AD tells Stadium no football 'would be devastating' to programs |
College athletic directors are trying to stay positive in the face of some tough news coming out every day on the novel coronavirus outbreak in the U.S.
The rapid spread of the virus has shut down athletics in all levels nationwide as a precaution against the spread and in a hope for normalcy in the near future. Stadium's Brett McMurphy polled athletic directors across the nation recently about the potential of no college football this fall -- and the glass is at least half-full on optimism, albeit some admittedly trying just to see the bright side. Nearly a one-fifth of the ADs were a '5' out of 10 on the confidence level that there will be football this fall and nearly a quarter of the ADs are at a '6' or lower (24), which compares favorably to those still as '9s' and '10s' on the scale percentage-wise (27). “There better be (a season) or many programs will be out of business,” an athletic director told Stadium. “Quite simply, it would be devastating," another AD told Stadium of the prospect of no football. Big 12 AD Bob Bowlsby went on the record with his thoughts on a conference call with media. “It’s a whole new ballgame," Bowlsby said of a year without football. "It affects everything we do. It affects the largest portion of our TV contract. If that doesn’t happen, the underpinning of what we know as normal goes away, and we’ll have some major changes to make.” Some of the anonymous AD quotes are a bit more bleak. “If we...aren’t back (playing) by the fall, it will look like the Great Depression, and we will be in soup lines.”
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