What will the professional leagues tell us about the college games?
Well, at long last, Major League Baseball 2020 starts today after spring training was halted in March. With the possible exception of the Toronto Blue Jays, who cannot find a home field, 30 teams will embark on a 60-game schedule, a mere 27 percent of a full season.
In years past, portions of the schedule were delayed, interrupted or canceled for disputes between the players and owners. But this restart is different because we don’t really know if it will finish.
No fans in the stands and diligent disinfection of dugouts and clubhouses will determine the number of COVID 19 cases, a certain level of which will stop the season in its tracks. The NBA will also start under a bubble of privacy, as will the NHL and the NFL to an extent.
Some athletes will contract coronavirus, as many suffer injuries and miss games along the way. If some rosters are so depleted and diminished that play cannot continue and star power so decimated that it is no longer fair competition, there will be another pause.
My guess is that baseball, basketball and hockey will all get through it and champions will be crowned after jury-rigged playoffs. But the NFL will be the biggest indicator of whether college football can also have anything close to a full season.
Football rosters are much larger and the contact between players far more severe than in other sports. The NFL has millions of dollars to spend on testing and safety, and if its teams cannot get through a season the chances of college teams doing it are minuscule.
How those athletes who test positive recover and return to play is a major x-factor in all of these sports. MLB, NBA and NHL rosters have all been expanded, and the NFL number of 53 will likely be increased as well. Coaches need to get every player on their respective teams prepared to play because they will likely be called upon.
If sports succeed in giving us at least a part of our important culture back, that may be the best incentive for why the entire country must pull together to get all of us back on our game.
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