The NCAA is in Trouble, and Players Shouldn't Have Any Sympathy
As fall draws closer we will get a clearer picture of what the NCAA's plans are to play games during a pandemic, which may require it to force unpaid student athletes to put their health and safety on the line.
The COVID-19 pandemic has been devastating for a lot of industries, including sports. Each league is trying to find a way to play games that don’t blatantly put the health of its players, coaches and other staff members at risk. A big reason for this is that, even during a pandemic, there is money to be made from games, and no sports organization is as desperate to generate revenue than the NCAA.
While the organization was one of the first to address the pandemic back in March when it restricted fans from attending March Madness games, before scrapping the entire tournament, it faces an even bigger challenge in the coming months: football.
The cancellation of March Madness had devastating financial consequences on the NCAA, but the cancellation of an entire football season could be even worse. The sport is a huge revenue generator for a lot of colleges and universities that are going to see a decline in attendance, and therefore tuition dollars, this fall. But while schools may be left in a very difficult situation if there is no season, by no means should any NCAA athlete for any sport have to play in the midst of a pandemic.
It makes sense that professional athletes would want to play because playing their respective sports is how they make a living, and even with that being said many across different leagues have opted out of playing. College athletes do not get paid for playing their respective sports, an entirely separate issue, therefore the only incentive for them to play is to keep their scholarships. One could argue that some student athletes would want to play anyway for simply the love of the game, but that will almost certainly not be the case.
According to the Los Angeles Times, 30 UCLA football players wrote a letter to the university last month which condemned the school for failing to protect their health and safety. This came after certain schools, like Alabama and Auburn, began training camps early and saw a surge of COVID-19 cases among the players.
Certain conferences are taking matters into their own hands. Earlier this month the Ivy League announced that no sports would be played during the fall season. Some smaller Division III conferences have also cancelled fall sports.
But schools that generate a lot of money from football and are dependent on that money, like Alabama and Auburn, are likely going to try to find a way to play. The NCAA is already staring down a very uncertain future with all of the revenue lost, so it will encourage anyway to bring in money even if it means making unpaid student athletes put the health and safety of themselves and of their families on the line.
Whether or not the NCAA will, or can, force student athletes to play has yet to be seen. We will find out come the fall, and if early training camps were any indication then resuming games guarantees many players will get infected with COVID-19. The consequences of that could be dire, and that, combined with the huge loss of revenue from March Madness, puts the NCAA’s future in uncharted territory.
Photos courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.
Report: Michael Rosen
"Back" To School
With the recent events of the Coronavirus pandemic, schools and universities around the country have had to make severe changes to their academic schedules.
With the recent events of the Coronavirus pandemic, schools and universities around the country have had to make severe changes to their academic schedules. Every state has their own set of plans for returning to school in the fall, but many will look similar. In Indiana University Bloomington was one of the first universities to release their school year plan to its students and parents. Returning in the fall is a guarantee, however, their version of the return is quite different than what college students expected. Instead of having in-person classes throughout the entirety of the academic year, Indiana will be going back online after Thanksgiving and hopefully returning to in-person classes in January. Indiana has also eliminated all breaks to where students will return home for a period of time and then arrive back at school. This proves to be important to decrease the chances of spreading the virus through states and through people at school. With all this being said, the virus has proven to be extremely unpredictable. What could happen if the country experiences another surge in cases? What happens if the virus disappears completely? These plans will not work with a surge, but they also will not work with the disappearance of the virus. The biggest concern that parents and students have is the quality of the education they will be receiving. Many do not pay full tuition to attend an online university when the initial plan was to receive the best in-person education they can. It is safe to say that the country will be experiencing many changes within the next few months. These changes will determine the quality of education and the quantity of students attending schools and universities this coming fall.
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Report: Hannah Zaremba
At the rise of Covid-19 many of us first questioned the timeline of fashion week and would we see the regular calendar continue - the question weighed over many of us for months! It was refreshing to see design houses and designers across the globe take advantage of the uncertainty and plow into production mode - thus my interest in Jerri Reid New York - The Black Designer based in Brooklyn New York wow’d instagram with his latest collection paying homage to the Black Is King film which debuted earlier this year in July. I was taken aback at quick of a turn round the young designer produced and released his well crafted designs reflecting some of the films most memorable moments.