Could college football be played without fans in stands? Big 12 commissioner thinks it's possible
Big 12 commissioner Bob Bowlsby is just like the rest of us; he wants college football in 2020.
With the coronavirus outbreak all over the world, the NCAA canceled March Madness and all spring sports. The SEC specifically canceled all spring sports and put all organized practices on hold until April 15 at a minimum. SEC commissioner Greg Sankey isn’t ready to close the door on spring practice though.
“I’m not overly optimistic about the return of practice, we haven’t fully closed that opportunity, but practically that window is pretty narrow,” he added.
So much is up in the air in a sports-less America right now, and fans are already wondering about college football this fall. Obviously, it’s way too early to tell, but that hasn’t stopped people from discussing the subject.
On Thursday during a teleconference, Bowlsby said there’s a chance that fans won’t be in the stands for games this year.
Big 12 commish Bob Bowlsby said there is a chance football games could be played this fall w/out fans in stadium but “it’s hard to forecast those things”
— Brett McMurphy (@Brett_McMurphy) March 26, 2020
This would certainly make sense in some ways. It limits exposure for fans, but again, it depends on if the COVID-19 pandemic has been contained.
For me unless it’s a big game it would probably be a pass watching with no fans. Fans create the atmosphere and that is everything to a game.
I would much rather watch without fans than not have football. No football would also kill athletic budgets for the sports later in the season as only basketball is self supporting for most schools.
I agree, and the programs could at least get the TV money. But I think this will be over before the end of summer.
I sure hope you are correct about this being over, or at least under control.
The good thing about social distancing is it saves lives. The bad thing is keeping large parts of the populous unexposed. That makes bridges for the virus to back track where it has already been. We need to know more about the mutation rate and related immunity. Immunity, if any, from first exposure with regard to even non-mutated forms. These factors made the result of the pandemic in 1917-19 like night and day in many geographic regions. For example: that flu killed nobody in Fort Riley, Kansas where at least one of the bugs first got rolling. But where our troops landed in Europe a new form mutated and it killed 10% of everyone it infected. We just don’t know how many mutations will break out and whether they will be more mild (undetectable even) or more severe. It would help if we could trust China’s statistics but I think they will be the last to tell the truth. Especially since their wet market practices caused the virus to have mutation opportunity at ground zero. The question is “How do you hold even a practice if there is any chance the team will pass it around? Especially in light of trends that make younger people more at risk. That spring break ignorance makes me question if admission standards are now putting the dumbest high school grads in college.