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1) We're starting with Major League Baseball because as of this morning that's the biggest story in sports...and not in a good way.
I'm so far past arguing about whether they should cancel games or not. That's not my decision. I have no liability and no financial stake. I have no scientific or medical training. I'm not interested in the argument about what they should do. I'm only interested in what it means if they do start cancelling games and seasons. And the simple truth is this: If Major League Baseball can't make it through the season--hell, if it can't even make it through the week--everything is screwed college sports wise. It just won't work. The Marlins played in Philadelphia. What are the Phillies doing? The Yankees are supposed to use that clubhouse. Will they? What's the domino effect here?
Again, I'm long past the argument about whether cancelling games and seasons is the right way to go. I simply know if they do it, we can pretty much give up on the idea of college sports happening. We're talking about professional sports in a game where you're hardly ever within six feet of someone else...and it went three days before we're wondering if it can continue. This ain't good.
2) Speaking of reasons to worry about sports working
Lou Williams left the NBA bubble to go to a strip club because he likes their chicken wings and now has to quarantine. Now, look, on the surface, this is absolutely freaking hilarious. I mean, just that last sentence could lead to dissertations being written. But I saw a quote last week that the reason the MLB season wasn't going to work was "because of horny guys on the road." AND THEN AN NBA PLAYER LEFT THE BUBBLE TO EAT CHICKEN WINGS AT A STRIP CLUB.
Again, if this type of thing is happening, how is college sports going to work? You can't put college players in a bubble. First off, they don't get paid. Second, you have to keep up the appearance that they're college students first and athletes second so if you are going to play football you have to be able to have math class. So, a bubble doesn't work for college kids. Here's the problem: THEY ARE COLLEGE KIDS. They're going out. They're hanging with their friends. They're going to parties. They're going to test positive.
For the 205th time in the lasts 24 hours let me stress that the discussion I want to have is not "should we shut down the season because of positive tests?" That's not my decision to make. But these first two points here show you pretty much that the logistics of being able to play pro sports are very difficult. Multiply it by a million for college sports.
3) That said, we're going to get some clarity on what college football PLANS to do this week. The ACC should have some clarity on Wednesday. SEC personnel is meeting Thursday and in the days after that I expect some sort of announcement (with eight conference games plus one being the odds on favorite right now). But here's the thing: I PLAN to be alive on Thursday. If I get hit by a bus, I won't be, but I PLAN to be. And so as long as I plan to be, I'm going to lay out the steps to prepare for what I have to do on Thursday. But the second I step in front of that bus, none of my plans matter.
4) I really didn't plan to be so doom and gloom to start. I watched five baseball games this weekend and it was kind of cool. It was a little weird with empty stands (the cardboard cutouts are pretty sweet) and with announcers off site leading to a few disjointed moments in broadcasts. But it was real live baseball. And no disrespect to golf or soccer or NASCAR, but this was the first major sport that was back in action. I was a little bummed last night when I realized that after three days the season was already 5% over. Now I'm just hoping it isn't 100% over.
5) One program is taking an interesting approach
I get it. It makes sense. As long as a redshirt year is available, that's cool. But it's another domino that crushes high school kids. From an athletics standpoint, by far the people most hurt by this have been 2021 and 2022 high school kids. The elite players are still going to get their offers. But those kids who needed a season to happen to turn coaches' heads (in all sports) aren't getting them. We're seeing moves like this that are going to clog rosters for another year and reduce the necessity of taking recruits. Kids that would have been in Arizona State's class now drop a rung down the ladder. The ones below them drop a rung. And so on until the kids who were on the bottom rung no longer have a rung. I have and will admit to being a little biased here because my son is a soon to be senior in high school who is considering playing a sport in college. Now, this doesn't really impact him because the places he is looking at going to school don't have athletic scholarships and unless they cut the teams, he can still go and do his thing. But there are a lot of kids out there for whom this won't be the case. Some of them would only go to college because of the sport they play. There's no right answer. We've said throughout this thing that everybody loses something and if you give one group a benefit, you're hurting another group. So I don't have a solution. I just feel bad for a lot of kids who are going to lose chances over the next few years.
6) The real question is going to become what happens to athletic departments. Barry Alvarez wrote a letter to Wisconsin fans saying they could see a shortfall of $100 million out of the $140 million budget. While that may be slightly extreme and it may be laying the groundwork to ask some of those donors for more money, maybe it isn't. If there are games (far from certain), the attendance is going to be way down (I talked to somebody last week who told me even the people saying they'll get 50% aren't living in reality). They're going to lose tons of money there. How do these things keep going?
Well, obviously with major changes. Non-revenue sports are in trouble all over. But should they be? This article from PennLive is very interesting. Basically, they're saying it's not the sports themselves that cost so much money. It's all the extra administrators and personnel athletic departments have put around them. There are entire departments that didn't used to exist within athletic departments. Every sport now has double and triple the number of people it used to have to operate the program on a daily basis. Those people all make money.
That's not to say there's no cost to operate the teams themselves. Coaches get paid, there are some scholarships (though in most sports not full rides), you have to travel, etc. But a lot of people who work in athletic departments across the country should be worried about their jobs going forward because it probably makes more sense to pare down your graphics and social media and operations department than it does to just out and out eliminate a team altogether. I want to be clear that I'm not advocating for or rooting for anyone to lose a job. But it's almost inevitable at this point.
7) I had every intention of getting to ten thoughts today. I had a little more planned. I figured we'd make it. But this is now the equivalent of having 90% of a story written and then the team you're covering gives up 17 points in the final 3:30 and loses and you have to start all over right before deadline. The Marlins news this morning--and more importantly how Major League Baseball responds going forward--has everything else in sports on hold. I hope they find a way to keep going. You all need to hope the same. If they don't, even though nobody is going to say it out loud, I think that's pretty much the death of the college football season this fall...and maybe all other sports too.
8) This week's reading recommendations
Iowa football players speak out on racial inequality
Daniel Bard's long road back from the yips
An empty Madison Square Garden locker room, Patrick Ewing and me
When they say racism starts at home, they aren't lying
1) We're starting with Major League Baseball because as of this morning that's the biggest story in sports...and not in a good way.
I'm so far past arguing about whether they should cancel games or not. That's not my decision. I have no liability and no financial stake. I have no scientific or medical training. I'm not interested in the argument about what they should do. I'm only interested in what it means if they do start cancelling games and seasons. And the simple truth is this: If Major League Baseball can't make it through the season--hell, if it can't even make it through the week--everything is screwed college sports wise. It just won't work. The Marlins played in Philadelphia. What are the Phillies doing? The Yankees are supposed to use that clubhouse. Will they? What's the domino effect here?
Again, I'm long past the argument about whether cancelling games and seasons is the right way to go. I simply know if they do it, we can pretty much give up on the idea of college sports happening. We're talking about professional sports in a game where you're hardly ever within six feet of someone else...and it went three days before we're wondering if it can continue. This ain't good.
2) Speaking of reasons to worry about sports working
Lou Williams left the NBA bubble to go to a strip club because he likes their chicken wings and now has to quarantine. Now, look, on the surface, this is absolutely freaking hilarious. I mean, just that last sentence could lead to dissertations being written. But I saw a quote last week that the reason the MLB season wasn't going to work was "because of horny guys on the road." AND THEN AN NBA PLAYER LEFT THE BUBBLE TO EAT CHICKEN WINGS AT A STRIP CLUB.
Again, if this type of thing is happening, how is college sports going to work? You can't put college players in a bubble. First off, they don't get paid. Second, you have to keep up the appearance that they're college students first and athletes second so if you are going to play football you have to be able to have math class. So, a bubble doesn't work for college kids. Here's the problem: THEY ARE COLLEGE KIDS. They're going out. They're hanging with their friends. They're going to parties. They're going to test positive.
For the 205th time in the lasts 24 hours let me stress that the discussion I want to have is not "should we shut down the season because of positive tests?" That's not my decision to make. But these first two points here show you pretty much that the logistics of being able to play pro sports are very difficult. Multiply it by a million for college sports.
3) That said, we're going to get some clarity on what college football PLANS to do this week. The ACC should have some clarity on Wednesday. SEC personnel is meeting Thursday and in the days after that I expect some sort of announcement (with eight conference games plus one being the odds on favorite right now). But here's the thing: I PLAN to be alive on Thursday. If I get hit by a bus, I won't be, but I PLAN to be. And so as long as I plan to be, I'm going to lay out the steps to prepare for what I have to do on Thursday. But the second I step in front of that bus, none of my plans matter.
4) I really didn't plan to be so doom and gloom to start. I watched five baseball games this weekend and it was kind of cool. It was a little weird with empty stands (the cardboard cutouts are pretty sweet) and with announcers off site leading to a few disjointed moments in broadcasts. But it was real live baseball. And no disrespect to golf or soccer or NASCAR, but this was the first major sport that was back in action. I was a little bummed last night when I realized that after three days the season was already 5% over. Now I'm just hoping it isn't 100% over.
5) One program is taking an interesting approach
I get it. It makes sense. As long as a redshirt year is available, that's cool. But it's another domino that crushes high school kids. From an athletics standpoint, by far the people most hurt by this have been 2021 and 2022 high school kids. The elite players are still going to get their offers. But those kids who needed a season to happen to turn coaches' heads (in all sports) aren't getting them. We're seeing moves like this that are going to clog rosters for another year and reduce the necessity of taking recruits. Kids that would have been in Arizona State's class now drop a rung down the ladder. The ones below them drop a rung. And so on until the kids who were on the bottom rung no longer have a rung. I have and will admit to being a little biased here because my son is a soon to be senior in high school who is considering playing a sport in college. Now, this doesn't really impact him because the places he is looking at going to school don't have athletic scholarships and unless they cut the teams, he can still go and do his thing. But there are a lot of kids out there for whom this won't be the case. Some of them would only go to college because of the sport they play. There's no right answer. We've said throughout this thing that everybody loses something and if you give one group a benefit, you're hurting another group. So I don't have a solution. I just feel bad for a lot of kids who are going to lose chances over the next few years.
6) The real question is going to become what happens to athletic departments. Barry Alvarez wrote a letter to Wisconsin fans saying they could see a shortfall of $100 million out of the $140 million budget. While that may be slightly extreme and it may be laying the groundwork to ask some of those donors for more money, maybe it isn't. If there are games (far from certain), the attendance is going to be way down (I talked to somebody last week who told me even the people saying they'll get 50% aren't living in reality). They're going to lose tons of money there. How do these things keep going?
Well, obviously with major changes. Non-revenue sports are in trouble all over. But should they be? This article from PennLive is very interesting. Basically, they're saying it's not the sports themselves that cost so much money. It's all the extra administrators and personnel athletic departments have put around them. There are entire departments that didn't used to exist within athletic departments. Every sport now has double and triple the number of people it used to have to operate the program on a daily basis. Those people all make money.
That's not to say there's no cost to operate the teams themselves. Coaches get paid, there are some scholarships (though in most sports not full rides), you have to travel, etc. But a lot of people who work in athletic departments across the country should be worried about their jobs going forward because it probably makes more sense to pare down your graphics and social media and operations department than it does to just out and out eliminate a team altogether. I want to be clear that I'm not advocating for or rooting for anyone to lose a job. But it's almost inevitable at this point.
7) I had every intention of getting to ten thoughts today. I had a little more planned. I figured we'd make it. But this is now the equivalent of having 90% of a story written and then the team you're covering gives up 17 points in the final 3:30 and loses and you have to start all over right before deadline. The Marlins news this morning--and more importantly how Major League Baseball responds going forward--has everything else in sports on hold. I hope they find a way to keep going. You all need to hope the same. If they don't, even though nobody is going to say it out loud, I think that's pretty much the death of the college football season this fall...and maybe all other sports too.
8) This week's reading recommendations
Iowa football players speak out on racial inequality
Daniel Bard's long road back from the yips
An empty Madison Square Garden locker room, Patrick Ewing and me
When they say racism starts at home, they aren't lying
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