WaitingforRuffcorn wrote:
I don't think it's the sole reason, you explain away why having a season in late November is acceptable, but the conference can't play now.
That's a reasonable question. You have to go back and look at the timeline. At the end of July or beginning of August, an Indiana football recruit ended up in the hospital with heart issues and a positive COVID test. His mother made a big deal of it on social media and there is belief she was pressuring the Big Ten about the dangers of playing. That's a pretty compelling story to fight against. Testing among Big Ten schools was expensive and uneven. Almost half the Big Ten had shut down voluntary workouts/practices because of too many COVID tests. A medical study was done that showed an emerging risk of heart issues from COVID for all ages. The Big Ten Presidents voted, in what we now know was an 11-3 vote, to postpone the season to March as more information came out. Many people questioned why you had to make that decision in early August instead of delaying the season to the end of September like had already been planned. The Big Ten dug in and refused to budge. They got a lot of external and internal push back.
So then we get the cascade of bad ideas being slowly pulled back. It was first pointed out that how badly a March-May/June football season would be for football in September 2021 so that season would have to be shortened too. Then they came up with the idea of starting on January 1st, but similar issues would still be in play. It's certainly better but then you also can't play in Big Ten stadiums and have to hope that domed stadiums will let you play there. So, then why not start around Thanksgiving? The benefit is that you would finish in January and September 2021 can happen as planned. That's where we are now. I still think it gets pushed back further because why not just do October if Thanksgiving is fine?
All the while that this is happening, a cheap and effective spit test is made available that takes the cost per test from like $120 a test to $5 a test and it is done in less than an hour. The IU football recruit gets out of the hospital and is already reportedly practicing with the team. Every other conference, besides the Pac-12 pushes forward with football, and now some are even letting fans attend. High school football is happening with fans. The athletic departments are begging season ticket holders to donate their tickets this year or they'll have to make even more cuts. Iowa cuts 4 sports, with other schools planning on it. Kevin Warren continues to give very poor answers to just about everything even on the BTN that would be the kindest to him for obvious reasons. The Big Ten has no choice to cross their fingers that the ACC shuts down too, but even as 4 ACC schools go to online learning within a week of having students on campus they say "We'll play football even if students are not in classes" and it's pretty obvious that things are not going to change without a COVID death by a football player.
So that's where we are now.
WaitingforRuffcorn wrote:
You explain away why the Big Ten commissioner says he wants to "swing the election" in mid-June. Why is the Big Ten commissioner even suggesting that the conference should play a role in a presidential election?
Get out and vote campaigns have existed for decades. Is encouraging people to vote a problem?
WaitingforRuffcorn wrote:
There is zero logic in delaying the season other than covering their asses and political reasons. To say there is zero chance that is a consideration given the current political environment is one of the dumbest conclusions you could reach given the set of facts.
You didn't refute what I said before. I've given you the complete timeline now. Maybe it is a plot against Trump though.