Shoot, in about 2-3 weeks thousands of college kids will be on campus...you think they are going to stand 6 feet apart and wear masks?
They are not...there is going to be a huge explosion of positive cases by the end of August.
Exactly!!! If you read the NCAA guidelines I posted
http://www.ncaa.org/sport-science-institute/resocialization-collegiate-sport-developing-standards-practice-and-competition
Campuswide or local community test rates that are considered unsafe by local public health officials.
This right here gives the college presidents that "out" that they need from a legal standpoint.
AND what college president wants to have to answer questions of being an epicenter of a Covid crisis? And how are they going to rationalize player safety when it is not safe for the rest of the student body to on campus? Oh sure, they can say "we stand to lose millions if we don't play" but don't you stand to lose millions without student on campus anyway? But students do not bring in TV revenue that we need. Ok, then your student-athletes are essentially employees then right?
This notion of a whole amateur model is going to fall apart very fast if they do not cancel the season and do not allow the entire student body on campus. AND, in my opinion, the college presidents should cancel the season based on this because they stand to lose more money long term than short term if they lose this amateur athletic model. I will bet you anything that some of these folks are calculating this right now.
U of Southern Cal has already signaled its intent to cancel the season.
https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2020-07-02/usc-will-move-most-undergraduate-classes-online-cancels-reopening
While this article says "10 to 20% of classes will be face-to-face or on campus such as labs", do not be surprised if this changes. What is to stop a professor who teaches a lab or one of these face-to-face courses from refusing to do such OR the student who needs the course to graduate on time cannot or does not want to come on campus to take this course? As well, a lawsuit or series of lawsuits, if a student gets C19 is just as good as someone who is a student-athlete. Remember, ALL colleges have re-opening plans but the keyword is "tentative" meaning that it can change in a moment's notice. A mask is just a small part of this whole calculus as well as as hand washing.
A lawyer could go through a litany of things such as "did you do ample cleaning measures of the classroom or lab before and after the class? And was the entire building properly sanitized? Did you offer the student adequate testing for C19? And were all your employees in the building C19 free even though they were tested upon arrival to campus? Oh, you had your teachers tested before they arrived on campus but did not require them to be tested routinely? Were your professors checked, prior to coming into the building to teach, temperature checked? Oh, you only had them do a symptom log daily? Oh, your student-athletes were tested routinely but not available to the rest of the campus community? Would this have changed if my client was a student-athlete?
This whole thing is going to get a lot worse before it gets better. So do not think that "wearing a mask and testing will solve this problem." Oh sure, wear a mask on the sideline, the kids want to play. I think it is more about the fans wanting to play than actually considering the overall situation.
And this is what gets me. We were told as a nation to shut down and watched others lose their jobs and get furloughed or work from home and college football went on like they were too big to fail. Sorry folks. Everyone is stammering for equity. We are all in this now.
But I ask these questions.
1, if your son was playing college football, what would you do?
2. if you son or daughter is planning on going to college or getting ready for college, what would you do?
3. what are you, individually, willing to give up or sacrifice just to see or hear (I listen to games on the radio) the Huskers play?
This whole thing about delayed schedules and spring football is nothing more than...