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College Football in 2020 in danger?


The_Great_Hornsby

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9 minutes ago, Tex Pete said:

I think this is about unionization for the B1G and PAC. I don't actually think it's about the virus at all. One only needs to read Barry Alvarez's comments yesterday to see that they're not particularly concerned about player well-being. They ARE looking out for their business interests. Period.

I have to say that one of my thoughts was that maybe they were trying to dodge all of this union talk, and try to take a good chunk of steam out of the cause, by just ditching the fall season due to 'safety'. If the players ever successfully form an effective union that actually has the full support of all the athletes, the powers-that-be *know* that they are finally going to have to start letting the players also dip their buckets into the fountain of gold.

Edited by ouflak
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20 minutes ago, ouflak said:

Ok, but is it cowardice, or financial prudence? I'm not sure that their leadership is 'scared'. I just think they are behaving like executives looking out for the long term interests of their business, which any good executive should be doing. And, as someone very correctly pointed out earlier in the thread, it's one thing if these athletes are geting paid the big money. It's completely different for me to sit in an office all day and 'bravely' risk someobody else's life, and perhaps the lives of their friends and family, when they aren't making a dime, and I'm raking it in directly as a result of their efforts (and risk). Here on this message board we can argue, "that doesn't matter". But in those boardrooms with their legal teams, I'm sure it's been pointed out that that fact would be mentioned in front of a judge quite loudly and publicly in every one of the plethora of class action lawsuits that spring up when a traceable infection spike is linked directly to a football game or practice.

There will be more covid19 cases in the B10 and PAC12 student athletes while they sit out than will occur in the conferences that are going to play

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2 minutes ago, NoctambulantBrobdingnagian said:

There will be more covid19 cases in the B10 and PAC12 student athletes while they sit out than will occur in the conferences that are going to play

There very well could be. But those won't be contact traced back to football games, and now probably not even practices. Conference/university/NCAA off the hook.

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4 minutes ago, NoctambulantBrobdingnagian said:

There will be more covid19 cases in the B10 and PAC12 student athletes while they sit out than will occur in the conferences that are going to play

A bold prediction!

But almost every conference outside of the Big 12, ACC, and SEC is looking like they won't play so just by sheer numbers that will probably be true.

If there were no fans at those games I think it would be fine. Having tens of thousands gathering together and using the bathroom and hanging out inside the stadium seems to me the far bigger problem plague-wise, especially as they are older than the players.

I will be watching this season on TV in the event we get some games in.

Edited by Valmy77
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2 minutes ago, Valmy77 said:

A bold prediction!

But almost every conference outside of the Big 12, ACC, and SEC is looking like they won't play so just by sheer numbers that will probably be true.

I'm simply suggesting that the players that aren't playing aren't going to be following much of a protocol and the ones who are playing have the best medical care and protocols money can buy

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3 minutes ago, NoctambulantBrobdingnagian said:

I'm simply suggesting that the players that aren't playing aren't going to be following much of a protocol and the ones who are playing have the best medical care and protocols money can buy

But again, whatever protocol they are following are not following, if the infection spike they are responsible for can't directly be contact traced to a football game or practice, then there's no chance of a class action suit against the university/conference/NCAA/coaches/medical staff.

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2 minutes ago, ouflak said:

But again, whatever protocol they are following are not following, if the infection spike they are responsible for can't directly be contact traced to a football game or practice, then there's no chance of a class action suit against the university/conference/NCAA/coaches/medical staff.

did any law suits come about when there was the initial spike when players checked in and quarantined?

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Just now, NoctambulantBrobdingnagian said:

did any law suits come about when there was the initial spike when players checked in and quarantined?

As far as I'm aware none so far. It's my belief that we are in completely unprecedented territory here.

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7 minutes ago, ouflak said:

But again, whatever protocol they are following are not following, if the infection spike they are responsible for can't directly be contact traced to a football game or practice, then there's no chance of a class action suit against the university/conference/NCAA/coaches/medical staff.

Unless there was a universal contact tracing program that actually worked, and there isn't, there is no way to specifically say that an "outbreak" leading to death or long-term effects came from playing football. You can't accurately contact trace a virus at this stage with so many asymptomatic carriers. If all these players were living on a cruise ship, and playing their games on the deck, maybe you could. 

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2 hours ago, cabowabo said:

Someone needs to remind the Big 10 that the election is in November, 2020, so there is no need to fuck up the 2021 season also because of COVID19 "concerns."

 

This is about the dumbest talking point out there. You do realize this is a worldwide pandemic, right? And that every single country in the world is going through the same exact arguments about shutting down/opening/masks, etc., right?  And that the US president is only the president of one of those countries?  That those other countries, and all of their media, are covering the pandemic and the argument in their own stinkin’ country?  
Not everything is about this particular US president. It’s not some global conspiracy, involving every single other country in the world, and every single medical system in the world, just to make this president look bad. 

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Speaking of lawsuits, how about this hypothetical scenario: NFL fringe Player X from the Big 10 or PAC 12, who misses their senior season, has to watch as college football succeeds in completing their COVID season, then decides that he could have made it to the NFL if he'd been able to play (Joe Burrow effect) and is encouraged to sue the conference for lost future earnings. 

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8 minutes ago, nnm said:

This is about the dumbest talking point out there. You do realize this is a worldwide pandemic, right? And that every single country in the world is going through the same exact arguments about shutting down/opening/masks, etc., right?  And that the US president is only the president of one of those countries?  That those other countries, and all of their media, are covering the pandemic and the argument in their own stinkin’ country?  
Not everything is about this particular US president. It’s not some global conspiracy, involving every single other country in the world, and every single medical system in the world, just to make this president look bad. 

Narcissist think everything is about them and by default so do the kool-aid drinkers.

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1 hour ago, ChiTownDoc said:

Yep - and you’re fine if you take reasonable precaution.  People tackling eachother is the least reasonable thing I’ve seen - if they’re doing that on their own or paid, fine.  If they’re doing that to lace someone else’s pockets, that entity better be ready to defend itself.  And this is almost word for word from someone who is one of those things we call attorneys.  

 

Throw in team A and B play game, 3-4 days later there is an outbreak of COVID on both teams and it doesn't take Perry Mason to figure out how that occurred. It also isn't ONLY about someone getting sued, think if god forbid a coach or player dies on a team that plays this fall? Yeah not a great PR look, it isn't just about lawsuits. 

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1 hour ago, ChiTownDoc said:

Yep - and you’re fine if you take reasonable precaution.  People tackling eachother is the least reasonable thing I’ve seen - if they’re doing that on their own or paid, fine.  If they’re doing that to lace someone else’s pockets, that entity better be ready to defend itself.  And this is almost word for word from someone who is one of those things we call attorneys.  

 

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2 hours ago, Randolph Duke said:

If an attorney ever told me to ignore something that could potentially get me sued, I'd fire that attorney immediately. Attorneys are to explain how to do what management wants done, not to advise management on what to do or not to do.

Also, defending against even frivolous suits takes resources. No one can control whether suits are filed against them. The mindset has to be to undertake every reasonable precaution so that if a suit is filed, as many options as possible exist for limiting both litigation costs and damages.

There are going to be baseless "virus related" suits filed en masse. Factor that in from the start.

The true cost of defending lawsuits isn't in the damages or settlements that a company has to pay.  It's in the distraction to the organization that comes from the litigation.  When you have football coaches, trainers, ADs, university presidents, and trustees responding to requests for production, interrogatories, and prepping for and sitting for depositions, and then doing it again, and again, and again, those folks aren't doing their day jobs.  

My view is that the litigation risk is being overplayed here, but it is real, and does have the capacity to be very disruptive to the universities that get it wrong.  Sounds like UT and the B12 are putting in reasonable mitigation measures, which should help if/when the litigation comes.  But mitigation measures are never bullet proof.  We'll see.  

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19 minutes ago, HoffaJimmy said:

 

Throw in team A and B play game, 3-4 days later there is an outbreak of COVID on both teams and it doesn't take Perry Mason to figure out how that occurred. It also isn't ONLY about someone getting sued, think if god forbid a coach or player dies on a team that plays this fall? Yeah not a great PR look, it isn't just about lawsuits. 

Well of course.  That’s my main contention.  But we went down the legal rabbit hole too because there’s no limits to what we can bitch and moan about around here.

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47 minutes ago, alphahorn said:

if the the big 12, acc and sec play without an absolute meltdown, then i'd hate to be a big 10 or pac 12 coach on the recruiting trail next year 

if the the big 12, acc and sec play and have an absolute meltdown, then i'd hate to be a big 12 or acc or sec coach on the recruiting trail next year 

This is fun!

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1 minute ago, Beau Vine said:

if the the big 12, acc and sec play and have an absolute meltdown, then i'd hate to be a big 12 or acc or sec coach on the recruiting trail next year 

This is fun!

Yep.  Not playing is risking loss of zero lives.  I feel like playing is some risk greater than zero.  So you tell me which side has the doomsday scenario?

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1 minute ago, Beau Vine said:

if the the big 12, acc and sec play and have an absolute meltdown, then i'd hate to be a big 12 or acc or sec coach on the recruiting trail next year 

This is fun!

Well considering baseball has had plenty of infections and no deaths since they started play, I would think the conferences trying to play in the fall have a better chance of winning that argument. The absurdity in all this is thinking that the only tenable option is a 0% infection rate once the games begin.

I think you definitely put in protocols to help you try to mitigate infection and transmission, and it also gives the NFL another data point to judge prospects. Can they follow simple instructions and think of the team over themselves.

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19 minutes ago, nnm said:

The true cost of defending lawsuits isn't in the damages or settlements that a company has to pay.  It's in the distraction to the organization that comes from the litigation.  When you have football coaches, trainers, ADs, university presidents, and trustees responding to requests for production, interrogatories, and prepping for and sitting for depositions, and then doing it again, and again, and again, those folks aren't doing their day jobs.  

My view is that the litigation risk is being overplayed here, but it is real, and does have the capacity to be very disruptive to the universities that get it wrong.  Sounds like UT and the B12 are putting in reasonable mitigation measures, which should help if/when the litigation comes.  But mitigation measures are never bullet proof.  We'll see.  

Excellent point...

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7 minutes ago, HtownHorn said:

Well considering baseball has had plenty of infections and no deaths since they started play, I would think the conferences trying to play in the fall have a better chance of winning that argument. The absurdity in all this is thinking that the only tenable option is a 0% infection rate once the games begin.

I think you definitely put in protocols to help you try to mitigate infection and transmission, and it also gives the NFL another data point to judge prospects. Can they follow simple instructions and think of the team over themselves.

Again, and for the millionth time, it's not just the infection of the athletes that people are worried about.

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8 minutes ago, David Dennison said:

Anyone who comes into contact with infected individuals capable of spreading the virus. College kids are going to spread the shit out of this virus.

Yes, and sports are not going to be the problem. Off-campus parties are going to be the problem. And there's nothing the Big Ten or PAC can do about that.

 

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8 minutes ago, Born Burnt said:

Yes, and sports are not going to be the problem. Off-campus parties are going to be the problem. And there's nothing the Big Ten or PAC can do about that.

 

 Take a look at baseball, specifically the Marlins fiasco. Some players broke protocol and got sick.  They then played a team spreading it to them and their staff. So, yes, while the "off campus" activity may have lead to members of the team contracting the virus, the organized team sport helped spread it to other teams and staff.

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