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SPORTS

What postponement means for college athletics, Michigan

The Big Ten made it official on 
Tuesday, ending days of speculation 
and contradicting reports with a 
decision to postpone the fall season. 
In a perfect world, that would be the 
end of all the questions and things 
would be cut and dried.
But it isn’t a perfect world, it’s the 
NCAA.
And that means this decision 
opens up a whole lot of questions that 
Michigan’s athletic department — 
and every other athletic department 
in the Big Ten — hoped it would 
never need to answer. Most of them 
don’t have answers yet, but we tried 
our best to lay them out, with what 
we know right now.
Why was this decision made?
Put simply, because America 
didn’t get COVID-19 under control. 
Back in March, when winter sports 
shut down, nobody thought fall 
sports would be cancelled. When 
Korea brought back professional 
baseball, Germany brought back 
soccer and the rest of Europe’s top 
leagues soon followed, case numbers 
in the US were steadily declining 
through May — things still looked 
good. Then things took a turn for 
the worse in July, when the effects of 
states relaxing lockdowns and social 
distancing took hold, and some 
refused to impose or continue mask 
mandates.
On top of that, this is still a virus 
we’re learning about as we go. It’s 
become almost conventional wisdom 
that it doesn’t affect kids badly, and 
certainly the mortality rate is low 
among the college age population. 
But recent studies have indicated 
increased risk of myocarditis, an 
inflammation of the heart muscle. 
College administrators have seen 
those studies, and that played a role 
here.
Last week, the mother of Indiana 
offensive lineman Brady Feeney 
went viral with a Facebook post 
that detailed her son dealing with 
potential 
heart 
problems 
after 
contracting COVID-19. Incidents 
like that one give colleges pause, 
both from a health and a liability 
perspective. By punting to the 
spring, the Big Ten is giving medical 
experts more time to develop a 
treatment and to understand exactly 
what the lasting effects of COVID-
19 are. It’s also giving the country 
more time to get its act together and 
start putting up numbers in line with 
what, for example, the European 
Union is dealing with instead of the 

tens of thousands of cases America 
has every day.
What are the chances a spring 
season actually happens?
Nobody knows. Anybody who 
says they do is lying.
If the reaction from coaches, 
players and politicians — including 
the President — right now is any 
indication, it will take a lot of 
political will to completely cancel the 
season. The financial ramifications 
would be massive, though athletic 
departments are already dealing 
with major hits from the NCAA 
Tournament cancellation. But the 
bottom line is, there needs to be 
confidence that a season can happen 
safely.
As many have pointed out, 
you can’t bubble college athletes. 
They’re unpaid student-athletes, a 
distinction the NCAA would very 
much like to keep intact. Colleges 
across 
the 
country, 
including 
Michigan, are bringing students 
back in a matter of weeks. Some have 
already done so. If those students all 
get sent home by the end of October 
because of outbreaks, are we really 
going to have a football season in the 
spring?
Without major changes with 
regard to a vaccine or therapy for 
COVID-19 or a dramatic decline 
in case numbers, it’s hard to see a 
coherent argument for doing that. 
On the other hand, if the SEC and 
Big 12 go ahead and have a full season 
without a disaster happening, it’s 
hard to see why the Big Ten wouldn’t 
want to follow suit.
If nothing else, the Big Ten bought 
itself valuable time by postponing its 
schedule.

What does this mean for winter 
sports?
Nothing good.
Unlike football, soccer and field 
hockey, most winter sports are 
indoors — where the virus spreads 
easier. Smaller rosters for sports 
like basketball could make things 
more navigable than, say, football, 
but money from football pays for 
nearly every other sport. So without 
that money guaranteed, would 
administrators want to hold, say, a 
women’s gymnastics season with 
the athletic department facing a 
major revenue loss already? It’s 
unclear right now.
The only rule the Big Ten, and 
the NCAA at large, has seemed to 
adhere to since the pandemic hit is 
that it won’t make a decision until it 
needs to make a decision. And even 
then, it might find a way not to make 
a decision.
All this is to say, speculating about 
winter sports right now is a fool’s 
errand.
Are athletic scholarships still 
being honored?
There’s no reason to believe they 
wouldn’t be. Unlike, for example, 
a professional contract that might 
have an incentive for games played 
or be contingent on appearing in 
games, athletic scholarships aren’t 
dependent on games happening. 
Moreover, pulling them would only 
add to what’s already been a public 
relations nightmare. Ohio State 
quickly released a statement that all 
athletes will remain on scholarship, 
other schools will follow its lead. 
What will the financial impact 
be 
for 
Michigan’s 
athletic 
department?

Much of that depends on whether 
there will actually be a spring 
football season or not. 
If that happens, it means lots of 
TV money. It might even mean some 
fans in the stands if things get better 
in a drastic and unrealistic way.
If that doesn’t happen, the 
revenue shortfall could easily reach 
nine figures. Michigan has already 
budgeted $61 million less than last 
year and athletic director Warde 
Manuel wrote in an open letter last 
week that number “could easily 
double if the decision is made not to 
play any sports.” At Michigan State, 
athletic director Bill Beekman said 
Monday that no football might result 
in an $80-85 million revenue loss.
Michigan likely has the financial 
means to avoid cutting programs, 
but this isn’t the case for everyone 
(nor is it a stone-cold guarantee for 
Michigan). Regardless, the impact 
will be far-reaching, whether there’s 
ultimately a season or not.
What will the football program 
now?
As 
of 
now, 
Michigan 
has 
suspended 
athletic 
activities, 
including 
team 
practices, 
until 
further 
notice. 
The 
release 
announcing so, however, noted 
that the University “will decide 
on organized team and voluntary 
student-athlete activities as soon 
as information becomes available.” 
That leaves the door open for some 
kind of training.
It’s hard to see things shutting 
down altogether the same way 
they did in the spring. As Michigan 
coach Jim Harbaugh noted in his 
statement Monday, the football team 
has worked out without creating an 

outbreak. Students are still coming 
to campus. There’s not much reason 
not to train.
As those advocating for a season 
have noted, football (and other 
sports) 
give 
players 
structure. 
It forces them to follow social 
distancing protocols. A season could 
still happen in the spring, so might as 
well be ready for that possibility.
What happens with eligibility?
It’s completely unclear right 
now. The Big Ten is in uncharted 
territory. There’s no rules to govern 
whether an early enrollee is allowed 
to play a spring season, because 
there’s never been a spring season. 
There’s no rules to govern whether 
players will retain eligibility in a 
cancelled season because that’s 
never happened either.
In the spring, the NCAA allowed 
athletes to retain eligibility but this 
isn’t necessarily the same. This 
wasn’t a uniform NCAA decision 
and some conferences may play 
in the fall. Moreover, it’s unclear 
whether the Big Ten will be able to 
play in the spring or not.
What happens with the NFL 
Draft?
Again, nobody knows. The NFL 
can push its draft date back as far as 
June 2, but whether it will is another 
story. Whether draft-eligible players 
will want to risk injury in a spring 
season even if the draft gets moved 
back is another matter altogether. 
That will likely depend on each 
individual player.
How do the players feel about 
this?
With the caveat that Michigan’s 
football team shouldn’t be treated 
as a single entity, a vocal contingent 
of players publicly stated on Monday 
that they wanted to play..
A number of players tweeted out 
“#WeWantToPlay” on Monday and 
were joined by Harbaugh, who sent 
a statement outlining the reasons 
he believed a fall season should 
happen. All of them had to do with 
low positive test numbers and strong 
adherence 
to 
protocols 
within 
Michigan’s program.
But Michigan’s football program 
isn’t reflective of every other 
football program in the Big Ten. 
Michigan State and Rutgers both 
had to quarantine after positive 
tests. Elsewhere at Michigan, four 
teams had to pause practices due to 
positive tests. Even if 80 percent of 
players buy into social distancing, a 
few people can ruin it for everyone.
Michigan football seemed to do 
things right. But that alone isn’t 
enough.

ETHAN SEARS
Managing Sports Editor

NATALIE STEPHENS/Daily
The cancellation of Fall sports leaves many questions to answer about the consequences of missing a whole season.

Thursday, August 13, 2020
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

