How Success of Bubbles in Professional Sports Can Influence College Basketball
With the recent cancellation of Big Ten football this fall, many are looking towards the plight of college basketball as opening night for Division I programs looms just a few short months ahead.
In what seems like a decision made years ago, the NCAA cancelled March Madness back on March 12 in response to the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic. Now, five months later, the 2020-21 season might be in jeopardy due to the ongoing crisis.
However, with the NBA restart showing successful progress inside the Orlando bubble at Disney World, Power 5 conferences are reportedly willing to explore the same model in order to ensure college basketball in some capacity.
CBS Sports reported that several power conference in college basketball have had “preliminary discussions about holding games next season in a bubble-type setting.”
The Basketball Tournament (TBT) also found similar success last month inside a Columbus bubble, hosting all teams at a downtown hotel and playing the entire 24-team tournament inside Nationwide Arena. Only a few positive cases occurred, those participants were subsequently removed, and a 2020 champion was able to be crowned.
With the ability of college athletes to take classes online, the models adopted by both the NBA and TBT, along with the NHL, could be plausible for college basketball to replicate.
Last week, the NBA reported no positive COVID-19 cases for the third-consecutive week and the NHL reported no positives in its first week of competition.
Major League Baseball, which is attempting to play regular-season games in various home stadiums, has not seen close to the same success as professional sports counterparts. MLB has done an admirable job pushing games forward albeit a pair of teams (Miami Marlins and St. Louis Cardinals) have experienced outbreaks.
The league has postponed 30 total games as a result, with the Cardinals having not played a game since July 29 due to a high number of cases within their clubhouse.
Whether college basketball becomes the first amateur league to implement a bubble remains to be seen, however one thing can certainly be assumed...
With the cancellation and massive loss of revenue from the 2020 March Madness tournament, the NCAA will exhaust all options in order to play college basketball this season.
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