Once Notre Dame students returned to campus, it only seemed like a matter of time before COVID-19 worked its devil magic. Sure enough, off-campus parties happened, and now, an outbreak has hit the university. It’s gotten to where the Rev. John Jenkins, Notre Dame’s president, has closed the campus and implemented remote learning for at least two weeks. Similar measures have been taken at North Carolina and Michigan State.
Other big-name universities can’t be far behind, so why hasn’t the ACC, SEC or Big 12 followed the Big Ten and Pac-12 in postponing football? Why is it so hard to admit that student-athletes cannot and should not be put in harm’s way if they’re not even being paid for it? If these Power Five conferences won’t pull the plug, they need to admit that student-athletes need to be paid. But it will be a hot day in the Arctic before that happens.
We’ve been warned for months that this coming fall will be brutal, especially since both COVID-19 and the flu will infect on person after another. College students having the opportunity to gather in large groups frequently only makes that problem worse. Sooner or later, the football teams will be affected. Since the players go to class, too (big shock, I know), they’ll be mixing with the off-campus party animals, and it only takes one slip-up to compromise the team and possibly the season.
It’s not worth playing football this fall. We’re already down two Power Five conferences, so the integrity already is lost. Should the other conferences proceed with the schedule, do you crown a national champion from them only? How is that fair to the conferences who would be punished for their precautions by having nothing to play for except their own championships?
Lives cannot be risked for the sake of millions of TV viewers and billions of dollars. If this pandemic has taught us anything, it’s that fun things and the almighty dollar have to take a back seat to public health no matter what the cost. So much already has been given up in 2020, and college football needs to be one more. Those who need football can turn to the NFL if they want.
For the sake of everybody, can’t you give up college football this fall so we can have it every fall afterwards? That we’re even having to debate this defies comprehension. Your team will be back once we have a vaccine or some other widespread means of keeping this virus in check. In the meantime, you can’t gamble these kids’ futures just because of some tradition or family history that goes back to your granddaddy’s daddy.
All of this ultimately lies with the conference commissioners, and they need to grow a conscience quickly. If you have to wait until the spring to play, so be it. So what if NFL prospects opt out? The college game predates the pro game by a wide margin, so in that respect, it could go back to its roots.
This is not a enjoyable thing to write because we all want college football, preferably this fall. But right now, students that go to school with the players on these teams are making it very difficult to justify it. If they won’t contribute to the greater good, you have to take their toys away. Though it’s not fair that the whole class has to be punished for the actions of a few bad apples, that hasn’t stopped teachers from doing it before, and there’s no reason it shouldn’t happen now.