College Football Season Remains in Limbo

CBS+Sports

Joseph Bender, Sports Editor

The Coronavirus outbreak continues to change our daily lives, and it continues to change the face of sports. College Football, which doesn’t even start until September, is the sport with the most talk currently and one everyone is trying to preserve.

Last week, popular College Football analyst Kirk Herbstreit told reporters he’d be shocked if we have College Football, causing a frenzy of fans and coaches alike on twitter not agreeing with Kirk’s words. Coaches from all over the country talked about the quote this week, including Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney. Swinney said “I have zero doubt” we’ll start the season on time and “The stands will be full.” Swinney later said to Bleacher Report that Americans have stormed the beaches of Normandy, put man on the moon and created an IPhone. Says this is the greatest country in the history of the universe, and has no doubt football will indeed play. Swinney says he’s excited to see Death Valley rocking.

Dabo’s quote followed many other college coaches to talk about the topic, like new Missouri head coach and former Appalachian State Head Coach Eliah Dinkwitx, who said “No offense to Mr. Herbstreit, but deciding who’s going to win a game on College Gameday is a lot different than getting the world in a panic about whether or not we’re going to play a college football season.” Drinkwitz later apologized on the Paul Finebaum Show, saying “I did not mean to take a shot at him. I hope he would accept my apology.”

Though not all coaches have said anything on the topic, most are feeling the same way. For most coaches, they haven’t been able to see their players in a few weeks, and can’t even know if they worked out or not. Along with the current CFB season, this is also affecting future seasons, as the NCAA has delayed any recruiting visits until May 31st, putting a giant lid on recruiting for schools who rely on the last push of having the chance to host their prospects.

Currently the season hasn’t been delayed, but the NCAA Has been considering moving the season to a new time frame, as if the season is canceled, it will cause many non-power 5 programs to go under. One anonymous Athletic Director said “If there is no season, we will be f**ked.” This is the case for just about all FCS schools and smaller schools who rely on the football revenue to not only pay for football, but to pay for all of the other sports. The power 5 schools can also have a major impact.

Sports Illustrated writer and former LSU Beat writer Ross Dellenger pulled out the profit margins for LSU’s 2016-2017 cycle, and what it is is shocking. For LSU, a SEC program with many national championships, only three of their sports are in the green, those being Football, Men’s Basketball, and Baseball. Without those 3 sports LSU Is not able to have any other sports. All of their other programs are depended on their big three sports. This can be the same for us locally too, with Clemson and South Carolina both in the same boat as LSU.

College Football will continue to be impacted by the Coronavirus, and only time will tell if the 2020 season will survive.