Raising a tough question or two

[1of10Charnatives]

So I have to say as much as I love NFL football but generally dislike the NFL and ESPN (eff both of them for the way they capitalize on anything they can to make themselves look good and the way ESPN is forever going to commercial during our picks and barely talking about us), I found this draft actually a breathe of fresh air to watch. It was pretty neat and felt more like an inside view than just players parading across a stage and shaking hands with a dbag they will quickly learn to despise. Maybe it was just the novelty but I wouldn't mind if they did it more like this in the future, maybe a hybrid of the two.

But that's not really what this post is about. I don't want to rain on anyone's parade and I think the Panthers had a great draft for a change. I tend to agree with the overall sentiment that this was definitely a Rhule draft not a Hurney draft and there is a LOT to be optimistic about after it. However, there is an elephant in the room that bears some thought and discussion now that the draft is over.

What happens to the draft next year if there is no college football season?

Given that the most optimistic projections for a vaccine are 18 months out, and given that most reputable experts predict some form of second wave in the fall, it seems by no means assured there will be football this fall. The NFL as a business with highly lucrative TV deals could justify games with no fans under certain conditions if allowed to by authorities, but the NCAA is in a trickier spot. BCS conferences have lucrative tv deals as well and will have a heavy incentives to play their games, but if they do so, it will make plain that their prerogative is not the health and welfare of their student athletes but their payday with tv networks. Non BCS conferences with no tv deals have little to nothing to gain by playing games without paying fans in the stands. Would this result in big time schools having to play a schedule devoid of cupcakes? Would they simply bribe the cupcake schools to an even greater degree than they already do to come to their stadium and get creamed by superior athletes? Could anyone even pretend that this was remotely in the interests of any of the players participating in such games, especially small school players putting themselves at risk for no payday and no real prospect of exposure for a potential pro career.

Will the NFL draft players based solely on their projected performance after last season? Given how much a single season can change a player's pro prospects *cough* Joe Burrow *cough* is that an even remotely good idea? What happens if conditions are such that the NFL plays it's games but there is no college football? What if the NCAA does something crazy like let conferences decide for themselves whether to play or not and all the BCS conferences motivated by TV money play and smaller schools do not? How in the world would NFL scouts evaluate small school prospects in a draft environment like that?

Curious to get people's take on this. It is all of course highly speculative, but let's be frank, most of us have plenty of time to speculate right now.

[Ready 2 Win]

I cant even imagine how there is  no season. The UFC pretty much had the best model. Hold the events. No fans. 

With all of the betting/revenue football brings (it beats all other sports combined) I can see where games do not happen. It may be in empty stadiums, but that's just too much money not flowing for those that make that football money to not do everything possible to re-establish. 

Noone needs to actually spend several hundred dollars to park, attend, eat at a game anyway for a crappy view and mostly staring at a big screen that you could have looked at for free at home.  But then, here comes the 2x or 3x of ads.


We Americans are hard headed and a bit stupid. We do things messy and perhaps not in the best way possible, but ALWAYS get the job done. There will be games

[mrcompletely11]

There is a 0% chance that there is football in the fall 

[Smithers]

Just now, mrcompletely11 said:

There is a 0% chance that there is football in the fall 

How do you figure?  NASCAR is starting back in 3 weeks.  NBA just reopened Several of their facilities.  Heck even the DNC and RNC are going in as scheduled.  And you think football will be cancelled?  No way

[mrcompletely11]

1 minute ago, Smithers said:

How do you figure?  NASCAR is starting back in 3 Those are professional leagues weeks.  NBA just reopened Several of their facilities.  Heck even the DNC and RNC are going in as scheduled.  And you think football will be cancelled?  No way

Those are professional leagues 

[JARROD]

8 minutes ago, mrcompletely11 said:

There is a 0% chance that there is football in the fall 

[Waldo]

With TV revenue, it will probably happen at both the NFL and NCAA level. It will be challenging but it will happen. 

I enjoyed the draft. The lack of overproduced pomp being replaced with getting it done and being happy to be doing it was refreshing. 

I think they are going to have to find a way to do games well like they did the draft. They will have to pump in some kind of reasonable noise and make some adjustments but it will be a blast.

When they do go back to fans in stadiums, what changes? Masks at the door with a program? Changing the seating situation for more space and less people? Piling humans on top of one another is not something I want to rush back into or really return back to normal ever. 

[Smithers]

5 minutes ago, mrcompletely11 said:

Those are professional leagues 

Doesn’t matter.  The amount of money college programs bring in is crazy.  

[4Corners]

[mrcompletely11]

7 minutes ago, Smithers said:

Doesn’t matter.  The amount of money college programs bring in is crazy.  

Not over the safety of college kids

[4Corners]

18 minutes ago, Smithers said:

How do you figure?  NASCAR is starting back in 3 weeks.  NBA just reopened Several of their facilities.  Heck even the DNC and RNC are going in as scheduled.  And you think football will be cancelled?  No way

Stuff can change quickly. NCAA went from saying that they will continue the tournament with fans to cancelling the tournament altogether in a week. At this point I think fall NCAA sports are in serious jeopardy. I could see pro leagues opening up to a revised schedule and controlled game environments, but then all it will take is for a player to test positive and everything will be shelved again. I also think the RNC and DNC will both be cancelled as well. 

[1of10Charnatives]

5 minutes ago, Smithers said:

Doesn’t matter.  The amount of money college programs bring in is crazy.  

Some.

Some college programs.

Did you read my entire post? BCS conferences have fat tv contracts and earn tons of revenue not just from gate receipts but all sorts of licensing deals for merchandise and promotion. East Chicken Neck State does not. Alabama, Clemson, OSU and other top programs typically like to play ECNSU two or three times early in the season as glorified scrimages that make boosters happy and boost revenue. It seems highly likely that even if power schools are allowed to play this fall, the East Chicken Neck States of the world will have little to no reason to show up aside from being bribed even moreso than they currently are.

[4Corners]

2 minutes ago, mrcompletely11 said:

Not over the safety of college kids

Exactly This - NCAA is already a shitshow in the fugfactory PR wise, and trotting out unpaid students athletes in the name of amateurism while a global pandemic burns through the country AINT gonna happen. Bet on it. 

[CarolinaNCSU]

Worst case feel like college sports maybe get jammed into the Spring. Where possible, especially with the smaller sports, schedule and treat it like middle and high school sports and partner teams to travel together and play similar schedules. Schedule reductions as well, with less games and focus mostly on conference schedules.  As for football, no need for Clemson to play 3 William & Mary level exhibition games essentially, so reduce the schedule since the timeline may dictate that. 

Football plays from February - April/May without the long layoff between bowls, get a combine going as soon as the season ends, draft in late May.  No matter if football comes back in the Fall or Spring, reduced schedules and travel feel like the first thing on the table to me.