Tag: no fans

There are many fans, players, administrators and media members alike who are awaiting a return to sports. It has now been 56 days (at time of publishing) since sports were a part of our every day lives. As we anxiously wait and search frantically on the internet for any semblance of hope, the NCAA has put together a three-phase plan for sports to return to the world of college athletics.

A “gating period” must be satisfied and is defined as follows:

A downward trajectory of influenza-like illnesses reported within a 14-day period and a downward trajectory of COVID-like syndromic cases reported within a 14-day period.

A downward trajectory of documented cases of COVID-19 within a 14-day period or a downward trajectory of positive tests as a percentage of total tests within a 14-day period.

Hospitals can treat all patients without crisis care and there is a robust testing program in place for at-risk health care workers, including emerging antibody testing.

The precursor to the gating period states that “there must not be directives at the national level that preclude resocialization.” Essentially there cannot be any executive orders preventing sports from taking place. This was part of their core principles of resocialization of collegiate sport. Also stated that local and state authorities must have a plan in place for the resocialization.

For any sports to commence, a college or university much have a plan in place for the students first.

Social distancing and protective equipment.

Temperature checks.

Testing and isolating.

Sanitation.

Use and disinfection of common and high-traffic areas.

School business travel.

Monitoring of the workforce for indicative symptoms and preventing symptomatic people from physically return to work until cleared by a medical provider.

Workforce contact tracing after an employee’s positive test for COVID-19.

As for athletes themselves, the NCAA has suggested the following guidelines:

All student-athletes, athletics health care providers, coaches and athletics personnel should practice good hygiene.

All student-athletes, athletics health care providers, coaches and athletics personnel should stay home if they feel sick.

Guidance noted above for university employees should be in place within athletics.

The guidelines continue on to state that there must be adequate personal protective equipment available for athletics health care providers and sanitizers to manage infection control in all athletics share spaces. Given that many different athletic programs share the same spaces at times, this is essential for everyone involved.

There must be the ability to assess immunity to COVID-19 at a regional and local level. This could include immunity at the college campus, plus a more focused assessment of herd immunity for athletics teams.

There must be access to reliable, rapid diagnostic testing on any individual who is suspected of having COVID-19 symptoms. With so many worries about available testing, this could be more problematic than some of the other issues.

There must be in place a local surveillance system so that newly identified cases can be identified promptly and isolated, and their close contacts must be managed appropriately.

There must be clearly identified and transparent risk analyses in place. Such risk analyses consider issues such as economics, education, restoration of society, and medical risk of sport participation, including COVID-19 infection and possible death.

Given the core principles listed here, the health and safety of students and athletes alike is the biggest concern. As it should be. Next we focus on Phase One of the plan.

Thanks to the coronavirus, the entire sports world has been put on pause. College football, which is not scheduled to kick off until late August or early September, is in question, despite being three to four months away.

Across the globe, the answer to getting sports back may be hosting the events with no fans in the stands. This practice was something we saw in college basketball for a slight moment when Creighton and St. Johns played the first half of the Big East quarterfinals with minimal fans.

For years, college athletics have been attended by thousands of people, cheering on their favorite teams. To see sports being played on live television without any fans present seems awkward and unusual. However, to get the sports we love back, it may have to be done and people would be okay with it.

According to a study conducted by ESPN, 65% of the 1,004 people surveyed were in favor of sports returning despite no fans being in the stands. When given a scenario where players were quarantined and contact to the outside world was limited, the approval rating went up to 76%.

While this idea is mainly being discussed for professional leagues/teams, it could also be a possibility for college athletics.

As of now, Texas’ football opener is September 5th against South Florida in Austin. The atmosphere would be completely different than the 2019 regular-season finale against Texas Tech, which saw 93,747 fans pack into Darryl K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium.

In a stadium that has seen over 100,000 fans on multiple occasions, going to 0 could be an awkward transition. Nonetheless, if having no fans means the college football season takes place, it will be worth it in the midst of COVID-19.

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