The MAC was the first domino. And it may end up being big enough to knock the other ones over.
Multiple reports indicate that college football season will be scrapped within the week. The focus then would turn to playing games in the spring.
If that happens, plenty of draft-eligible players will tap out, unless the NFL changes its mind about delaying the annual selection process from late April.
The Detroit Free Press reports that Big Ten Commissioner Kevin Warren prefers playing in the spring. That’s what the MAC wants to do, too. The other major conferences could end up doing the same thing. Or at least trying to do it.
Of course, then the question becomes whether the pandemic will improve to the point where college football can safely be played in the spring. Inevitably, questions will arise regarding whether it’s safe for college athletes to play 20 or more games in one calendar year, if 2020 moves to the spring and 2021 remains in place.
Regardless, it has seemed inevitable for weeks that college football has too many programs, too many players, too many complications, too many hurdles, and ultimately too much risk to players, coaches, students, and the communities in which universities are located. Everyone involved has kicked the can for as long as they could, and it’s not getting to the point where the can has to be kicked all the way out of 2020.
