Blue White Illustrated

fans, a full season with partial fans. … We just have to have an open mind to what- ever this is going to look like and trust the experts. We have experts on Penn State's campus who are doing a phenom- enal job for us. We have that at a confer- ence level as well, and then nationally, all the way up to our government." The cost of not having a season would be staggering. According to an estimate by Washington University in St. Louis, Power Five schools would collectively lose more than $4 billion in revenue, with $1.2 billion of those losses coming from the elimination of ticket sales. That shortfall would inevitably result in the discontinuation of nonrevenue sports at many schools, a process that is already under way in smaller confer- ences, where some schools have begun to cut track, wrestling and soccer, among other sports. Numbers like those help explain the desire among coaches and administra- tors to find a way to play football this fall. There is some motivated reasoning at work, but a lot of thought has gone into the question of how to bring back college sports safely. The Big Ten has had a 14-member coronavirus task force in place since early March, and it has been meeting weekly with com- missioner Kevin Warren. Some schools are hopeful that they won't have to play in empty stadiums for TV audi- ences. Ohio State athletic director Gene Smith said in May that the school had models showing that it could safely seat 20,000 to 22,000 in 102,780-seat Ohio Stadium, and he added that it might be possible to wel- come as many as 50,000 if the proper precautions are taken and social dis- tancing guidelines are eased. In April, Penn State athletic director Sandy Barbour said she thought it was unlikely that the Nittany Lions would play at all if it weren't safe to have fans in the stadium. But she added, "It de- pends on what our choices are. What are the scenarios that we're faced with?" One other unknown as of late May was when teams will begin returning to cam- pus to work out. The Southeastern Con- ference announced in May that it would allow its teams to begin holding volun- tary on-campus football workouts on June 8. The Big 12 is allowing football players to return to campus on June 15, while other fall sports athletes will be allowed back in July. The Big Ten is expected to take a dif- ferent approach, leaving it up to its members to determine for themselves when it's safe to return. Ohio State an- nounced that its football players would be allowed to take part in voluntary on- campus workouts beginning June 8, and Iowa is set to welcome players back that same day. Michigan, however, has a more conservative view. The university's president, Mark Schlissel, told the Wall Street Journal last month that Wolverine teams would not take part in intercolle- giate athletics if there are no on-campus classes at Michigan in the fall. Penn State had not announced as of this writ- ing when its athletes would be allowed to return. The Big Ten presidents were set to meet June 7 to discuss the fall ath- letic season. With several of its campuses located near some of the nation's hardest-hit metro areas – New York, Chicago, De- troit and Washington/Baltimore – the Big Ten may be faced with more difficul- ties reopening than leagues like the SEC and Big 12, which are based in less- densely populated states. Franklin said that if there's going to be a season, it might not be realistic for everyone to begin preparing at the same time, even within a given conference. "With the Big Ten, say we have two or three schools that at the end of the sea- son are part of the playoff conversation, while the schools we're competing against in other conferences, they were able to open before we were and the Big Ten held back certain schools for a My thoughts are that we will be one of the last programs to open up. The gov- ernor may dictate to our university that you can open up for football but will want no fans in the stands. Can he hold Centre County from green status be- cause of our large football stadium? hohmadw Why no sad commentary when Clemson dropped their swimming program? More of this is going to happen because of the cost associated with running a big-time football program. College football programs are big business and can- not continue to subsidize the other nonrevenue sports at universities. Covid-19 crisis or not, nonrevenue sports will continue to be dropped by these institu- tions. UNCPSUFAN With respect to the Big 12, some of the schools wanted the football players to return to campus on June 1, others (particularly Oklahoma) thought that was too soon and pushed for July 1, so June 15 was a compromise date. There is also a lot of hope, and in some cases an expectation, that fans will be able to attend the games, albeit most likely in partially filled stadiums, at least initially. One of the obvious advantages that both the Big 12 and SEC have is that essentially all of the states where their schools are located are well on the way to reopen- ing. Texas Nit I remain super impressed by the effort that the medical and science commu- nities have thrown at this disease in order to restore normal for all of us as soon as possible. There is a lot more I want to get back to other than Penn State foot- ball, and without their efforts it may never happen. My faith remains that they will deliver. tgar S I T E L I N E S B W I . R I V A L S . C O M R E A D E R S W E I G H I N

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