The ACC will delay the start of competition for all fall sports until at least Sept. 1

Techster

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NFL, NBA need to go to Europe. Seriously...bubble up in Europe and do what European soccer is doing.

NFL has a big following in Europe and they've long talked about expanding there.

College football is going to be tough. Man, selfishly I want to see us play...but calculus to get college football this fall is narrowing by the day. Hopefully people will see the carrot hanging in front of them, and that's not even sports, and do what we need to do. It's on us now, not the government.
 

orientalnc

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I think the thread should be renamed to "will we have college football as we know it?"

The ethical questions in college football are always present, but this year is off the chart with "what would/should we do " questions.

Because of privacy laws, colleges cannot reveal any individual player's health status. They can say he will not play, but cannot say why unless he or his parents give their permission. If several players are positive, but not sick, does the coach say nothing until game time? Can the player(s) warm up with the team? Dress out with the team? Could the coach simply say, he ain't sick, he's playing? Do the teams have to test every week? If it's a road game, do you have asymptomatic players on the travel squad? If you are going to play someone who is feeling a little bit ill, but tested positive early in the week, do you assume he has COVID-19 or do you treat him like anyone else who has cold?

https://www.cbssports.com/college-f...positive-coronavirus-tests-during-game-weeks/
 

griffin mizell

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I expect the season to start, whether it will finish will depend upon what happens in Oct/Nov in the country.
According to reports less than 50% of the SA's at Clemson and LSU are symptomatic and none have required hospitalization to this point.

Young people will get it, in general a lower percentage of them will get sick from it, end up in the hospital,and die - though at some point it could happen. I suspect is all it will take is one death of an SA and the season will be over as I think the public outcry over a young person dying in order to entertain a largely white, slightly older (41-45 mean) audience will not go over well. Also, if there is a large outbreak in the fall i suspect that would impact it, or if large clusters of cases are tied back to games.

The bigger issue overriding it is the spreading of the disease. Recent research suggests that super-spreader events are what really gets this thing going. That roughly 80% of the cases are created by less than 20% of the infected population. That suggests the easiest way to prevent spread is to reduce super-spreader events - where one person can infect a large number of other people at one time. Fans in the stands is an example of a potential super-spreader event. That is why I think the odds of fans in the stands is decreasing some (though I still think it is more likely than not) the fact that MLB is now reconsidering a bubble season is part of what is causing me to think those odds are decreasing. The other piece is the medical director for the NFLPA urging NFL players not to engage in any group activities until training camp.

The problem to overcome is keeping the more susceptible safe. That was basically the plan of Sweden's strategy which ended up failing miserably. They tried to keep it away from seniors and they were unable to. If you were to take all the adults in the US over 60 as well as all with underlying medical conditions that make them more susceptible that is over 40% of the adult population. That's just such a large percentage of the population it is hard to design a process that makes it safe to gather in large numbers.

It is probably fair to say that college football has done less to this point to protect its athletes than any other sport. Most other sports have books on how they are going to keep their athletes safe - the NBA has a 117 page safety protocol, MLB's initial safety protocol was 67 pages and MLB and the Union are still going over it for possible changes. So far the NCAA and Conferences don't have much of anything and there has been no centralized plan for every school to follow. I think this has some potential to create problems the closer we get to kickoff if it starts to get press that it doesn't appear that colleges are taking it as seriously as professional leagues in keeping their athletes safe and is asking them to sign waivers to play. That just smells of bad future PR.

if they do allow fans it will be interesting to see how many are willing to show up in person. The outcome in OK Saturday night suggests there is still alot of trepidation over gathering in large groups and that recent polls are pretty accurate in terms of percentage of people saying they are willing to attend large scale events.
 

Buzztheirazz

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Hopefully people will see the carrot hanging in front of them, and that's not even sports, and do what we need to do. It's on us now, not the government.
Haha. All those Freedumb fighters out there basically give us about a 4% chance of having a season. Reign those morons in and MAYBE we will have a chance, but I’m guessing they won’t back down. I have to wear one at work which is a physical job, in close contact with clients and I will tell you it isn’t enjoyable. I will admit that I was a little skeptical on the mask wearing initially and held off when grocery shopping but I always wear one now.

The thing that I haven’t seen mentioned is the travel. A large portion of a team could be infected on one bus ride or plane flight. This is going to be much more difficult to make work than most of us have considered. These most recent spikes are crushing my optimism.
 

Techster

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Clemson doing their own herd immunity experiment. If antibody theory proves true, Clemson will be the only team able to field a full team. Of course, as someone linked to earlier, antibodies in some cases have shown to disappear in tests of those that were infected. That's no bueno.

 

stech81

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Clemson doing their own herd immunity experiment. If antibody theory proves true, Clemson will be the only team able to field a full team. Of course, as someone linked to earlier, antibodies in some cases have shown to disappear in tests of those that were infected. That's no bueno.


Guess they want all their players to go ahead and get it now so they will be fine once the season starts
 

RamblinRed

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NFL, NBA need to go to Europe. Seriously...bubble up in Europe and do what European soccer is doing.

NFL has a big following in Europe and they've long talked about expanding there.

College football is going to be tough. Man, selfishly I want to see us play...but calculus to get college football this fall is narrowing by the day. Hopefully people will see the carrot hanging in front of them, and that's not even sports, and do what we need to do. It's on us now, not the government.

Of course the problem there will be that the players will not be allowed to go to Europe since the United States is not going to be one of the approved countries whose citizens can visit the European Union come July 1st as our current situation does not meet their metrics for entry.
 

Milwaukee

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Anyone notice any absences in discussion?

Meeleewahkay?

E63B3E00-1908-4E45-938A-42CD944D445C.gif
 

RamblinRed

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i mentioned this in the other thread about how at some point college football is going to have to establish some protocols. NBA's is 113 pages, MLB is over 100. Even golf with its open spaces and individual players has a large protocol.

Otherwise as they get closer to the season it is something that has the potential to cause a huge PR problem that could impact their ability to play if the general public decides this is an issue.
I think public attitudes are more likely to cause sports stoppages than positive tests. If the general public turns against teams playing it will be very hard for any sports - professional or college to continue.

There was an article earlier this week that talked about how there is more unease among college athletes to play than we are seeing and they would like to talk to the NCAA about it but are trying to find a way to do it anonymously because they are worried about the repurcussions to them if they do it publicly.
 

MWBATL

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I would assume all season ticket holders in football got the survey recently emailed out. It started with a question about attending football games this Fall with four options:
  1. I am very likely to attend games, even at full capacity;
  2. I will attend games but only if stadium capacity is reduced
  3. I am not sure whether o not I will attend games. I need more time ot see how things develop.
  4. I will not, under any circumstances, attend games this Fall
It then goes on with a series of more detailed questions. I for one hope they share the results of this survey. Inquiring minds want to know......
 
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RamblinRed

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Right now we are in wait and see. Just keep doing what your doing and we'll see what each week brings.

Alot is on the NBA though. If they end up not starting or having to stop, then it will be hard to see any team sport succeed. They are regarded as having the best, most thoughtful protocol for playing.

As I posted in the thread about college athletes parents I don't think it is positive tests that will shut down sports. It will be public opinion. Those in charge of sports will attempt to play as much as possible due to the money, what would cause them to stop is if public opinion changed and turned against teams playing. That is the most likely thing to shut team sports down.

2 weeks ago I was convinced we would have college football - starting on time, i'm not 100% convinced anymore but I still think it is more likely than not. But that can change in either direction depending upon what happens in the next 8 weeks.
 

orientalnc

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This is the quote from the Morehouse College President that is key:

"Sporting events also invite individuals to our campus who will not be subject to the testing and monitoring that we plan to implement for our students, faculty, and staff."
 
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