The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1279712
SEPTEMBER 2020 THE WOLVERINE 27 less of whether he sat, or whether or not there's a season. "At the end of the day, every one of these guys I've talked to just wanted to play. They wanted their voices heard, but they wanted to play, and play with their safety in mind." Chengelis: "That's the biggest ques- tion. You can talk about a spring season, and Kevin Warren can say in his inter- view that they've discussed scenarios. Then you see [Wisconsin athletics direc- tor] Barry Alvarez saying, no, no one's really discussed this. That's sketchy. "I talked to a couple of former play- ers. Would I want to come back and play eight games in the spring? No. It will be interesting to see how that's shaped. "If there's no spring season, you're going to see people like [fifth-year se- nior tight end] Nick Eubanks, [senior wide receiver] Nico Collins, Kwity Paye and [fifth-year senior running back] Chris Evans say, what am I do- ing? I talked to [Senior Bowl executive director] Jim Nagy at the Senior Bowl, and if the SEC cancels, about 20 play- ers from Alabama will say bye and head to the NFL. "I think that's going to be a more realistic option for a lot of the seniors." Karsch: "This is where I will get mad at the Big Ten. They need to move quickly on a number of issues. Eligibil- ity is one. These kids deserve to have that question answered. The Big Ten should be talking to the NCAA right now. "So if [fifth-year senior defensive tackle] Carlo Kemp wants to come back for another year, he can. So if Nico Collins wants to come back for another year, he can. Does this year count? Scholarship limitations — how does this impact incoming players? Can kids transfer immediately? "These questions should be an- swered right away, and the Big Ten should be an example of don't sleep until you get the answers. Kevin War- ren and those athletic directors need to figure it out, as soon as possible." Sang: "I think it all depends on what spring even looks like. We have no idea what schedule they're on, when they want to start playing, when they would finish playing. There has been no clarity or communication from the Big Ten or the NCAA about this. "Programs themselves don't know what's going on. You have coaches advocating for when a spring season should start. They're trying to get ahead on this. "Those are variables that will play a role in decisions by the NFL guys. I do think, though, it would be difficult to ask these guys with NFL dreams to play a spring season, knowing the NFL Draft is right around the corner, and NFL mini-camps and training camps are in the summer. It would be hard to ask them to play in the spring, then turn around and do it all again in the summer and play in the fall at a profes- sional level. "Then there's the risk. You're asking them to risk their health, not just based on potentially contracting the virus but also if they get hurt playing — concus- sions, ligament injuries, broken bones, all of that stuff. "It will be a case-by-case basis, but I wouldn't be surprised if the spring season saw most of the Big Ten's NFL prospects sit out." The Wolverine: How will this affect Ann Arbor, financially and otherwise? Bastock: "The financial implications were definitely already going to be felt. I don't have the numbers in front of me, what [U-M director of athletics] Warde Manuel projects for a budget deficit, but the biggest deficit was go- ing to be felt with the ticket revenue. "Obviously, even if there was a sea- son, we were going to see no fans, or something like 20-percent capacity. I think it's going to be really tough. I think of the popular restaurants and bars on game days, the hotels. All of that stuff is going to be affected. "We can't even begin to grasp the full effects of the financial part of this yet." Chengelis: "I did a story on that a few weeks ago. It's enormous. I talked to a professor who has studied the economic impact of college football in towns. He thinks the numbers the convention bureaus throw out there are a little inflated. "But it's millions. You're already talking about restaurants that have suf- fered since the lockdown earlier this year. They've suffered from not having college students on campus. It's big for them, obviously. "Then these Saturdays were gold for them. They make money on Saturdays that they can keep for a rainy day, as our friend, Keith [McKendry], at Mr. Spots said. They're not going to have that, and it's going to hurt. "The hotel business … my goodness, it's a snowball of businesses that are really, really going to hurt from not having seven or eight home games this year." Karsch: "Oh, it's devastating. It was pretty much a given that we weren't going to have 100,000 people, so that decision was already made. "I have friends that have businesses in Ann Arbor. I hope they can survive this and get back at it in 2021. It's never been more important to support your local businesses. We're going to do our little part. "I'll give you a great example. My son just graduated from high school, and he's going to be a freshman at Michigan. One of my good friends bought him a gift card to Mr. Spots, a $100 gift card. "Well, that's $100 of business for Mr. Spots, and it's $100 that my son gets. He got $200 worth of value for that one gift, right? Those kinds of little gestures can go a long way, if we all think in those terms and try to help Ann Arbor and its businesses have already been impacted by the lockdown that has been in place for months due to the coronavirus, and no football in the fall could be crippling. FILE PHOTO