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There has been a lot of positive news regarding the college football season in recent weeks with the trend starting to look like it would start on time.
However, players have officially returned to campus for voluntary workouts and there have been several positive coronavirus tests showing up at campuses across the country. Those positive tests have left some feeling pessimistic about the chances of college football starting on time this fall.
During his most recent appearance on ESPN’s show “Get Up” on Friday, Paul Finebaum was asked to share his opinion on the likelihood that college football will start on time.
“College football is just an absolute hot mess right now. I mean, you have so many different views and really no leader – as has been pointed out many many times,” Finebaum said. “Greg Sankey, the SEC Commissioner, joined us last night on our program and he said that conference alone has between 15 and 20 contingency plans. I mean, I don’t know where you come up with all those. But they refuse to admit that this is going to be an insurmountable challenge.”
“I think what Laura said is really where you have to keep your eye on, by now we thought we would know everything. We don’t know anything. And I think we’re now pointing toward mid-July for the next big decision and I think many people in college football privately, nobody publicly is saying this, but privately are saying that the likelihood of the season being delayed is very good.”
They went on to ask Finebaum to compare the start of college football to that on the NBA which is returning on July 30th and if both sports were “too big to fail” when they return.
“Absolutely, but the big difference – there’s no bubble in college football, there’s no commissioner,” Finebaum responded. “You have states where you could, like Arizona and Texas, that could stop the train very quickly. It is too big to fail, but right now, many people would probably bet it is going to fail.”
Although that is not the response we would want to hear from Finebaum, it is a reality that we may have to face in the near future. However, it is worth noting that we still have a little over 2 months before the college football season is scheduled to start which means everything could change once again and we could have a much more optimistic view 2 months from now.