Big Ten cancels football season

Joseph's Coat wrote:

Why don't they just make it simple and cancel all fall sports?

Because football is different from XC, which is different from soccer, which is different from....

douglas burke wrote:

Their talking about having it in the Spring, but it could be even worse by then, I kind of think the Tokyo Olympics rescheduled for 2021 will be cancelled as well AGAIN. What if it takes 5 or more years for a Vaccine that has no negative side effects to be created? At some point we have to get back to normal. I have great trust that the people in charge will do the right thing as they have our best interest's at heart.

Talk of a SAFE & EFFECTIVE covid-19 is a placebo to pacify us all.

* Name another corona virus for which vaccine is safe & effective.

* We know since Big Pharma is injecting trial vaccine made from LIVE COVID-19 virus creates anti-bodies, but we do not know for what time duration. If less than six months, vaccine is near worthless.

* Will Big Pharma ever do vaccine trials with their live covid-19 on volunteers with co-morbidities? If those over age 70, if obese, if those with heart disease, if those on high blood pressure meds, if those with asthma cannot take Big Pharma's live vaxx of covid-19, what's the point?

* We know it is impossible that Big Pharma will produce a corona vaxx that will last 50 plus years like a polio vaxx. This has all been a HUGE Big Pharma money grab.

All we can do is: wear masks, stay out of pubs & night clubs and stay healthy via diet & exercise.

Adhere to stronger guidelines and you tamp down the cases and deaths to almost nothing within six to eight weeks. They did that successfully in every other major Western as well as Asian country. We are the one outlier among industrialized nations. Then you keep things careful until there is a vaccine, probably emerging in five months, and the death toll would be far lower. For the Big Ten, there were several things going on. We've seen that football practice, even with care, results in lots of infections. They spread to older coaches and family. Some die. The profits require not only TV but also large stadiums with 100,000 or more fans. They lost the latter already. Then it turns out that the virus is not harmless for the players. One study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association of adult patients in Germany put the ratio of a kind of heart inflammation (myocarditis) from the virus at 60%. This can last several months. It's not known how long. But it puts you at increased risk of heart failure. The players are at much higher risk of heart failure under these circumstances. That was the kicker for the Big Ten.

https://www.espn.com/college-football/story/_/id/29633697/heart-condition-linked-covid-19-fuels-power-5-concern-season-viability

No, you can't call this a Big Pharma money grab. Vaccines in general are unprofitable. The Trump administration wants to make this one profitable, but he has the power to limit that profitability and compel manufacture. Two large corporations, including Johnson & Johnson, have pledged to do it for free. Big Pharma likes expensive medicines for chronic diseases, not one off or even yearly vaccines.

Joseph's Coat wrote:

Why don't they just make it simple and cancel all fall sports?

Because it's the money-maker that gets the prime focus. The rest are a tertiary concern and necessarily follow what happens with the money-maker.

Forever?

Liability.

This last Federal "relief" bill was supposed to address Covid 19 liability, it did not. Without that protection, the NCAA told the schools that they were on their own. So if they get sued by an athlete, a coach, an administrator, media member, fan, employee working an event... they are not protected.

Biden will be the savior. Experts will immediately determine that masks are not really helpful. VitaminD is good. Herd immunity is almost within reach so we need to get back to school and sports and work. The stock market will soar and the virus will be back page news. How much press does black on black murder get? How much does white police officer on black murder get? Ask somebody on the street how many blacks are murdered by police as compared to how many are murdered by other blacks and they will essentially switch the numbers around. The same will happen with the media and Covid after the election.

So the same as the flu or slipping on the ice?

The common cold is also a coronavirus. Look it up. Ee don’t collapse the global economy from the common cold and flu. Both have the same effect on compromised chronic disease state.

The NCAA is stuck between a rock and a hard place. If they give into the players' demands they are basically going to set the table for a union of college football athletes (and basketball down the line). They're also going to bite the bullet as far as costs of reaching the players' demands, future liability and so on. That is probably more damaging long-term than moving the season to spring or skipping a season.

Football programs have basically been run under the assumption that the money would never run out. Consider the absurd amount colleges are paying on their staffs, buyouts, facilities and so on to keep up with the Joneses. It was obviously fueled by not paying the players, and just giving scholarships instead. Hopefully, common sense wins out and they start paying the players a token amount, allow them to profit off of their likeness, autographs, appearances, social media etc. Then stop paying the strength coach $300K and your position coaches just as much when 75% of CFB is predicated on talent anyhow.

TV money far exceeds tickets sales. I can tell you from my friends that work in P5 schools they have already asked season ticket holders to donate their funds to the athletic department. LSU, Ole Miss and Texas have already done this.

12 out of the 14 or 13 out of 14 big ten schools are allowing kids back on campus. It raises the question. If it's unsafe to play football why is it unsafe for kids to return to campus? These student athletes are all in the the dorms that are mainly used for football. They are surround by medical staff.

The big 10 didn't have tons of infections..... that's not true.

This is all about politics..

No it is liability and the costs of testing and meeting the players' demands. That heart condition stopped the Big 10 in its tracks.

It also feels ironic there's the argument that the kids would be safer playing football under the university's care than at home in poorer/rural areas. Wouldn't they be at school taking classes and not at home event if they weren't paying? Oh, right you assume they're not really student-athletes...

coe vid wrote:

Biden will be the savior. Experts will immediately determine that masks are not really helpful. VitaminD is good. Herd immunity is almost within reach so we need to get back to school and sports and work. The stock market will soar and the virus will be back page news. How much press does black on black murder get? How much does white police officer on black murder get? Ask somebody on the street how many blacks are murdered by police as compared to how many are murdered by other blacks and they will essentially switch the numbers around. The same will happen with the media and Covid after the election.

I don’t think so. It’s true that we wouldn’t hear about Covid as much if Hillary was in office right now. However, if Biden wins and cases don’t go down, then the media can just continue to blame Trump for the US response for a few years, which should be long enough for the pandemic to end.

coe vid wrote:

Biden will be the savior. Experts will immediately determine that masks are not really helpful. VitaminD is good. Herd immunity is almost within reach so we need to get back to school and sports and work. The stock market will soar and the virus will be back page news. How much press does black on black murder get? How much does white police officer on black murder get? Ask somebody on the street how many blacks are murdered by police as compared to how many are murdered by other blacks and they will essentially switch the numbers around. The same will happen with the media and Covid after the election.

Too true.

THOUGHTSLEADER wrote:

No it is liability and the costs of testing and meeting the players' demands. That heart condition stopped the Big 10 in its tracks.

It also feels ironic there's the argument that the kids would be safer playing football under the university's care than at home in poorer/rural areas. Wouldn't they be at school taking classes and not at home event if they weren't paying? Oh, right you assume they're not really student-athletes...

The football players are still presumably now more likely to get COVID and whatever heart conditions come with it as they will be tested less.

Not sure why a student athletes not playing football but still in school can't sue.

This is the most accurate answer.

University presidents consulted their lawyers and simply asked them if they could pull this off without liability, and the lawyers said no. Easy decision.

The concussion fallout in the NFL cost them billions. College institutions simply cannot afford that.

Being a Big 10 alum, I will greatly miss college football this fall, but if I had a kid playing I wouldn't want him or her taking that long term health risk.

SummerSloggerr wrote:

Joseph's Coat wrote:

Why don't they just make it simple and cancel all fall sports?

Because football is different from XC, which is different from soccer, which is different from....

Surely you're not serious. No way other fall sports continue if not football. Just from a public relations standpoint if nothing else.

I am wondering the same thing. I can see doing this for another year (I guess), since it's already been 4+ months. But for the next 5 years? 20 years?