(04-02-2020 04:20 PM)quo vadis Wrote:  

(04-02-2020 01:14 PM)Wedge Wrote:  

(04-02-2020 11:00 AM)quo vadis Wrote:  

(04-02-2020 10:53 AM)ken d Wrote:  I'm not sure I see the point of playing games in either the spring or fall if they would be played without fans.

Agreed, that would be pointless and stupid. College football exists first and foremost for the attendee in the seats. It's not a "made for TV" sport, despite the huge media deals.

In contrast, a sport like Horse Racing primarily exists for betting, and so running the races without fans in the stands is fine. A few iconic races like the Triple Crown races notwithstanding.

On the contrary, it's never been solely for the people inside the stadium. The people going to the game are just one part of the story.

Every major college football game has far more alumni and other fans following on TV and internet than in the stands. Before games were televised, there were more listening on radio than in the stands.

To me, they are an essential part of the story.

Hey, maybe you are right and we will see Florida vs Georgia in an empty Jacksonville stadium in October. But i won't bet on it (LOL). There will be a regular game with 90,000 in the stands, or no game.

We shall see.

How about 15,000 with every 3rd seat in every other row only occupied by mandatory social distancing. And arriving 3 hours ahead of time as people are seated one at a time.

Pac-12 Presidents won't allow football until after they reopen campuses. If it's not safe for classes, it's not safe for Football or athletics. So no training camp until after that happens.

https://www.mercurynews.com/2020/04/07/h...-and-more/

I don't think Pac-12 schools are different than other leagues in this respect. It seems unlikely that we will be back to open campuses in August, as we wont be at zero new cases. We really have to have a couple weeks of no new cases anywhere for campuses to reopen. It only takes a few to infect thousands with a couple weeks of congregating in stadiums and classrooms. My BOE estimates based on doubling the number of deaths and putting the death rate at 0.5% tells me only 3 million people have contracted the virus, meaning 327 million people still have no immunity.

(04-07-2020 01:18 PM)Stugray2 Wrote:  Pac-12 Presidents won't allow football until after they reopen campuses. If it's not safe for classes, it's not safe for Football or athletics. So no training camp until after that happens.

https://www.mercurynews.com/2020/04/07/h...-and-more/

I don't think Pac-12 schools are different than other leagues in this respect. It seems unlikely that we will be back to open campuses in August, as we wont be at zero new cases. We really have to have a couple weeks of no new cases anywhere for campuses to reopen. It only takes a few to infect thousands with a couple weeks of congregating in stadiums and classrooms. My BOE estimates based on doubling the number of deaths and putting the death rate at 0.5% tells me only 3 million people have contracted the virus, meaning 327 million people still have no immunity.

Swarbrick was interviewed on Finebaum yesterday. He said they won't be playing football before an empty stadium.

No AD is going to stage football without the cover of a well respected medical official and an open campus. If they cancel the Fall Semester there goes football.

And I'd like somebody to give a follow up to anybody like Swarbrick that says no football in an empty stadium: Define empty very precisely. Fat cats in the boxes isn't empty. One family/person with 5 seat spacing on the row with alternating empty rows isn't empty.

(04-07-2020 02:39 PM)JRsec Wrote:  

(04-07-2020 01:18 PM)Stugray2 Wrote:  Pac-12 Presidents won't allow football until after they reopen campuses. If it's not safe for classes, it's not safe for Football or athletics. So no training camp until after that happens.

https://www.mercurynews.com/2020/04/07/h...-and-more/

I don't think Pac-12 schools are different than other leagues in this respect. It seems unlikely that we will be back to open campuses in August, as we wont be at zero new cases. We really have to have a couple weeks of no new cases anywhere for campuses to reopen. It only takes a few to infect thousands with a couple weeks of congregating in stadiums and classrooms. My BOE estimates based on doubling the number of deaths and putting the death rate at 0.5% tells me only 3 million people have contracted the virus, meaning 327 million people still have no immunity.

Swarbrick was interviewed on Finebaum yesterday. He said they won't be playing football before an empty stadium.

Figured as much -- and watch it be the same for pro sports. The same principle that cautions against packing fans in a stadium also applies to packing people on a playing surface. Coronavirus doesn't magically skip away because there's now 250 people instead of 50k people.

(04-07-2020 03:15 PM)IWokeUpLikeThis Wrote:  Figured as much -- and watch it be the same for pro sports. The same principle that cautions against packing fans in a stadium also applies to packing people on a playing surface. Coronavirus doesn't magically skip away because there's now 250 people instead of 50k people.

Thorough and immediate testing in massive numbers (we're talking 1m units per day) means you no longer have to sequester to track and deal with the virus.

Both SI.com and "The Oklahoman" savaged Oklahoma State's Coach Mike Grundy for his "plan" to bring players back to campus on May 1 to begin football practice for the fall.

https://www.si.com/college/2020/04/08/mi...-dangerous

https://oklahoman.com/article/5659705/op...oronavirus

(04-07-2020 11:37 PM)ICThawk Wrote:  Both SI.com and "The Oklahoman" savaged Oklahoma State's Coach Mike Grundy for his "plan" to bring players back to campus on May 1 to begin football practice for the fall.

https://www.si.com/college/2020/04/08/mi...-dangerous

https://oklahoman.com/article/5659705/op...oronavirus

Well, the school shut his plan down quickly following his diatribe.


EDIT:
Also, The Audible had an interview with Texas A&M AD Ross Bjork last week on the economic impact of COVID-19 on his department.

And Sports Business Journal spoke with former Rep. Tom McMillen, who now heads Lead1, the athletic directors association, and they also discussed the economic and educational ramifications from COVID-19.

Lead1 also put out a survey of ADs, which was the basis of their discussion.

Quote:“There will definitely be individuals who will get sick. And because there are individuals who get sick, there will be individuals who die after the order is released, unless we come up with a foolproof immunization, which is highly unlikely,” said Dr. Jeffrey Smith, Santa Clara County executive officer.

Smith on Tuesday told that county’s Board of Supervisors that he did not expect there would be “any sports games until at least Thanksgiving, and we’d be lucky to have them by Thanksgiving. This is not something that’s going to be easy to do.”

Source: https://www.latimes.com/california/story...rus-trends

From the same article:

Quote:There are no easy answers about when state officials could begin to dial back the strict stay-at-home orders.

Public health officer Dr. Sara Cody said at a Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors meeting Tuesday there were four things that would need to be in place for stay-at-home orders to be eased:

1. Robust hospital capacity

Hospitals must be able to safely treat residents with the care they need when they need it. That also means hospitals must be able to protect healthcare workers, such as with adequate supplies of masks, gowns and gloves.

Hospitals across California are continuing to find more space to prepare for additional hospital cases. In Marin County, with a population of about 260,000, officials say models suggest a continuous increase in COVID-19 cases and a possible surge in the next two to six weeks. They have been able to increase staffed bed capacity from 239 to about 400.

2. The ability to test for the virus broadly

Being able to test any patients who are showing symptoms is essential. The U.S. has been hobbled by a persistent shortage of tests.

3. The ability to rapidly investigate new cases and isolate the newly infected

Local health officials need to be able to investigate new cases, isolate the newly infected, and find those who may have had close contact with them and quarantine them to see if they show signs of illness.

“When we started back in the end of January, that’s exactly what we were doing: We carefully investigated every case, we carefully traced every contact, but of course, with the counts that we have today, we are not able to do that, and neither is anyone else,” Cody said.

4. Sustained reduction in new coronavirus cases

Finally, “we really need to see the sustained reduction in cases,” Cody said, and it would need to persist for at least one incubation period — the time it might take between infection and when a person shows signs of illness.

“We want to reassure ourselves that, for at least 14 days, we see that things have settled down,” Cody said.