which I am guessing is where the inevitably comments in the Dennis Dodd article came from, the question becomes whether the other three will still play, if they think the risks are manageable?
First, would there be a national championship playoff? If not, would a “coalition of the willing” (SEC, Big XII, ACC and perhaps MWC/AAC) hold their own playoff and/or bowls?
If there is no playoff, would the SEC and others just have conference play anyway, and maybe some bowls?
If there is going to be spring football, would there be a playoff and bowls? The level of trust between the conferences right now is probably, to put it kindly, very low. If the Big Ten and Pac 10 shut it down for the fall, but others think they can play, I find it difficult to believe that everyone is going to want to try to work something out for the spring.
If the Pac-12 and Big Ten shut down, my opinion is everyone shuts down. Which is what Dennis was saying. The optics are terrible. The SEC would be saying “football is more important than public health and the health of our athletes” if it keeps playing after other P5 leagues shut down. Which I know some actually believe is true, but it’s terrible public relations and the conference would be justifiably shredded from all sides.
You know what I’ve been told about it, I already believe this to be true. I also doubt that fall sports will be played. I think once these kids are exposed to each other the virus will have an uptick among the youth (k-college), and we will see schools again go to online only.
And on top of everything else, we’re now finding that people who get the virus are developing myocarditis, which is a very serious infection that damages the heart. You do not want heart ailments in athletes. Ask Khalid Garland, Or Hank Gathers’ family.
Myocarditis, in fact, may be the tipping point that leads to the cancellation of the 2020 football season. Nobody wants a repeat of Gathers – an athlete dropping dead in the middle of a game,.Already one MLB athlete, Red Sox pitcher Eduardo Rodriguez, shut down his 2020 season after developing myocarditis.
Yes, a OLineman at one of the B1G schools (this was a tweet from someone on ESPN), got C-19 and now has heart issues (he was a freshmen). That alone should shut down the sports this fall.