Guys on WCCP talking about the possibility of no football this year. They were discussing the thought of Trevor Lawrence playing his last game at Clemson. Kirk Herbstreit thinks we need to be prepared for no football (https://bleacherreport.com/articles/288 ... lay-season). The thought of no football is depressing. Plus, there are the financial considerations. College football would never be the same.
2020/2021 Football Season - Please, no talk about the virus itself, just football.
Attendance was already dropping everywhere. But the people who were still showing up tended to be older at lots of schools. Whenever we start playing again, some of those older people may call it quits. I bet many will still contribute, but they’ll be scared to show up. So I doubt we’ll ever see the huge stadiums packed like they used to be. But at FCS and lower schools I wonder if we’ll see a long lasting impact. You can social distance at a Furman game pretty easily. Some people who just want to see a game might find us a nice alternative to Death Valley.
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Having any actual games on September 5 or a few days prior will itself be hard enough. However, I realize it’s much harder than just having a game when I try to think about the many things that happen related to and leading up to the season. Things are going to be at least somewhat different. I do not know that there will be anything like a normal season.Furmanoid wrote: ↑Sun Mar 29, 2020 9:37 amAttendance was already dropping everywhere. But the people who were still showing up tended to be older at lots of schools. Whenever we start playing again, some of those older people may call it quits. I bet many will still contribute, but they’ll be scared to show up. So I doubt we’ll ever see the huge stadiums packed like they used to be. But at FCS and lower schools I wonder if we’ll see a long lasting impact. You can social distance at a Furman game pretty easily. Some people who just want to see a game might find us a nice alternative to Death Valley.
A few weeks ago here in Augusta some people were bouncing around the idea of doing the Masters as local patrons only so we wouldn’t import or export any virus. Maybe college football could work that way. Only students and fans from the home county plus some visitor side students allowed. The crowds would be smaller and the virus would be largely contained in the college towns where it is going to be anyway.
Herbstreit would be shocked if 2020 football occurs.
I think football is very unlikely to happen without some game changing breakthrough or a dramatic shift in public attitudes. I’ve been surprised at how willing people are to stay home indefinitely. I think you need to start worrying about basketball.
No students on campus means no college football. Makes sense to me. Check out this article from USA TODAY:
College Football Playoff committee tells Mike Pence students need to return to campus before season starts
https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/n ... 140521002/
College Football Playoff committee tells Mike Pence students need to return to campus before season starts
https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/n ... 140521002/
Check this out from The State today. (This goes along the same lines as the other thread, started by me, on Old Dominion.)
The financial future of South Carolina’s athletics department — and perhaps all of college sports — will likely rest on if and how college football can be played this fall.
According to a presentation USC school president Robert Caslen made to the school’s board of trustees Wednesday, revenue reductions from football are expected even if the season and schedule happen as planned. Any bigger changes could cause significant issues.
“That is a game-changer for us in a significant way if we have those sort of football interruptions,” Caslen said during the conference call board meeting.
Caslen did not specify what any fallout could be for the school or athletics department. Football generated more than $65 million during the 2019 fiscal year.
Some schools have already taken drastic measures to save money. Cincinnati has dropped men’s soccer, while Old Dominion dropped wrestling. Iowa State had pay cuts for some of its higher paid employees.
Yahoo reported multiple smaller schools had requested certain requirements be lifted.
The football opener is more than four months away — a home game Sept. 5 against Coastal Carolina — but the question of what might happen is already looming. South Carolina’s campus is closed to in-person classes until Aug. 1, and football coach Will Muschamp said he expected to need eight weeks of conditioning and camp before the team could play.
In other interviews, Gamecocks Athletics Director Ray Tanner said his timeline might be a little shorter that Muschamp’s and floated the idea of players returning to campus before the general population.
Caslen said there are 96 residents still on campus. Multiple Gamecocks coaches have said they have players still in Columbia, 10 from football, all working on injury rehab with trainers. It was not clear if those players were counted among those Caslen referenced.
Caslen also said he hoped the school would be able to make the decision about how the fall semester will operate ideally by May 15, but by June 15 at the latest. USC has been holding classes virtually for about a month now, and that will continue through the summer.
According to the slides from Caslen’s presentation:
▪ Football disruptions will cause significant challenges.
▪ Reduced revenue is likely even if a full season of football is played.
▪ TV and media revenue losses would be impacted by shorter seasons.
▪ Additional costs related to managing large group gatherings are likely.
Both Caslen and Tanner were asked Wednesday when decisions might be made about the football season. Tanner explained that the athletic department is having conversations with the SEC, which in turn is talking to other Power 5 conferences and the NCAA as to the overall structure of the sport.
“There is a lot of conversation going on right now with the Southeastern Conference and with the NCAA,” Caslen said. “And decisions with respect to the fall football season will not made autonomously by us.”
Tanner added, “It certainly hinges around when it’s safe to continue to play.”
SEC administrators are meeting just about daily, and there is no deadline set for when a decision might be made.
Ideas have been floated about a delayed or abridged season, or a season that spans the fall and spring.
According to the school’s 2019 fiscal year report, football brought in $65,404,537 in revenue, accounting for more than 46.5% of the department’s overall revenue and more than 80% of sport-specific revenue.
“Without talking about how much it is potential(ly),” Caslen said, “if you have disruptions to the fall football program, you can all imagine, it will be significant.”
The financial future of South Carolina’s athletics department — and perhaps all of college sports — will likely rest on if and how college football can be played this fall.
According to a presentation USC school president Robert Caslen made to the school’s board of trustees Wednesday, revenue reductions from football are expected even if the season and schedule happen as planned. Any bigger changes could cause significant issues.
“That is a game-changer for us in a significant way if we have those sort of football interruptions,” Caslen said during the conference call board meeting.
Caslen did not specify what any fallout could be for the school or athletics department. Football generated more than $65 million during the 2019 fiscal year.
Some schools have already taken drastic measures to save money. Cincinnati has dropped men’s soccer, while Old Dominion dropped wrestling. Iowa State had pay cuts for some of its higher paid employees.
Yahoo reported multiple smaller schools had requested certain requirements be lifted.
The football opener is more than four months away — a home game Sept. 5 against Coastal Carolina — but the question of what might happen is already looming. South Carolina’s campus is closed to in-person classes until Aug. 1, and football coach Will Muschamp said he expected to need eight weeks of conditioning and camp before the team could play.
In other interviews, Gamecocks Athletics Director Ray Tanner said his timeline might be a little shorter that Muschamp’s and floated the idea of players returning to campus before the general population.
Caslen said there are 96 residents still on campus. Multiple Gamecocks coaches have said they have players still in Columbia, 10 from football, all working on injury rehab with trainers. It was not clear if those players were counted among those Caslen referenced.
Caslen also said he hoped the school would be able to make the decision about how the fall semester will operate ideally by May 15, but by June 15 at the latest. USC has been holding classes virtually for about a month now, and that will continue through the summer.
According to the slides from Caslen’s presentation:
▪ Football disruptions will cause significant challenges.
▪ Reduced revenue is likely even if a full season of football is played.
▪ TV and media revenue losses would be impacted by shorter seasons.
▪ Additional costs related to managing large group gatherings are likely.
Both Caslen and Tanner were asked Wednesday when decisions might be made about the football season. Tanner explained that the athletic department is having conversations with the SEC, which in turn is talking to other Power 5 conferences and the NCAA as to the overall structure of the sport.
“There is a lot of conversation going on right now with the Southeastern Conference and with the NCAA,” Caslen said. “And decisions with respect to the fall football season will not made autonomously by us.”
Tanner added, “It certainly hinges around when it’s safe to continue to play.”
SEC administrators are meeting just about daily, and there is no deadline set for when a decision might be made.
Ideas have been floated about a delayed or abridged season, or a season that spans the fall and spring.
According to the school’s 2019 fiscal year report, football brought in $65,404,537 in revenue, accounting for more than 46.5% of the department’s overall revenue and more than 80% of sport-specific revenue.
“Without talking about how much it is potential(ly),” Caslen said, “if you have disruptions to the fall football program, you can all imagine, it will be significant.”
Not having football for a season would not be the end of the world at USC or any other school. Everybody from the Univ. President, Football Coach, on down the line would just have to make less money for one year.
A good starting point would be to reduce the football coach's salary from 4 Million a Year to $100,000. I'm sure he could get by on that. Same with the Univ. President. There's a lot of other people getting hurt a lot worse than that.
Hopefully it will be safe enough by Sept. or Oct. to have some sort of season. They could start 10/1 and go one month longer,etc.
A good starting point would be to reduce the football coach's salary from 4 Million a Year to $100,000. I'm sure he could get by on that. Same with the Univ. President. There's a lot of other people getting hurt a lot worse than that.
Hopefully it will be safe enough by Sept. or Oct. to have some sort of season. They could start 10/1 and go one month longer,etc.
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Agreed. Or what's the point of having an endowment if it's never touched? Especially in times of crisis. A couple of million out of that during this time wouldn't be the end of the world if it meant keeping every university's mission on track of educating and graduating. Cutting sports because of one bad year financially would go directly against that mission.FurmAlum wrote: ↑Wed Apr 15, 2020 8:59 pmNot having football for a season would not be the end of the world at USC or any other school. Everybody from the Univ. President, Football Coach, on down the line would just have to make less money for one year.
A good starting point would be to reduce the football coach's salary from 4 Million a Year to $100,000. I'm sure he could get by on that. Same with the Univ. President. There's a lot of other people getting hurt a lot worse than that.
Hopefully it will be safe enough by Sept. or Oct. to have some sort of season. They could start 10/1 and go one month longer,etc.
COVID-19 will provide an excuse for a lot of organizations to cut a lot of excess or unnecessary spending. Including a sport here or there. Remember when we tried to drop men's golf a few years ago and it was like the world was ending, and people who hadn't given a whit about men's golf every were hysterical?
Would we have had the same reaction if we dropped it now due to "financial constraints resulting from the economic stress of the coronavirus"?
Would we have had the same reaction if we dropped it now due to "financial constraints resulting from the economic stress of the coronavirus"?
I agree with you Paul, the Cvirus will be used by some schools to cut some things. I hope it doesn't happen at Furman. As a former FU golfer, I would hope it would not be golf, and yes we would all be hysterical...AGAIN! Fortunately there has been a lot of money given by a lot of the former players, including me, and friends of the program, over the last 6 years. The result is it's in much better shape financially with at least 2, maybe 3 scholarships that are now endowed.
P.S. The football coach's salaries that I suggested previously be reduced were USC's and Clempson's.
Certainly not CCH. At least I hope that would not happen.
P.S. The football coach's salaries that I suggested previously be reduced were USC's and Clempson's.
Certainly not CCH. At least I hope that would not happen.I fear this may be a bigger deal than you think. The school will likely cancel summer classes which will be a big financial hit. The endowment has taken a hit. The donors may be about to take huge hits since it looks like the shutdown will go into June. I’m sure the administration is at least planning for the not too unlikely scenario in which there is a small rebound in deaths in September or October that leads too another school closure. That would be catastrophic because not many people are going to continue to pay Furman prices for online courses. That scenario is where they will dig into the endowment. I’m not sure they will to prop up sports.
Of course the way to get around this is to just churn out a bunch of cool purple masks, make everybody sit with a seat between them and play effing football. But I don’t think our leaders will agree.
Of course the way to get around this is to just churn out a bunch of cool purple masks, make everybody sit with a seat between them and play effing football. But I don’t think our leaders will agree.
The purple masks WILL be cool, but everybody’s going to have to sit with 3 empty seats between, and 3 rows of every 4 have to be totally vacant. Stadium capacity thus becomes 25 % = 4,500. That should be a sufficient capacity, but if it’s not, then ask all fans at or over age 65 to stay home (but send money).Furmanoid wrote: ↑Fri Apr 17, 2020 8:15 amI fear this may be a bigger deal than you think. The school will likely cancel summer classes which will be a big financial hit. The endowment has taken a hit. The donors may be about to take huge hits since it looks like the shutdown will go into June. I’m sure the administration is at least planning for the not too unlikely scenario in which there is a small rebound in deaths in September or October that leads too another school closure. That would be catastrophic because not many people are going to continue to pay Furman prices for online courses. That scenario is where they will dig into the endowment. I’m not sure they will to prop up sports.
Of course the way to get around this is to just churn out a bunch of cool purple masks, make everybody sit with a seat between them and play effing football. But I don’t think our leaders will agree.
What’s also going to be interesting is those REALLY SPECIAL protective face masks that will have to be worn by every person including ALL players, coaches, officials, media, photographers, announcers, broadcasters, cheerleaders, band, vendors, parking attendants, ushers, ticket takers, ticket sellers, etc., any time any of those people are on the field or sidelines or in the stadium or parking facilities or buses, with a distance of < 7 feet between them and the next human being.
No point in making players or cheerleaders wear them. If they are going to college all week they are gonna get exposed so it doesn’t matter what they do on game day. You mainly just don’t want to infect 4000 spectators and then have them scatter all over SC and GA.
But boy, if a 1/4 full outdoor breezy stadium is too dangerous I don’t see how any number of people could be safe indoors watching b-ball.
But boy, if a 1/4 full outdoor breezy stadium is too dangerous I don’t see how any number of people could be safe indoors watching b-ball.
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