A JERSEY GUY: Chaos On Horizon In College Sports
Here's the good news.
We will have the return of sports of some kind and in some form by the start of summer (mid June).
The bad news?
No one yet know what the format will be, how truncated seasons will be and what the restrictions on watching will be (bet on venues without fans).
But that is the wide wide world of pro sports.
Colleges are a different matter.
The universal mantra you hear is that nothing in collegiate athletics will resume until universities re-open their doors to the student body.
That is not to say, there is no activity.
In fact, it's just the opposite. All sorts of decisions, changes and plans are being made via zoom or virtual reality gimmicks which have become the standard operating procedure.
And what we see is a blueprint for chaos--across the board.
Where to begin?
Start with college basketball which is in the middle of a malstrom known as the NCAA transfer portal, which has basically created a form of free agency, with players fielding offers from other schools on a yearly basis.
Add to that the looming certainty of new NCAA (induced by law suits filed in numerous states) legislation where student athletes will receive Name Image Licensing compensation from various boosters who want to promote them in their advertising and endorsement packages.
On the surface, that sounds fair and equitable, giving athletes some of the money other parties have earned by promoting their success.
In reality, it sets up more free agency, with boosters from top tier schools becoming involved in a bidding contest for talent.
Not that is anything new.
I witnessed that procedure for five years on an up close and personal basis 38 years ago when I worked at the Dallas Morning News during the SMU and Southwest Conference recruiting violations era.
Coupled with the showdown caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, college coaches and administrators are having a difficult time keeping in step with the constantly breaking news.
""It's crazy stuff,'' said Northeastern basketball Coach Billy Coen, in an old fashioned phone call on Monday.""No one really knows what is going to happen and the unintended consequences of all of this are enormous.''
"Take the "upgrade'' of talent where kids are trying to get to the next level. The way it's going we going to average a 1,000 transfers a year (in college basketball). How do you keep up with that. And you can lose five or six kids in one swoop. How does that affect your graduation level. And what about the kids that are left behind.?
'Coen also said that the NCAA legislation which will allow players to transfer without sitting out a season and has been temporarily placed on hold by the NCAA, will again be a factor, perhaps being g given the go-ahead in the next three weeks.
"That's going to happen,'' he said."And when it does, who knows what other issues will develop. The problem now is that until we get a handle on this, NO ONE knows what's going to happen.''
And then we come to college football, which is the cash cow (other than the NCAA men's basketball tournament) for all of college athletics.
Again, the prevailing wisdom is that it will take 6 weeks lead time to get major football programs up and running at full capacity to play games.
For a September start, that means at the very least August 1 and perhaps even mid July. And that is without the logistics of playing games in stadiums with limited audiences and other restrictions and safety measures which have yet to be found, much less implimented.
Again more chaos, which may very well be the new normal.