The Big Ten was the first domino to fall by announcing plans for conference-only schedules for fall sports. The Pac-12 then followed suit, and we’re now waiting on what the other conferences will do, most notably the other Power Five ones that include the SEC, Big 12, and ACC.
According to Ohio State athletic director Gene Smith, the move was made to better manage the COVID-19 pandemic, and to provide flexibility with scheduling.
But what to medical experts think of the move?
USA TODAY’s Paul Myerberg spoke to some medical professionals and got their opinion, and they believe it is a step in the right direction.
“I think it’s a step in the right direction,” said UNLV assistant professor of health Brian Labus. “There aren’t many options, and this is one way to hopefully reduce the risk, yes, and still allow football to go on in the fall.”
By not traveling to footprints outside of the Big Ten, it results in environments that are well-more known and will result in protocols and cooperation that will be better formulated within the conference.
There is merit behind playing a conference-only schedule for college teams, experts say.
The issue is that we don't know what the coronavirus pandemic will look like next week, let alone next month. https://t.co/JQsYMERPFI
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“Removing any non-essential interactions, in this case three games, does lower risk,” said Robert Murphy, a Professor of Medicine and Biomedical Engineering at Northwestern and the executive director of the university’s Institute for Global Health.
Limiting travel also eliminates the need to travel inside certain hotspots in the country like Florida, Arizona, and California.
“As far as staying within your geographic region, the biggest idea behind that is that there are definitely areas of the country, even within a state, where you may not be in a hot spot,” said Jason McKnight, a clinical assistant professor at the Texas A&M University College of Medicine. “COVID prevalence may not be as significant in one area or geographic area as it is from another area.”
It’s not a perfect-case scenario by any means, and you have to wonder if the conference is just delaying the inevitable. There are so many “what-if” scenarios that will have to be worked out, not to mention some level of tolerance for positive test results if the schedule is to ever get off the ground.
However, according to those that know these sort of things, not your fly-by-night social media warriors that believe they know more than those that are trained to opine on these things, it’s at least a step in the right direction.