Media poll: Will there be a 2020 college football season?
Will there be a college football season in 2020?
After canceling the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament and spring sports, suspending the NBA, NHL and Major League Baseball, scrapping Wimbledon and postponing the Masters and the Kentucky Derby, the coronavirus pandemic is now casting doubt on football this fall.
With that in mind, I reached out to local and national media members to gauge their thinking right now about a possible college football season. I gave them three choices:
(A) The season will start on time.
(B) The season will be delayed.
(C) There will be no 2020 season.
I received 55 responses. The vast majority, 42 of the 55 (76.4 percent), believe there will be a college football season, but it will be delayed. Nine (16.4 percent) said the season will start on time. Just four (7.3 percent) said the season will be canceled.
Here’s a breakdown with comments from each voter:
(A) The season will start on time
Darrell Bird (Cats’ Pause): “Taking the optimistic route and saying the season starts on time, though fans may not be allowed first month. It all comes down to time for athletes to get in shape, which could bring back the old school fall camp and two-a-days. Old-timers did it, these guys can, too.”
Fred Cowgill (WLKY): “Most projections I see have life here returning to near normal by August 1. In time for fall camp to open as scheduled. Admit most of spring was lost, but same for everyone.”
Jeff Drummond (Cats Illustrated): “It wouldn’t surprise me to see a shortened season — perhaps just conference games — but my hunch is the NCAA will aim to start the season on time. I think once we’re beyond May there will be great pressure on all segments of society to get back to some semblance of normalcy, provided we have the ability to do widespread testing by then.”
Pat Forde (Sports Illustrated): “I say A, without fans or with limited fans. Eventually we get back to a more or less regular attendance, maybe in October. But I’m guessing September games have limited attendance at best. I think the fact that baseball is theorizing about May competition resumption could be a big catalyst.”
Larry Glover (WVLK): “I definitely think we’ll have a season and I’m pretty confident that it will start on time. The concern I would have is that the end of the season being cut short because of a cold weather flare-up before a vaccine can be developed.”
Lee K. Howard (WKYT): “My hope is that the season begins on time. I’m more concerned about how long of a preseason schools will be allowed to have. I’m sure it’s tough for many players to remain in football shape during this time.”
Tom Murphy (Arkansas Democrat-Gazette): “There will be necessary unprecedented wrinkles to the NCAA rules to get in “spring” practices, and the traditional camp calendar might have to be reworked, but I have faith we will have our beloved football, our new national pastime, in the fall!”
Justin Rowland (Cats Illustrated): “It might be hard to imagine life starting to get back to normal by the summer, in time for preseason workouts and camp, but I think there are signs of things starting to move in the right direction already. I don’t think we’ll have big crowds.”
Kent Taylor (WAVE): “It’s all about testing and treatment. If enough people can get tested and a viable treatment option is available, there will be football. I still question how many fans will feel comfortable enough to attend. Just getting the games back on TV will do wonders for everyone’s mental health, but only when the players can be protected. I’m still holding out hope that (a) the season will start on time.”
(B) The season will be delayed
Parrish Alford (NE Mississippi Daily Journal): “If there is truly a ‘flattening of the curve’ as is being reported for Washington state and New York City -- and provided the trend continues -- I believe that planning for college football will soon shift gears, and decisions will be made.”
Tony Barnhart (SEC Network): “Getting everybody back on campus — students and athletes — by Aug. 1 (when training camp would start) doesn’t sound realistic. Some campuses already saying they’ll be closed until late June. But there is a lot of motivation among commissioners and athletics directors to find a way to play the season, even if it stretches into next spring. I don’t think we know enough to say that there will not be season. That could change in the next 2-3 weeks.”
Mike Bianchi (Orlando Sentinel): “I think season will be delayed, hopefully only slightly. They will delay it as long as possible just to make sure they can play with fans in the stadium.”
Kirk Bohls (Austin American-Statesman): “I worry about a second wave of the coronavirus, but football is so important to our nation’s psyche as well as the economy of the country and college athletic departments for every sport that I think they will wait as long as they can and do everything possible to still have a season.”
Rick Bozich (WDRB): “My choice is B with several twists. As my coach, Coach Fauci says, Dabo Swinney and Nick Saban don’t decide the schedule, the virus decides the schedule. I believe the season will be delayed, perhaps shortened and played in front of crowds that will be roughly one-third capacity. The season will be salvaged by television because ratings will be terrific in a sports-starved world. Unless it is determined that players or fans will be too at risk for the virus. Then we go back on hold.”
Ben Breiner (The State): “There is so much riding on it, I can’t imagine there won’t be something, unless everything turns really badly. I expect a delay after Will Muschamp said he expects needing an eight-week runway to games, which means you’d need players on campus in July, which seems aggressive.”
Geoff Calkins (Memphian): “Can’t imagine a full season with fans. But I suspect they’ll find a way to play at least some fragment of the 2020 season — even if it has to begin in 2021.”
Robert Cessna (Bryan/College Station Eagle): “A lot can happen in 144 days, heck the national championship game was just 85 days ago. But to be able to play a game before 80,000 healthy, worry-free fans is going to take time and I can’t see the season starting until that can take place. Every school’s athletic budget needs full stadiums, so my guess is we’ll be waiting.“
Angelique Chengelis (Detroit News): “I think scrapping the non-conference season is a good plan and delay until early or mid-October and play conference schedules only.”
Rick Cleveland (Mississippi Today): “And this is the best-case scenario short of a miracle cure. Trying to be optimistic.”
Ross Dellenger (Sports Illustrated): “From having discussions with administrators, I think they’re all preparing not to be able to start on time, especially given the fact that many schools have already moved classes exclusively online. The most practical options have been starting in October and having a full or truncated season.”
Pat Dooley (Gainesville Sun): “i think we have to have a vaccine before we have games. Too many administrators don’t want to have games without fans.”
Keith Farmer (WLEX): “I believe we’ll see a delay because practice will likely not start until September. I also think once we start the college football season it may begin without fans.”
Scott Fowler (Charlotte Observer): “With football the cash cow that it is, I think every effort will be made to get some sort of 2020 season in. But I’m just guessing, like everyone else — we just don’t know what we don’t know.”
Dick Gabriel (WKYT/WLAP): “That’s more from my heart than my head. I don’t see how coaches will have enough time to safely gather players and prepare them for the rigors of a season starting the first weekend of September. It would be a crushing financial blow if the entire season disappears.”
Mike Griffith (DawgNation): “Slight delay, reduced schedule, no fans for portion of season.”
Ron Higgins (LSU Tiger Rag): “I’d say October.”
Cecil Hurt (Tuscaloosa News): “Currently I am (b.) Too much at stake financially not to play an abbreviated schedule if at all possible.”
Bryan Kennedy (WTVQ): “I think it’s safe to say the season will not start on time. That sounds crazy and I hope it’s not going to happen, but a month ago the idea of simply playing the NCAA Tournament without fans seemed crazy and look how far we’ve come there.”
Tom Leach (UK Network): “I believe they will find a way to make it work, even if some significant portion of the ‘20 season finishes in 2021 — or even starts then.”
John Lewis (WDRB): “I think the season will be delayed, out of an abundance of caution if nothing else. Even if schools are open again, it’s hard to justify packing tens of thousands of fans in a stadium without the virus being eradicated, and it won’t be by September.”
Brett McMurphy (WatchStadium): “It won’t start until January/February.”
Brian Milam (WKYT): “I think the season will be delayed. Teams will not be at full strength physically, no spring season to learn, and that combination alone requires more time to develop.”
Josh Moore (Herald-Leader): “I’m selecting this option because I’m working under the assumption that football would be played in the spring if it were suspended through the fall. Too much money on the table and the only thing keeping football away from the spring is tradition.”
Matt Murschel (Orlando Sentinel): “I think there will be a season but it will be pushed back perhaps a month. Most coaches I’ve spoken with believe it takes 4-6 weeks to get ready for the season and if campuses aren’t open until July or August, I can’t see things starting on time. But the next month will be interesting to watch.”
Dan Riefer (Fox 56): “Season will be delayed. We’re already seeing campuses across the country closed to students through at least July. We’re hearing the possibility of another surge of the coronavirus in the fall. I wouldn’t be surprised if the 2020 college football season starts in January of 2021.”
Ben Roberts (Herald-Leader): “Option C seems a whole lot more likely than Option A, but I’ll take the optimistic route and say we get a college football season. The NCAA simply can’t (or, at least, shouldn’t) put players on the field if there’s any danger at all of spreading COVID-19. The NCAA’s member schools also can’t afford what the loss of revenue from no college football would mean. They’ll play it out and look at every angle, and perhaps March Madness 2021 will be a two-sport showcase.”
Nick Roush (KSR): “At the very minimum training camps will not start on time. Even if athletic directors reach a worst-case scenario that delays action to the spring, the 2020 season will be played. Athletic programs simply cannot afford a season without their budget’s cash cow.”
Ralph Russo (AP): “It really is impossible to know the answer to this. But if I had to guess: it’s hard for me to look at this much uncertainty and project everything falling nicely into place so the season starts Labor Day weekend. I really hope so because it would mean a lot less people are dying.”
Kent Spencer (WHAS): “I hope I’m wrong but it seems most in the world of college football are already preparing for at least a delay.”
Mark Story (Herald-Leader): “I think the season will be delayed, but will be played in some form. With the men’s basketball NCAA Tournament having been canceled, the financial pressure for there to be a 2020 college football season is beyond acute. I think it’s even possible the 2020 football season will be played in the winter/early spring of 2021 concurrent with the basketball season.”
Brandon Sudge (Macon Telegraph): “I feel as if there are too many question marks with starting on time: fan attendance, lack of practice, virus spread. I also worry about another wave of the virus that could delay things.”
Tim Sullivan (Courier Journal): “Even after the curve has been flattened, I suspect many fans will still err on the side of social distancing. Until schools can be confident of attracting and handling large crowds, delay is the way to bet.”
Jay Tate (AuburnRivals): “I sense that we’ll ‘get through’ this initial wave of exposure within eight weeks or so. The coaches and athletic department folks I know are slightly more optimistic than before that football will be played. I just don’t see how the stadiums will be full — the risk for exposure will be so high. I’m predicting an abbreviated schedule that begins Oct. 1.”
Keith Taylor (Kentucky Today): “I think the season will be delayed by a month simply because spring practice was canceled . . . I see a longer fall camp but shorter schedule.”
David Teel (Richmond Times-Dispatch): “Given football’s oversized economic clout, administrators determined to play the 2020 season, even if it starts in 2021.”
Souichi Terada (Kansas City Star): “It’s difficult to see schools have players practicing on campus while all classes are taught online. If we see more postponements, it’ll affect fall training camp, which means the season will likely be pushed back and delayed.”
Derek Terry (Cats’ Pause): “Season will be delayed. Athletic departments desperately need football funding to stay afloat. I think the powers that be will do everything possible to play at some point.”
Larry Vaught (Vaught’s Views): “I truly believe there is a great chance there will be no 2020 season but going to predict a delayed season that likely will not have the full 12 games.”
Marc Weiszer (Athens Banner-Herald): “I’ll go without much confidence with B because that’s the closest to some sort of disruption to the season without full-scale cancellation. Without a vaccine, there are hurdles to clear on both playing the games and of having fans in the stands.”
Mark Wiedmer (Chattanooga Times Free Press): “I believe the season may be delayed and at least a couple of non-conference games wiped out because I think a lot of parents, and players themselves, may not feel comfortable working out in a large group until August and I doubt that anyone can assure them that it’s safe to gather in a large group much before that time. Having already lost spring ball, it would seem that the earliest games could be played would be mid to late September, especially given that fans will be on edge, as well.”
Dan Wolken (USA Today): “I suspect there will be a season but campuses have to open first, and I don’t see that happening on time.”
(C) There will be no 2020 college football season
Mark Bradley (Atlanta Journal-Constitution): “If colleges can’t re-open for classes — and I can’t imagine they would if there’s no vaccine — how can they ask student-athletes to gather in groups to practice and play games?”
College Football Bros (podcast): “The three of us all agree on this response: (c). Because experts say a vaccine is at least a year away, it is difficult to envision thousands of people gathering in stadiums around the country this fall. Even in empty stadiums, the players/coaches could be at risk.”
Chuck Culpepper (Washington Post): “This guess seems the most realistic because of all the excruciating reminders we are receiving about the months and months and months required to develop any treatment or vaccine, all of which which deepens one’s admiration for those doing the merciless work in laboratories around the planet.”
Luke DeCock (Raleigh News and Observer): “Although I think there’s still a chance of (b) I suspect the answer is (c) until there’s a vaccine or treatment or widespread testing.”
This story was originally published April 9, 2020 at 3:15 PM.
