cases continue to increase in the United States, there’s a real threat to potentially missing or delaying the college football season.
Paul Finebaum thinks that folks need to come to grips that there might not be a football season due to COVID-19. The SEC Network analyst and radio host joined AM850 radio in Gainesville this week, and he had some sobering comments about the prospect of college football.
“It’s an absolutely fair statement to make,” he said after he was questioned is it fair that there might not be a season, via 247Sports.com. “It doesn’t matter what we thought a month ago. The football season is in peril right now. I wish everyone would get on the same page and quit trying to sell a false hope. What I mean by that … you have athletic directors and people like that saying ‘we expect a full stadium on Labor Day weekend’. No they don’t. And if you look at the numbers, it’s going very badly.
“I understand that we don’t know the answers yet, but let’s not con the buying public. That’s what I’ve tried to do. None of us have the answers at the moment. I think it’s time to get a reality check. Anyone that thinks this is a normal season is completely delusional. Right now I’m hoping for anything as you are, but the way the country is going from a COVID standpoint is a very dangerous sign.”
Finebaum was referring to athletic directors like Phillip Fulmer who continue to publicly say they are expecting capacity crowds at football games.
So, what if the college football season isn’t played this year? Finebaum is convinced that schools like Florida and Georgia can survive it. Others, meanwhile, might not be so lucky.
“I can’t guarantee this, but something tells me that the University of Florida and Georgia and others will survive a year without college football,” Finebaum said. “Nobody wants to, but that’s why you have endowments. That’s why universities have medical and research operations that supply a lot of income. I was speaking to the University of Michigan president when he created a hubbub saying ‘we aren’t having a game when students aren’t on campus’. I think he said the overall budget for the school is $2 Billion and college football was not that big a part of that.”
Although Finebaum is sounding the alarm, he isn’t ready to call it quits yet. However, he knows the next month is absolutely critical to having a season.
“We all want the same thing,” Finebaum said. “I don’t know anyone that doesn’t want college football. But I do think university presidents and athletic directors are going to be careful.
“And by the way, up until now, nobody’s said anything that’s incorrect. Everyone’s planning for the same thing and as I say that I’m saying that I’m looking up at my screen and Anthony Fauci is saying this thing could get a lot worse and it’s going to. So let’s try to look at it realistically. If you’re looking at it objectively and realistically, the next month is critical.”
Saturday Down South reports and comments on the news around the Southeastern Conference as well as larger college football topics.
