I was originally going to write a post when the Big Ten and Pac-12 postponed their season, but as with life, I got super busy. Instead, I held off on writing for a couple weeks to see if cooler heads prevailed. And they have? Those pesky sports parents seem to not be protesting as much while not all college football conferences cancelled their seasons.
I guess as a society, we’re still in a holding pattern.
Maybe cancelling the football season was not as bad as we thought. While most of the country appears to be in a slightly better place than a couple weeks ago, playing college football feels like a wild experiment waiting to happen. Not paying players or providing them liability in case they get COVID-19 is a dangerous proposition. The NFL going full steam ahead makes sense. These are grown ass men wanting to making money. They have families to feed.
These college kids want that responsibility, but they could ruin their career by getting COVID or harming their draft stock. But Sean?!? (in your cool voice) “In a regular season, these players could break their collarbone or leg, and that would be the same ordeal.” Not so. This is a pandemic. No one knows the long-term effects, and these “regular” football injuries are protected as much as they can be with gear. A respiratory disease sounds a lot worse.
If there were some type of protections or payment, the case is settled. Otherwise, the schools, conferences, and television networks are milking these players while the administrators conduct their meetings virtually. Give the players some type of benefit.
In college, I never thought athletes deserved compensation. Chad Owens, I think that was his name, gave a speech in my class about college athletes needing to be paid. (He was on the UNI football team.) At the time, I disagreed. Now, not so much. The whole NCAA, amateur experience is messed up. If players want to make money, they should have the opportunity. If they want to protect themselves by not being rushed to play for free for the sake of fans, they need to act. This is their moment to protect themselves and their future brethren.
Granted, all these players are going pro in something other than their sport. Hi, NCAA. Unfortunately, these not as great athletes are still at risk for catching COVID-19. This might still impact their future earning potential. Colleges sports do not need to be played this fall.
Unlike the spring where no path of how to move forward existed, now it feels like each day comes news of a testing or vaccine breakthrough. Slowly but surely, we will get to the end of the tunnel. When spring comes, hopefully, this pandemic is under control. If not, that will not be surprising. Let’s be safe and help each other out. This includes being okay with missing, hopefully, only a fall season or at worse, a whole year of college football.
Do not worry, the NFL will finish their season whether we like it or not.